I did a story in Hofstra WR Charles Sullivan which you can read here. The Nanuet native will be heading across campus for the Jets rookie minicamp this weekend.

I know this is the JETS, but I also wrote on the Giants, here. They are visiting the White House today. If you hate them, pass on the link to your bandwagon-hopping friends who bought their first Giants jersey after last year’s Super Bowl.

As for which rookie stands to make the greatest impact, I’m always skeptical that the rookie free agents will ever become more than practice players. The odds are against them, which is why it’s such a great story when a kid like Rob Turner rises above. Anyone else?

(Photo courtesy Hofstra athletics.)

I was out at the Giants practice today, where QB Eli Manning said he was glad WR Jeremy Shockey hadn’t been traded in all the draft dealing. Meanwhile, back at the Jets…

Charles Sullivan, a wide receiver from Hofstra, will be heading to Jets rookie camp this weekend along with teammate Kareem Huggins, a running back from Irvington, N.J.

Sullivan went to St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, N.J. along with Ron Girault from Spring Valley, who signed with Kansas City after the NFL draft.

To that list of Jets campers, add RB Danny Woodhead from Chadron State, Bryan Mattison, an Iowa DE and Jehuu Caulcrick a Michigan State RB.

The rookies arrive Thursday and aren’t official until they sign Thursday, but clearly the Jets front office is pulling in the running backs.

I’m trying out all the bells and whistles on the blog, and I’m checking to see if I can upload photos, so here I go.

This is an Indian Point Siren. In an ironic twist of fate, my roller derby league—What up Suburbia!—had a team draft on the second day of the NFL draft, and I am a Siren. First bout (that’s like a game, only with skates) is on May 31 at E.J. Murray’s rink in Yonkers. Test link: Suburbia.com

The Jets just waived FB Stacy Tutt and TE Joseph Kowalewski, which means they have 10 roster spots to work with given the firm 80-player limit this year. In the past, teams couls add another five players, and waive them to play in NFL Europe. No NFL Europe, no extra five spots.

It means fewer college football players overall will be signed this year.

The Jets won’t comment on potential unsigned rookies until the ink is dry on the contract, but I just got off the phone with Iowa’s sports information director Phil Haddy, who confirmed that DE Bryan Mattison will sign a free agent contract with the Jets.

I led with the addition of Tennessee QB Erik Ainge in today’s Journal News, story here.

IMHO, it’s a little too early to call winners and losers in this draft, but ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. gets to break the rules. He gives the Jets a B- and here is his reasoning:

“New York Jets: GRADE: B-
Lining up opposite Calvin Pace, OLB Vernon Gholston has a chance to get a lot of sacks in his rookie season. Tight end Dustin Keller can be used in a lot of different ways and will give the passing game some much-needed juice. Dwight Lowery had a great junior season at corner for San Jose state, but his grade tailed off as a senior. Erik Ainge does not have that wow factor you like to see in a quarterback, but he has great pocket awareness. And he has the ability to make throws when he’s outside the pocket. Ainge has a little bit of that “it” factor. Kansas wide receiver Marcus Henry does not have a lot of speed and doesn’t separate well, but he caught the ball very effectively. I liked the Jets’ picks, but I thought they would have taken wide receiver a bit earlier in the draft.”

For those of you scoring at home, the Jets traded away their third round pick to the Packers and picked up a 4th and a 5th rounder. With 113, the team picked Dwight Lowery, a CB/FS from San Jose State. With No. 162 they picked up Tennessee QB Erik Ainge, then at 171 got Kansas WR Marcus Henry. With No. 211, the Jets go with Nate Garner, a 6-7, 318-pound OT from Arkansas.

Here’s a funny slip. When Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum came into the green and white press cage here in Hempstead, he discussed the picks including Nate Turner. Couple things could’ve accounted for that error:

A) Exteme exhaustion after two days of intense focus.

B) No one knows who the heck this kid is.

3) He thought it was 1992 and he had just drafted a running back from Nebraska.

And here is #6 pick Vernon Gholston talking about whether he might have more room than other players to improve because he has only played football for five years.

Download:

Read about the Jets’ two first-round picks here.

Today, the Jets have a fourth, sixth and seventh round pick. I wouldn’t expect them to trade into the third, but with a tight end drafted in Dustin Keller, there might be a trade involving Chris Baker.

The Jets traded up, giving the Packers 2nd and 4th round picks to get Purdue tight end Dustin Keller with the 30th pick of the first round.

When it was announced, the NFL Network cameras panned to Jets fans in the Radio City crowd who looked… perplexed. Keller is 6-foot-2 and 248, and is is a better target than a blocker.

Talk about differing opinions, Sporting News has Keller going in the fourth round while Pro Football Weekly has him as the No. 2 tight end in the draft.

It was the next to last pick of the first round, which clocked in at over three and a half hours. Marathons are run in less time, and this despite the NFL instituting new 10-minute limits between picks, down five minutes from last year’s draft.

So that’s all for tonight, Jets fans. Do you like the Keller pick? Tight End was certainly not considered a huge need for the team going in to the draft. But maybe the team decided to go for an offensive player after missing out on McFadden.

The opportunity cost: among others CB Brandon Flowers, not to be confused with the lead singer for The Killers, which would have given me the opportunity to insert “Mr. Brightside” lyrics into every third post.

“The only thing Darren McFadden has ever wanted to do is play pro football,” Arkansas running backs coach Tim Horton said. “If he could’ve left after his sophomore year he would have.”

The way I see it, the Jets can consider themselves lucky Oakland made their pick easier. If you are a team that values character over talent, and the Jets say they do, then it’s hard to pick McFadden. His own history—babies on the way by different women and bar fights—is riddled with issues. To pretend that those will go away when he has a signing bonus worth millions in his back pocket is just self deception.

It’s one thing to be a team that takes on projects, but the Jets have set themselves apart. To draft McFadden would have been to turn away from that path. If the Jets want to do that, fine, but you can’t say you adhere to those principles and then draft a kid like McFadden.

His issues haven’t been resolved, and he’s about to become a much richer target.

The draft is underway. Miami picked Jake Long, who signed a contract with the team earlier this week. He is now being interviewed for the 4,569th time today, from what I’ve seen on the NFL Network and ESPN.

Jets fans are packed into the seats at Radio City Music Hall, one was holding a sign that read, “The Jets Draft Blunders End Today.”

St. Louis goes with Chris Long at #2. Falcons go with QB Matt Ryan.

RB Darren McFadden goes to the Raiders. Those character issues won’t land to the Jets, but neither will the explosive offense. Kansas City picks DE Glenn Dorsey. Which means that the Jets get the player they liked all along, DE Vernon Gholston, who will fit nicely into the 3-4 defense.