Jordan White, our rookie 7th round pick wide receiver, and the only draft pick thus far unsigned, reportedly has a broken foot. He will likely miss between 6-8 weeks, which would set his return for the middle of July. This is no doubtedly a huge setback for the rookie, who needs all the practice he can get to make the roster. In fact, the Jets have Santonio Holmes, Stephen Hill, Chaz Schilens, Eron Riley, Jeremy Kerley, Jordan White, Patrick Turner, Scotty McKnight, DeMarcus Ganaway, Dexter Jackson, Royce Pollard, etc., competing for very few receiver spots. Honestly, I expect the Jets to put White on the practice squad and go with a corps of Holmes, Hill, Kerley, Schilens, and Turner/Riley. This would give the Jets some good size and a lot of speed. In any case, what do you all think of the developments regarding White and what the receiving corps is starting to shape up as?

Update: I had initially heard from a friend that the break happened last week. It turns out White fractured his fifth metatarsel in his left foot on May 21, and surgery was performed two days later. He will return around the time training camp starts.

DL Kenrick Ellis will serve 45 days in jail, beginning June 15. He has entered an 'Alford' plea, which basically admits the prosecutors can prove their case but doesn't admit to being guilty. Ellis will not miss any OTAs or mini-camps, but will miss the first few days of training camp. According to Brian Costello, "The specifics of the plea are 179 days in jail, with 89 days suspended, which leaves 90 days. In VA that is cut in half so it is 45 days."

For a second year player who needs all the training with Karl Dunbar that he can get, the news is not ideal, but considering the options, is pretty close. Let's just hope we don't have any more issues with Ellis, or any other players, for that matter.

Since Joey Clinkscales departure for the Oakland Raiders, the positon of Director of College Scouting has been vacant. Today, that position was filled by Jeff Bauer. Bauer has spent the past eleven seasons with the Jets as an area scout in the midwest. In this position, Bauer will be in charge of all scouting and report directly to Mike Tannenbaum, who actually makes the selections for the Jets during the draft.

The Jets are notable for having extraordinary continuity in their scouting department, with many of the people there having been in their positions for many years. One benefit of Clinkscales leaving was the ability to bring in new ideas and a breath of fresh air. How much of that will actually happen with the Jets promoting from within remains to be seen. But it is certainly good to see the Jets taking care of one of their own, evaluating their own talent and letting it rise to the top. All the best of luck to Jeff as he hopefully helps us grab some studs in future draft.

Edit: Great article on Bauer here. Glad to see him work his way up, and I'm happy he pitched for Greene. I know some of you disagree but I still love the War Machine.

The news of the day so far is that safety Yeremiah Bell, most recently of the Miami Dolphins, has signed a one-year contract with the Jets. Bell is 34, and a strong safety. He was drafted by the Dolphins in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college ball at Eastern Kentucky. His contract is worth $1.4 million. He has a $200,000 signing bonus, a $100,000 workout bonus. His base salary is $1,100,000, which is fully guaranteed.

This signing is bad news for Jim Leonhard. Bell is a strong safety that has lost a step, so he isn't quick enough to cover faster players, and is better against the run. It's good to see a veteran player back there, since the majority of the safeties we have are young guys. This, if I'm not mistaken, gives the Jets six safeties on the roster, including LaRon Landry, Eric Smith, Tracy Wilson, Josh Bush, and Antonio Allen. I would also have preferred that the Jets sign a free safety, like OJ Atogwe, but I'll take what we can apparently get. This may be insurance in case Landry is injured again. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Hey guys. Fantastic news today. Kenrick Ellis, our third round draft pick last year and rumored love-child of The Hulk and Frankenstein will agree to a plea deal in his ongoing criminal case. As you may recall, Ellis is being charged with beating a man in a bar. Ellis' defense is that it was self-defense, as the man came after Ellis' girlfriend with intent to harm her. He is pleading guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of assault and battery, despite continuing claims of his innocence and self-defense. Ellis will have to serve 90 days in jail, although it may be possible to defer that until the next offseason. This deal is important because it downgrades the charge from a deportable felony. That is, with the reduced charge, he won't be deported to back to Jamaica, which was obviously a concern.

Despite the 90 day jail sentence, this is obviously great news for the Jets, since Ellis won't be forced to leave the country. Ellis likely took the deal, despite his claims of innocence, because it's easier to just do 90 days in jail than have to be worried about deportation and losing his future in the NFL. In any case, let us know what you think in the comments below.

Edit: Here's a good article by Jenny Vrentas on the subject.

The Vice President of College Scouting, Joey Clinkscales, is officially leaving the New York Jets for a "prominent front-office position" with the Oakland Raiders. Clinkscales' departure has been rumored for some time, although he recently said right after the draft that he would not be leaving. Clinkscales was, for the most part, in charge of the draft for the Jets, although General Manager Mike Tannenbaum had the final say on all draft picks. He has held his position for the past four years.

