Jets Gab

The Jets were dealt a harsh blow Thursday as DE/LB Calvin Pace was sat down four games by the league for testing positive for a banned substance. Here’s the story from Scout.com on the suspension:

New York Jets DE/OLB Calvin Pace has been suspended without pay for the team’s first four regular-season games of 2009 for violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing substances, the league announced on Thursday.

Pace’s suspension begins on Saturday, September 5. He is eligible to return to the Jets’ active roster on Monday, October 5 following the team’s October 4 game against the New Orleans Saints. Pace is eligible to participate in all preseason practices and games.

Pace, who signed a six-year, $42 million deal with the Jets back in March of 2008, will lose four game checks totaling $176,470 (four-seventeenths of his base salary). Pace’s base salary for 2009 is just $750,000, but a league source said he carries a salary cap number over $7 million.

“This is a situation that resulted from an over-the-counter dietary supplement that contained a substance that I did not know violated the League’s policy. I am responsible for what I put into my body and I should have paid closer attention to the League’s guidelines. I regret that this has happened and apologize to my teammates, the entire Jets organization as well as the fans. Hopefully, this does not distract from our ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl,” Pace said in reaction to his four-game suspension.

Pace, who turns 29 in October, was originally selected in the first round of the 2003 draft by the Arizona Cardinals. He was a major disappointment for the Cardinals until the final season of his rookie deal when he played mostly outside linebacker. His breakout season in 2007 yielded him the huge free agent contract detailed above from the Jets.

With Pace out four games, pressure will be on second-year DE/OLB Vernon Gholston to make a strong contribution especially early in the season. Unfortunately, the former 2008 first-round pick only participated in roughly 16 percent of the defensive snaps last season and posted just 13 combined tackles along with zero sacks.

The career of guard Mike Fladell lasted an entire two days with the Jets. The team claimed him on Monday, and waived him today after he failed his physical. He was claimed off waivers from the Giants. Fladell now will go through the waivers process again, and i no team makes a claim on him this time around, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.

The Mark Sanchez-Kellen Clemens Jets QB battle that is set for training camp is expected to be one of the better QB battles to watch this summer. Sanchez was the 5th overall pick, and there has not been buzz about a New York Jets QB since the team took Ken O’Brien in the first round years ago (unless you count last year’s Brett Favre saga).

With that, the two have been back and forth during early minicamps, and it appears that Clemens had the early advantage. Sanchez will have plenty of chances though during training camp and preseason games to win the job, and when he talked to NFL.com earlier today, he said he feels he’ll be that opening day starter.

Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez said he feels very good about how he performed in offseason workouts and that he has positioned himself well to earn the starting job. Sanchez is competing with Kellen Clemens for the Jets starting QB spot and earlier this offseason head coach Rex Ryan said it’s a “dogfight” between the two. “Clemens and Sanchez are really battling,” Ryan said. “I knew it was going to be a dogfight and right now, you can tell it really is. We probably won’t know until … whenever it becomes obvious, that’s when we’ll make the decision.

From: Fox Sports

Jets WRs Brad Smith, Chansi Stuckey, Wallace Wright and David Clowney all are vying to replace Laveranues Coles, departed to Cincinnati as a free agent, but there was no clear leader as the spring ended. The versatility of college quarterback Smith makes him a natural for offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s gadget plays, while Stuckey is a terrific target as a slot receiver. Clowney has speed but had problems hanging on to passes during the spring, while Wright came on strong during mandatory minicamp.

The Jets roster moves continued on Thursday, as the team has claimed former Bengals wideout Mario Urrutia, according to Adam Caplan of Scout.com. Urrutia is 6?6?, and was a seventh-round pick by Cincinnati in 2008. He’s probably at best a long shot to make the final Jets roster come September.

The Jets have been awarded cornerback Rashad Barksdale off waivers from the Giants. Barksdale was a sixth-round draft pick of Philadelphia in 2007, but was released a few days before the season opener. He signed with Kansas City the following day and had nine tackles in six games for the Chiefs. Barksdale was released after training camp last summer and signed with the Giants, who waived him last Saturday.

