Have the Jets already found their man?

As it turns out, the Jets may be close to hiring Mike Tannenbaum’s replacement.

Our friends over at The Jets Blog are reporting, via a source, that the Jets are close to hiring Tom Gamble, current Director of Player Personnel for the San Francisco 49ers, to replace Mike Tannenbaum as General Manager.  A source close to the Jets contracts says that the contract is going to be around three years at $2-3 million, with an option for a fourth year.

The Jets still have to comply with the Rooney Rule, and currently, the Jets are set to interview Marc Ross from the Giants on Monday.  If they are truly intent on hiring Gamble, it is unclear as to whether or not the Jets will have Ross in for a cursory interview or not. Gamble has already cancelled a second interview with the Jaguars to concentrate on getting the job with the Jets.

If this is the move to be made, it is a truly excellent choice.  The 49ers roster is excellent, from the top to the bottom.  He will do a great job of turning our roster around, and he has a good relationship with Rex Ryan, dating back to when their fathers worked together in Philadelphia.

This is not a done deal yet, and we will bring you more as it becomes available.

Happy new year, Jets fans. And so it begins, the search is on. Mike Tannenbaum is gone, and out of the building. The search begins to find the man who is going to lead the Jets forward. Bill Polian has reportedly turned down an interview, so on they go.

The Jets reached out to two candidates yesterday, Tom Gamble from the San Francisco 49ers, and Marc Ross from the New York Giants. They have been granted permission to talk to Ross, no word on Gamble from the 49ers as of yet. With all of that, and these guys being relative unknowns, I thought it might be high time to give you guys some background on each of these candidates. We’ll start with Marc Ross:

Marc is the Giants’ director of college scouting, and has been in that position for the past 5 years, running the college scouting department and the draft. His first draft came in 2007, when he chose guys such as Mario Manningham, and Kenny Phillips, among others.

He was an intern with the Giants in 1995, before leaving to work at Columbia University after training camp. He came back to the NFL in 1996 with the Eagles, where he scouted until the year 2000, when he became the scouting director, drafting players such as Brian Westbrook and Lito Sheppard. Before the Giants, his stop after Philadelphia was with the Bills, as a national college scout.

Tom Gamble is his 7th year with the 49ers, and 24th overall in the NFL. He was promoted to Director of Player Personnel in February of 2011, after serving the previous seven years as the director of Pro Personnel. His experience is vast, ranging from scouting at all levels, to contracts, to even some coaching. He actually spent time as a defensive assistant with our beloved New York Jets, from 1995-1996 (the glory years). He was then a part-time scout for the Carolina Panthers, before working as a pro scout for the Baltimore Ravens in 1997.

With the Niners, he oversees both pro and college personnel. Previously, as director of Pro Personnel he concentrated on scouting free agents, while maintaining the depth charts on the 49ers roster(a big need for us). His expanded role included use in college scouting, to maximize his abilties as a talent evaluator.

Both of the