I'm thrilled with this past draft in particular, so I am not particularly excited to see Clinkscales leave. However, he did assist in the scouting of the great Vernon Gholston, so his track record is somewhat spotty. I think overall though, he did a good job in leading the scouting department to make the Jets fairly successful (Forbes ranked the Jets as the 2nd best drafting team) at the NFL Draft. I do believe that some fresh blood in the scouting department could very well help. The Jets have had one of the most contiguous scouting departments in recent years, with few departures. That continuity absolutely helped the team, but it's not necessarily a bad thing to mix things up every once and a while. In any case, what do you all think?

WR Stephen Hill, the New York Jets second round draft pick, has officially inked his new contract. Hill is one of the first players from the draft to sign his deal, and the first of the 2012 Jets draftees. Hill's contract is for four years for a total of $5 million. According to Manish Mehta, about $3 million of that contract is guaranteed.

I think it's really interesting that Hill signed his contract so quickly. Obviously, there wasn't much to change because of the new rookie wage scale. But it speaks to how quickly he wants to get out there and ball out. We all saw on draft night how excited he was to get drafted, and when he did an impromptu J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS chant, we saw that he was truly excited to play for this franchise. Well, now we've seen it again, because instead of trying to suck every last cent out of his contract, Hill is clearly more interested in getting on the field. I suspect we're about to see a supremely dedicated wide receiver that's going to have a lot of fun out there... who knows, maybe it will rub off a little on Santonio Holmes.

Edit: After Hill was selected, his approval rating was at 85%. What say you all now that it's had more time to settle? You as juiced as I am to see this guy take the field?

Today, Josh Brown, the veteran kicker, was cut from the St. Louis Rams. Almost immediately, he was picked up by the New York Jets. Brown has a career FG percentage of 80%, kicking for 75% last season. He has been in the league for nine years and is 33 years old. Compare that to Nick Folk, who is 78% for his career and 76% last season. Folk is also 27 and has been in the league for just five years.

It's clear the Jets are starting to value competition more at training camp for the kicker position. We shall soon see Brown's contract figures, and if he is intended to be competition, or just a straightforward replacement for Folk. The Jets have also signed Swayze Waters, another veteran kicker, to provide competition as well.

I count myself in the Nick Folk fan club for his clutch kicks the past two years. He obviously could use more consistency, but I generally feel pretty good when he goes out there to kick. I know there are others who disagree. But what do you all think? Is this a good signing?

Ahoy, fellow GGNers! After nearly a week, we have finally finished the GGN Community Mock Draft. Please check out the results below and some analysis on it after the jump.

1. Indianapolis Colts - Robert Griffin III, QB
2. Washington Redskins - Andrew Luck, QB
3. Minnesota Vikings - Morris Claiborne, DB
4. Cleveland Browns - Trent Richardson, RB
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Justin Blackmon, WR
6. St. Louis Rams - Matt Kalil, OT
7. Jacksonville Jaguars - Michael Floyd, WR
8. Miami Dolphins - Melvin Ingram, OLB
9. Carolina Panthers - Quinton Coples, DE
10. Buffalo Bills - Riley Reiff, OT
11. Kansas City Chiefs - Dontari Poe, DT
12. Seattle Seahawks - Fletcher Cox, DT
13. Arizona Cardinals - David DeCastro, OG
14. Dallas Cowboys - Dre Kirkpatrick, DB
15. Philadelphia Eagles - Luke Kuechly, ILB
16. New York Jets - Courtney Upshaw, OLB
17. Cincinnati Bengals - Stephon Gilmore, DB
18. San Diego Chargers - Vinny Curry, DE
19. Chicago Bears - Whitney Mercilus, DE
20. Tennessee Titans - Chandler Jones, DE
21. Cincinnati Bengals - Janoris Jenkins, DB
22. Cleveland Browns - Kendall Wright, WR
23. Detroit Lions - Mark Barron, S
24. Pittsburgh Steelers - Cordy Glenn, OG
25. Denver Broncos - Michael Brockers, DT
26. Houston Texans - Jonathan Martin, OT
27. New England Patriots - Nick Perry, DE
28. Green Bay Packers - Shea McClellin, OLB
29. Baltimore Ravens - Dont'a Hightower, ILB
30. San Francisco 49ers - Stephen Hill, WR
31. New England Patriots - Kevin Zeitler, OG
32. New York Giants - Devon Still, DT

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Every Sunday during the season, NFL Network does a segment called "Bold Predictions," where the hosts make wild guesses about things that are going to happen during the slate of games that day. They could include Dan Orlovsky throwing for 400 yards and three touchdowns, or a certain team upsetting the heavy favorite. The key theme is that they are bold, in that it would likely take a stretch of imagination or something very surprising for them to come true.

Before the draft begins, I am curious as to what all of your Bold Predictions are for this coming season. They could be about a certain draft pick, a statistical season for a certain player, or about the team as a whole. Ideas include the Jets trading up to say, #4 to take Trent Richardson, Rex Ryan being fired at the end of the season, etc.