The Jets are taking advantage of a new NFL rule this summer that will allow them to place a corporate logo on their practice jerseys as a source of additional revenue. The rule allows teams to sell sponsorships on their practice jerseys, and the patches can be no larger than 3 1/2 -by-4 1/2 inches.

The patch the Jets will wear starting in training camp features the logo of Atlantic Health, a New Jersey-based health care provider that owns naming rights on the team’s training facility in Florham Park, N.J.

“In this climate, teams have to find ways to deliver additional value to their corporate sponsors because everyone is facing their own unique challenges,” said Matt Higgins, the team’s executive vice president of business operations. “It’s an example of trying to go the extra mile to deliver value.”

I just got back from Cali this past weekend and started right into OTAs.

The rookies started yesterday and they all looked real good, from Mark Sanchez to Shonn Greene, even the free agent guys. There’s a lot of competition going on right now especially for the young guys.

Really, everything is looking great right now, the offense and the defense. Neither is dominating, which is good. We’re really taking turns dominating. The offense is passing and scoring touchdowns and the defense is getting picks and sacks. Both sides are making plays back-and-forth. That’s always a good thing instead of one side just dominating.

I’ve been working with the first team, but as the third receiver. I’m still not starting yet. Jericho is number 1 on the depth chart, then Chansi Stuckey then me. Sometimes I’m in on the two-receiver sets, too, depending on the play.

There’s still a lot of time to impress the coaches before they decide who the starters are going to be.

I want to talk about my football camp on June 6 in Delray Beach. We’re going to have over 500 kids and lots of NFL guys. Abram Elam, Drew Coleman, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Mark Sanchez, LaMarr Woodley, Prescott Burgess, Willis McGahee, Antonio Freeman, Al Harris, Vernon Gholston, Vontae and Vernon Davis.

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Mark Sanchez may have just signed one of the richest deals in Jets history, but that is not stopping QB Kellen Clemens from thinking that he’s in the running for the starting QB spot. The competition for being the opening day starter for the Jets is still open, and many have thought that Sanchez would get the job based on his deal.

Now though, Clemens, who has been the more polished QB so far in practices, says that he is still going to make it tough for the rookie to walk right in and start. “From what I have been told, and the only thing that matters in this competition, is that the best player will play,” Clemens said.

“They never said that the highest-paid player is going to play, but the best player is going to play. So, that’s how I am going to approach it. If they change their approach, then I will change my approach. But, as of now, that is where it is, and we are going to continue to move forward.”

Today was the last day of minicamp for the Jets, so the competition will sit for awhile till the team reports to camp on the last day of July, and from there it’s going to be interesting to see who takes the cake as the opening day starter for the Jets.

“Coach Ryan is clear about our goals here — we want to be playing in February in the championship,” Sanchez said. “He’ll put the best players on the field to do that, money or no money, it doesn’t matter. I don’t think any intensity is lost there with Coach Ryan. I think he is great about it, and the other coaches will help him decide (who will start).”

The second big QB appears to be ready to go, as reports say that Jets first-round pick, QB Mark Sanchez is signed and sealed with a deal that will cover five years and could be worth up $60 million. “This is just the beginning,” Sanchez said Wednesday. “I’ll be working everyday to justify this contract.”

There have been reports that Sanchez is behind Kellen Clemens in terms of becoming the starting QB for the Jets opening day, but there’s no doubt that he is the teams QB of the future, and this type of contract signals that.

“It’s only the tip of the iceberg,” Sanchez said. “There’s so much more I want to accomplish. This doesn’t assume that you’re going to be successful. It’s going to take a lot of hard work.”

Agent David Dunn said the deal is worth “around the $50 million mark,” but could reach as much as $60 million with incentives. That makes it the richest rookie deal ever given out by the Jets.

“We’re thrilled about the deal and I think the Jets are, too, and that’s exactly what you want,” Sanchez said. “Both of us on the same page and a great relationship, and hopefully the first of many (contracts).”