Play Like You Mean It: Passion, Laughs, and Leadership in the World's Most Beautiful Game (20 page)

The same thing I did with the paint over the window in my office. I’m taking it down.

C
oming into my first year as head coach with the Jets, we knew there was a pretty good chance that Brett Favre was planning to leave. If we were going to be successful, the most important person that we had to draft was someone who could lead. It had to be someone who could take control of this franchise. For a quarterback, we set our sights on Mark Sanchez.

For the record, let me clarify that previous statement. Mike Tannenbaum and I set our sights on Mark Sanchez. Mike and I were determined to draft Sanchez. Of course, now that he’s become the first quarterback in NFL history to win four playoff games in his first two seasons, everyone in our organization says they wanted Mark!

Who wouldn’t want to be responsible for making Mark a Jet? There isn’t a single person in this franchise who doesn’t respect him as a person and as a player. Honestly, the kid is unbelievable. He’s not just a guy with
GQ
good looks and a good arm. He’s the real deal. He has all the intangibles: talent, charisma, intellect, and leadership abilities. I believe Mark’s going to be extraordinary in the
NFL. I have believed that since I first met him. I refer to him as “my baby.” I know that may not be the most masculine way to put it, but it’s the truth, he is absolutely my baby. He wasn’t just my first draft pick as an NFL head coach; he was the first of many important decisions I was going to make for this franchise. He’s my guy, and I’m damn proud of it! I still have his draft card at home, tucked away in a drawer. I plan to get it framed one day.

Statistics say that if you are a rookie head coach and you use a first-round draft pick on a quarterback, you will not make it more than four years in that head coaching job. Those are the numbers. Frankly, I think that’s BS. You have to have a franchise quarterback. Look around—you can’t win in this league without one. So when the time came, the last thing I was going to do was let a few facts and figures keep me from going after Mark.

I’ll tell you this, though: We weren’t the only ones who were after Sanchez. Other teams liked him, too, and we sat relatively low—too low to draft Sanchez—with the 17th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Needless to say, finding a way to make that pick happen wasn’t easy. Mark’s coach at USC, Pete Carroll, wasn’t used to his quarterbacks leaving school early. Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart and John David Booty stayed for their senior seasons at USC. Carroll made it clear he thought Sanchez should do the same.

A fourth-year junior, Mark waited until the last day that players could announce their intention to enter the NFL Draft early to make his plans known. At the press conference called for him to make his announcement Sanchez and Carroll sat together at a table, and Carroll looked as if that was the last place he wanted to be. Carroll knew Sanchez intended to leave, and he wasn’t happy with the decision. He believed that Mark, who had only started 16 games at USC, could benefit by another year in college. Carroll actually left the news conference before Sanchez could take questions. It appeared awkward, but both downplayed Carroll’s exit, and I know for a fact that the two are still good friends.

While NFL personnel may have been concerned by Sanchez’s lack of experience, Sanchez believed all four years of his time at USC—not just the 16 games he started—actually helped his preparation. He cited the team’s talent—many of his teammates had gone on to the NFL—and the opportunity to play in the Trojans’ pro-style offense.

When Sanchez declared for the draft, he was considered a first-round prospect, but his stock climbed during the months leading up to the draft to the point that no one would have been surprised if he was picked in the top five. Sanchez was described as a player who could be groomed to become a leading man in the NFL. He was exactly what we needed in this franchise.

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I was part of a group of Jets officials that included Woody Johnson, Mike Tannenbaum, Brian Schottenheimer, and Matt Cavanaugh that met with Sanchez in March 2009. We sneaked him through a back door at the California hotel where the NFL meetings were being held. We gave him an X’s and O’s quiz that he aced, no problem. All of us were so impressed by him.

The next day we watched him throw in a private workout at his alma mater, Mission Viejo High School. I couldn’t believe it. Schottenheimer put Mark through every workout known to man and he passed every one of them with flying colors. We knew, I think right then, that this was the guy we really wanted. Still, it wasn’t just because of his arm that I wanted Mark. It went deeper.

