FanHouse Erik Ainge

After day one of New York's voluntary minicamp, new Jets head coach Rex Ryan spent the better part of a 25-minute press conference cracking jokes and talking confidently about his team. It wasn't all fun and games, though, as Ryan also had to briefly address the absences of quarterback Erik Ainge and running back Thomas Jones from the team's offseason activities.

Jones' absence is believed to be contract-related. The 30-year-old Jones is entering the third season of a four-year, $20 million contract, but is making just $900,000 base pay in 2009 and coming off a season where he racked up 1,300-plus rushing yards.

Brett Favre's retired (knock on wood), Jay Cutler wound up in Chicago instead of New York, and frankly, the Jets just need someone to start at quarterback next season. Currently left on the Favre-less roster are Kellen Clemens, Brett Ratliff and Erik Ainge, and of that group, only Clemens has seen NFL action.

So perhaps that's the reason why Clemens feels he's going to be the Jets' guy. On Thursday, Clemens told the New York Post that, "It's my full expectation to be under center opening day.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

What a difference five weeks made for the New York Jets. From 8-3 to 9-7. from Eric Mangini as head coach to Rex Ryan, and from Brett Favre as the starting quarterback to, well, your guess is as good as ours. Those last five games sent the franchise into yet another new direction, one that will only start coming into focus when free agency opens on Feb. 27.

Lost amid all the hoopla of Brett Favre arriving in New York to save the Jets, and the sad faces of Chad Pennington supporters as he was unceremoniously ushered out of town, is the plight of Kellen Clemens, the 2006 second-round pick some people expected to win the starting gig before all hell broke loose last week.

Now, after one preseason game in which Clemens was an uneventful 4 of 6 for 31 yards, it looks like he might not even be the team's No. 2 quarterback. You see, Brett Ratliff looked solid against the Browns (14 for 20, 252 yards, 2 TDs) and he could end up winning the right to back up Favre.

According to the New York Daily News' Rich Cimini, Ratliff was an afterthought heading into camp, but after one preseason game, he's opening some eyeballs.

That would be a crushing blow to Clemens, who opened camp in an open competition with Chad Pennington for the starting job. Clemens' uneven play, coupled with Ratliff's dramatic improvement, has created some uncertainty. Monday, Ratliff shared some of the second-team snaps with Clemens.

"You can't read too much into it," Clemens said. "If something happens, Coach will say something."

There is good news for Clemens, however; rookie fifth-rounder Erik Ainge is skrugglin', so there's no chance he falls to fourth on the depth chart. "He's funny," Eric Mangini said of Ainge. "Some of his throws have been funny, too."

I'm pretty sure Mangini wasn't being laudatory there.

New York Jets 2008 Draft Picks:

Round 1 (6): Vernon Gholston, DE/LB, Ohio State
Round 1 (30): Dustin Keller, TE, Purdue
Round 4 (113): Dwight Lowery, CB, San Jose State
Round 5 (162): Erik Ainge, QB, Tennessee
Round 6 (171): Marcus Henry, WR, Kansas
Round 7 (211): Nate Garner, OT, Arkansas

The Good: There might not be a player with Gholston's upside in the entire draft. A physical freak who made a mess of offensive lines in big games, Gholston could have a Shawne Merriman-type impact on the Jets pass rush. The questions about his consistency and effort need to be answered but there wasn't another player the Jets could've taken with this pick. Henry will be a good red zone target and Garner is a road grader in the run game. Keller will definitely help the offense. Even though he doesn't block, he catches the ball well and creates matchup issues. Brian Schottenheimer will use him in a variety of ways but ...

The Bad: did they really need to trade up to pick him? I don't think he was worth the fourth-round pick they gave up nor the fact that the contract issue with Chris Baker will now be a full-fledged distraction. Lowery isn't fast enough to man up with receivers which will be a problem if the Jets commit to being an attacking defense. Maybe he moves to safety? Either way the four you spent on Keller could have been used to get a better corner, which was a bigger need.

Here's some useful trivia to amaze your friends with this week: after two weeks of play the NCAA passing leader isn't from Texas Tech. No sir. It's none other than New Mexico State's Chase Holbrook.

Who?

You know, the guy with 153 more yards than Texas Tech's Graham Harrell. Holbrook has completed 69% of his passes so far, throwing for 853 yards and six touchdowns against just one interception. Harrell is second with 718 yards and Tennessee's Erik Ainge is third with 624 yards, another 229 yards behind Holbrook.

How did this happen, you ask? Well look no further than the Aggie coach, Hal Mumme. He's the man who lifted the cobwebs off Kentucky's offense as their coach, recruited Tim Couch and started tossin' the pigskin around a little. And now he's found some success in the WAC, natch.

Holbrook is a 6'-5" sophomore, lured to New Mexico State after playing a few games with Mumme at I-AA Southeast Louisiana. Thanks to a second year running the system, the Aggie offense has taken off with Holbrook behind center after inheriting quarterbacks recruited for the previous option-based offense.

So far, the Aggies are 1-1, having defeated Southeastern Louisiana 30-15 and losing a wild one to New Mexico 34-28. In that game, Holbrook set a school record with 37 completions and threw for 472 yards with four touchdowns.

Holbrook should continue to put up huge numbers with a host of WAC defenses to prey upon. His next two games are against Texas Southern and UTEP.

Now you know.