Nick Mangold saw it all during his illustrious 11-year career with the Jets, and here are some of his opinions, observations and memories:
On Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty: “I think they both have great potential, and I think in the NFL, potential is one of the most dangerous words you can have, because it can go either way. But they both seem to have a good head on their shoulders, both seem willing to work at their craft and get better.
It’ll be interesting to see how they take in a new system and having a new offensive coordinator, how quickly they can process that information.”
On whether there is hope for either Hackenberg or Petty to emerge as a starter: “Oh definitely. I wouldn’t put ’em out to pasture yet. I think there’s plenty of time for them to learn, get better and take control of that offense. I think it’ll be fun to kind of sitting back and watching that battle play out.”
On the Jets using the No. 6 pick on a quarterback: “I wouldn’t be surprised. Everyone in the league’s always chasing a quarterback. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they pick somebody up in free agency as well. I don’t know who’s out there, but I’m sure they’re looking under every rock to find one.”
On Darrelle Revis’ street fight: “It doesn’t seem like Revis, so I feel like there’s still more to the story. I was concerned for him because when it first came out, there were all kind of different stories floating around of everything that could or couldn’t have happened, and I’m hoping that it isn’t true and he’s cleared of the charges. Reve’s a good guy. I don’t see that as part of his personality.”
On Brandon Marshall’s release: “It’s another one of those disappointing-veteran-getting-cut, but high cap number. I wish the best for Brandon, he’s still a heck of a receiver, and I know he’ll catch on somewhere, and I hope he gets to continue to chase the playoffs and hopefully get in there and make a little noise in the playoffs.”
On David Harris: “I feel bad for guys like David Harris, he’s the last man standing of the ’06 and ’07 draft class. I wish him well, but it’ll be interesting to see what kind of moves they make.”
On the pressure on Todd Bowles: “In the NFL there’s always pressure, and I think that this year’s going to be no different. But I know that he’s going to make the best of the situation, and hopefully they find the pieces that they need.”
On what happened to Mark Sanchez: “I think Mark unfortunately just lost his chemistry with his receivers. He had a hard time adapting to switching of the receivers, and I think that kind of put him back a little bit in his passing game.”
On if Tim Tebow experiment hurt Sanchez: “I don’t think it hurt him. … I think that was just a product of a rough year that was compounded by the hullabaloo that Tebow brings in. I think it was a gamble that didn’t work out well for us.”
On Geno Smith: “I think Geno just got thrown in the fire too early, similar to Mark’s situation, having to come in as a rookie. I wish Geno had time to sit back and kind of learn a little bit early on. I think he wouldn’t have had some of the issues that he had.”
On the 2016 season: “We just had a lot of issues, I think the biggest one being injuries, a lot of them freak things that you can’t plan for, you can’t prevent. And when you’re losing, things are tough, and that’s something we didn’t deal that we’ll with, and I think 5-11 represents that.”
Favorite Rex Ryan anecdote: “We were playing in Detroit. I think the night before the game he had said something about, ‘We’re gonna run the ball, we’re gonna run the ball, and we’re gonna keep on running it.’ And I think we threw out a number, how many times we were gonna run it.
“I think we’re down by six or something like that in the fourth quarter, and he comes over, he goes, ‘Listen, I told you guys that we’re gonna run the ball X amount of times … but, do you think we can throw it a little bit and you guys will be all right with that so we can win the game?’ It was just kind of funny, because he was talking to the offensive line, like we have any control over what goes on. It was just kind of a lighthearted moment in the middle of a very tense time as we’re trying to drive down and win the ballgame. And I think that’s what made Rex special was that he was still able to keep the game fun even when we were in the heat of the battle.”