We had gone to Kansas State earlier to meet and watch Josh Freeman. He was a great quarterback prospect, big, strong, and talented. You want to like Freeman the best, and, of course, he’s now a starter in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yet just two receivers showed for Freeman’s workout when we visited. Two. We worked out Sanchez and the guy had 24 receivers there. Twenty-four! That’s more than enough players to field two football teams. They had come as volunteers because they wanted to help Mark
as he was auditioning for us. I have to tell you, in all my years, I’ve never seen 24 guys show up to another guy’s workout.

That’s not all. When we arrived at Sanchez’s high school, a field hockey game was scheduled for the field. The two teams, with no questions asked or complaints, delayed the game so Mark could get his private workout in for us. The teams had absolutely no problem with it whatsoever. Why? Because they LOVE Mark Sanchez and both teams and their coaches respected him that much. The kids sat and watched Mark’s entire workout. The coaches actually asked Mark if he needed more time. Everyone pulled for this kid. To me, that spoke volumes about Mark Sanchez. My mind was made up; he had to be a Jet.

This is also a young man who lived an hour away from Southern Cal; yet he’d bring his receivers to his home in the off-season for workouts. They’d eat, train, go to a local theme park—and Mark still found the time to wash and fold everyone’s laundry. I don’t know what it is, but it is amazing, that charisma. I can’t think of anybody who doesn’t like Mark Sanchez. Anybody.

Naturally, the NFL scouts liked Sanchez, too. He made all the throws—in the pocket and on the run. He was a leader. He was confident and poised. Sanchez handled the pressure of playing for a national championship contender at USC and of playing in a large news media market like Los Angeles. I knew he could handle New York. I didn’t believe Mark was afraid of the big stage at all.

The trouble was, other teams such as Seattle (No. 4 pick), Cleveland (No. 5), and Washington (No. 13) expressed serious interest in Sanchez as the draft drew closer. At No. 17, we were sure there was no way Sanchez would be available when it was our turn to select.

Quarterbacks, of course, are the face of a franchise. They usually make the most money and are placed under the most scrutiny. In the 10 years from 1998 to 2008, a quarterback was chosen first overall eight times in the NFL Draft. That equaled the number of times a quarterback was picked No. 1 in the previous 30 years combined.

Honestly, quarterbacks weren’t in high demand in 2009. Stafford, Sanchez, and Freeman were considered first-round selections, but
NFL staffs had to dig a lot deeper to find other early-round quarterback gems.

That’s why the pressure was on Tannenbaum. We wanted Sanchez, and Mike needed to make a deal that would give us the top-five pick required to draft Sanchez. Tannenbaum worked his magic and turned to an unlikely source—Eric Mangini, the coach he fired after the 2008 season—to make the blockbuster trade that allowed us to draft Sanchez.

Tannenbaum and Mangini remained on good terms and their professionalism allowed both to do what they felt was best for their teams. This was business. On the day the draft started, Tannenbaum pulled off a five-for-one deal with the Browns to give us the fifth overall pick. Many in the media called us the splash team of the draft, and that was our intention.

To acquire Sanchez, we traded our first- and second-round choices (No. 17 and No. 52), plus three players—defensive end Kenyon Coleman, quarterback Brett Ratliff, and safety Abram Elam.

Only Coleman was projected as a starter for us. We liked Ratliff, too, and he had the potential to be our quarterback of the future. But I believed in Sanchez and was prepared to make him the Jets’ highest-drafted quarterback since Joe Namath was selected first in the 1965 AFL Draft.

The NFL Draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and consisted of seven rounds. It’s always a big event that attracts the die-hard fans. It’s a party. The 2009 draft was televised by both the NFL Network and ESPN and was the first to have cheerleaders. The Detroit Lions, who became the first team in NFL history to finish a season at 0-16, used the first pick in the draft to select Stafford, as expected.

The next three picks—Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith to the Rams, LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson to the Chiefs, and linebacker Aaron Curry to the Seahawks—were announced, though it seemed to take an eternity for each team to hand in their cards. Thankfully, it was finally our turn, and Sanchez was our man.

The media called it an aggressive move; I called it a smart one. Mark was at his agent’s offices in Irvine, California, at the time and was watching the draft on television. He busted into a wide smile, pumped his fist, and pulled on a Jets cap. I don’t know who had the bigger grin—Mark or me.

