Jets coaches have major input in draft

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- They may not be seen in the war room shots that show Mike Tannenbaum, Terry Bradway and Joey Clinkscales hard at work.

But the Jets' coaching staff is heavily involved in the decision-making process, often giving key input as the front office figures out which player they want to take in the NFL draft.

"We want the coaches to be involved," Bradway, the Jets' senior personnel executive, said last week. "I think our coaches do a great job, along with our scouts. There's a mutual respect. It's not that way in every program. But they know what we want and they do the work, they watch the four games, they visit with the player, they've worked them out.

"They can tell us basically how they see that player fitting in. Taking that information with what the scouts give us back, we feel like we've got a good handle on what we're looking at.''

That includes Mike Westhoff, the Jets' longtime special-teams guru.

"He plays a big role because he looks at linebackers, he looks at safeties," said Clinkscales, the vice president for college scouting. "His vision for a player may be different from the secondary coach because he's trying to find a player that has an opportunity to be a gunner, or go in and be a vice. When we're trying to build this thing, he is a part of helping us get the right player that not only can get to the game as part of the 45, but also if he's got a role on defense, that's almost a plus for a guy that's down the line."

Tannenbaum couldn't stop praising Westhoff's eye for talent.

"Mike is a great evaluator," the general manager said. "I think Joey and Terry do a great job of facilitating discussions, because they'll always say, 'Mike, how does he get to the game? What's the vision for the player?' But we'll sit in the draft room and we'll talk about our 45-man roster as we're drafting.

"That's where Rex [Ryan] has great vision for the team and how he wants to see the team. How we build our team is definitely within 'Hey, here's our division, here's our conference, how are we going to get to where we want to go?' "

Bradway said Westhoff and assistant special-teams coach Ben Kotwica have evaluated approximately 150 players. Throughout the process, they worked to identify those they were confident could slide in immediately and make a significant contribution on special teams. It's their opinions that are relied upon heavily, particularly in the later rounds -- fourth through seventh -- and sometimes serve as the tiebreaker when Tannenbaum and the Jets' brain trust whittle their pool down to two or three players when it comes time for them to select.

It's all about organizational teamwork, if you ask Bradway.

"I think now in Rex's third year, there's a greater understanding among the scouts and everybody just exactly what we're looking for," he said. "I know Mike and Joey feel the same way. There was a great deal of respect in that room when it comes to the coaches and the scouts. Best that I've ever been around."