The Bulletproof Man

By Jason Comack

Somewhere in the Jets front office hides a bulletproof man.

Rex is the brash one. The one who makes bold proclamations that it's Super Bowl or bust. He sometimes becomes even a parody of himself.

Mark is the sexy one. With QC looks and success off the field, that doesn't correspond to how he plays on the field.

Santonio is the egotistical one. The epitome of the “diva” wide receiver.

Bart is the hot-head. Who gives the finger to the Patriots with one hand, and to the media with the other.

Greg is the traitor. The one who looks around at all this chaos in his work environment and speaks his mind, breaking locker room code.

Brian is the scapegoat. Falling on the sword of a myriad of problems.

Mike is the bullet proof one. The man who brought all these characters to town. The man whose consistently poor drafts have left the roster devoid of talent. Yet, Mike seems to be untouchable, unaccountable and immune to blame.

Maybe he's not wearing a bulletproof vest, but instead a cloak of invisibility.

The Jets have only one player remaining from his 2008 draft (Dustin Keller.) Vernon Gholston, the sixth overall pick, was a colossal failure. Amazingly of his six picks that year only two (Keller and Lowery) remain in the league.

The Jets only had three picks in 2009 after Tannaenbaum aggressively traded up twice. Mark Sanchez has been a profound disappointment. Shonn Greene, in a league where running backs grow on trees, has been at best average. Matt Slauson has graded out as a poor blocker in both his years starting.

Keeping with tradition 2010 Tannenbaum stocked the roster with four draft picks. First round pick Kyle Wilson has been hot and cold at best. Second rounder Vladimir Ducasse has been nothing short of a train-wreck.

Two drafts, not a single impact player to be seen.

While Tananenbaum has had draft hits (Revis, Ferguson, Mangold) they are few and far between. Drafting is far from a perfect science. JaMarcus Russel can go number one and Victor Cruz can go undrafted. By limiting his number of draft choices ever year, Tannenbaum has limited his chances of success.

Tannenbaum models himself after Al Davis, Jerry Jones and Dan Synder. Preferring to grab headlines rather then championship rings.

Eventually Mike will run out of people to blame. Eventually there won't be a convenient scapegoat. Eventually someone will point their finger at the person who created this mess. And maybe, someone will finally take off his bulletproof vest.