I also knew there were teams that were bluffing during our negotiations to trade up for Sanchez, asking way too much in return. We were on the telephone with St. Louis Rams general manager Billy Devaney. I’ve known Billy for years, and he tried to hire me once. Billy suggested they may have an interest in Mark and asked me, “Rex, if that happens, what are you going to do?” I told him I was scheduled to take the next flight out, heading to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and I was determined to talk Brett Favre into coming back to play for the Jets.

If we hadn’t traded up, our plan was to select Florida receiver Percy Harvin. And then I was going to head straight to Mississippi to get Favre to come back to New York. Instead, I have the quarterback who will be here with me for the next 10 years, count on it.

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Honestly, Mark and I are a lot alike. He feels a constant need to prove his doubters wrong, all those people who believe he needed to remain in college for his senior season. I am the same way.

When I kept getting passed over for head jobs and finally was hired by the Jets, I told the team, “You know what? I am going to take it out on the NFL.” Sure, I held a grudge. I told anyone who would listen, “My guys are going to be better than they have ever been, and that’s a fact. We’re in a preseason game against Atlanta and don’t think for a second that I had forgotten what I had promised. Get frickin’ ready, because I am going to show you.” That’s just who I am. Mark Sanchez is the exact same way.

I told Mark when we drafted him, “Hey, buddy, get ready. We’ll be together for 10 years.” And the funny thing is that 10 years would nearly be a record with the Jets for a head coach. I am the Jets’ 14th
head coach since Coach Weeb Ewbank lasted 10 years (1963 to 1973) as the top man for the Jets. In fact, only Walt Michaels (1977–82) and Joe Walton (1983–89) coached longer than five consecutive years.

The pressure in New York City is different. The New York media will kill you if you’re not successful. If I wanted security, I could have gone to St. Louis or somewhere else more forgiving and out of the glare of the major media outlets. But, no, I came to New York City because I am competitive, and that’s what I told Mark. We are going to do it; we are going to make this work.

Among the things I love most about Mark is that he’s focused, he’s funny, and he keeps it light.

One night after Mark, Mr. Johnson, and I ate at a Mexican restaurant—my assistants call it “Rexican” since it’s my favorite food—we headed out the door. There was a gorgeous, high-end motorcycle parked out front. What did Mark do? He straddled the thing like he was going to crank it and ride it home. I was thinking, “Oh, shit, we can’t have this.” But Mark was just having fun. He climbed off and admired it, making sure he left no smudges on the machine. That’s him. He has a quick wit and doesn’t take himself too seriously, yet he’s competitive as hell. He’s one of those “I will show you” kind of guys.

The guy always thinks of others, too.

I weighed 310 pounds at the start of the 2009 season and have actually gained 30 pounds since the Jets hired me. I have tried every diet known to man over the years, including a liquid diet during the 2009 training camp. I dropped 20 pounds but quickly gained it right back. I knew I was too fat, so I decided to have a lap-band procedure. It’s not an invasive procedure, but it can be dicey. A plastic band is inserted and encircles a patient’s stomach, effectively shrinking it and curbing the appetite. After I had lap-band surgery at NYU Medical Center in March 2010, Mark was the only player who telephoned and stopped by the house to see how I was feeling. I wasn’t the only member of the Ryan family that Mark cared about. He never missed one of my son Seth’s high school freshman football games. He came to every single one, sitting in the bleachers like any other fan.

Of course, the Jets also made sure Mark could buy a ticket to Seth’s games! In June 2009, Mark became the highest-paid player in Jets history. He signed a five-year contract that included a team-record $28 million in guarantees.

It was a credit to Tannenbaum and Mark’s representatives—David Dunn and Mark’s brother, Nick Sanchez—to get the deal done so quickly. Sanchez also handled the announcement of his contract with his usual grace and style. He said his contract was accompanied by a lot of responsibility, just like being the quarterback for the New York Jets. The bottom line was that Mark wanted to make sure he could be in training camp on time and compete for the starter’s role with Kellen Clemens. He was just the second of 32 first-round picks to sign, which is rare for a quarterback picked that high.