My Bold Predictions for this year are as follows:

1. Under the Ground and Pound philosophy, Shonn Greene rushes for over 2,000 yards.
2. Mark Sanchez has a statistical career year and is elected to his first Pro Bowl.
3. After seeing very little playing time in the wake of Sanchez's fantastic year, Tim Tebow is traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth round pick.

There is a report from Adam Schein that HBO and Woody Johnson want the New York Jets to be featured in Hard Knocks again this year, but Rex Ryan is what is standing between. Assuming the report is true, and there's no reason not to believe it, then this is hopefully a sign that Rex is maturing as a head coach and is willing to stand up to the owner to get what he believes is best for the team. It also is an indication that Rex realizes the whole "circus" bit is wearing thin and the team needs to focus on winning.

It will be interesting to see how Woody reacts. He's obviously a businessman and wants to sell more tickets (and who can really blame him?) but we'll soon find out if he's able to balance that out with a win-first attitude, which will also sell more tickets. Manish Mehta is also reporting that Mike Tannenbaum and several players are opposed to Hard Knocks as well. Others, such as Dustin Keller, have said that they have no problem with it.

I've always gotten the feeling that Rex has very little say in what the team does off the field, mostly in terms of draft picks. If Rex wins this battle, he may get more control over the team, and we could see a slightly different direction. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

This is the news that I have been waiting through the off season to post about. According to various reports from Jake Steinberg, Rich Cimini, Manish Mehta, and others, the New York Jets are likely to sign Hayden Smith, an Australian rugby star. I reported a while back that the Jets were interested in Smith, and now it seems that they are going through the paperwork to make it official. Here's a little information about Smith.

Hayden Smith is 26 years old, 6'6" and 265 pounds. The Jets met with him twice, in late January and mid-March. They were one of many suitors of Smith, along with the Eagles, Cowboys, Redskins, and Saints. Smith runs approximately a 4.75 40 yard dash, giving him very similar measurables to Rob Gronkowski. Smith originally played basketball before switching to rugby, and now football. He is, in short, an athlete. He is currently being trained by Tim Brewster, the same man who converted Antonio Gates from college basketball product to NFL superstar. Join me after the jump as I explain why I'm so excited to see the Jets sign Smith.

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Lost in the Tebow shuffle was the news that the Jets re-signed WR Scotty McKnight, Mark Sanchez's BFF and last years seventh round draft pick out of Colorado. McKnight did not play much in the preseason games last year, registering one touchdown. He was placed on the practice squad before tearing his ACL in practice. McKnight was just re-signed, however, and he'll have to pick a new jersey number, as his old #15 will now be worn by, you guessed it, Tim Tebow.

I've said this before, but you can count me as one of the McKnight supporters. He reminds me of poor man's Wayne Chrebet or Wes Welker, one of those guys that moves the sticks on third downs with reliable hands. With his signing, the Jets now have 10 wide receivers on the roster. Check them out after the jump.

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On the evening of Tuesday, January 10, 2012, the New York Jets announced that Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer would not return to the team for the '12-'13 season, despite previous statements to the contrary. On that day, a loud victory cry, the uncorking of champagne bottles, and a sigh of relief from QB Mark Sanchez could be heard from across the world as Jets fans rejoiced the departure of one of the most reviled coaches in team history. I propose that a holiday commemorating this joyous event be celebrated here, at Gang Green Nation, every year in honor of Schottenheimer's exit. However, it is up to you, the members of GGN, to name the holiday.

I ask for suggestions in the comments below as to the name of this wondrous holiday. Please keep the titles free of foul language, but use your imagination. There is no prize other than pride and the right to put your status as the winner in your signature. The winner will be decided by the most rec's received. Have fun, and remember, remember, the 10th of January-ember.

Per the Chicago Bears, RB Michael Bush has been signed for 4 years, $14 million. That averages to about $3.5 million per year. There were those who had discussed signing Bush as a potential backup, but that is now off the table. Presumably, he cost too much for the Jets. As it stands now, the Jets have Shonn Greene, Joe McKnight, Bilial Powell, Tim Tebow (joking, sort of) and various camp bodies to compete in training camp. Since a running back has been drafted every year of the Rex Ryan Era, it is fair to expect the Jets to do the same this year. I'm hoping for David Wilson or Doug Martin. There is breaking word right now that the Dolphins are looking to trade Reggie Bush. Perhaps he could be in the cards, or maybe a play for Matt Forte, now that the Bears have Michael Bush.

I expect to hear soon about more moves to the safety position as well. Hopefully the Jets are looking to sign O.J. Otogwe or Reggie Smith. Jim Leonhard remains a possibility as well. We'll keep you updated as we hear more.

Let us know what you think of the news in the comments below.

Edit: The report about the Dolphins trying to trade Reggie Bush was apparently fake. My apologies.