The Jets bet the house on QB Mark Sanchez, and might be done for the day.

So here’s what the Jets need to get in the later rounds.

Wide receiver. Laverneus Coles is gone, there are good candidates in house (Brad Smith, Wallace Wright and David Clowney) but in a draft rich with WRs the later rounds is a good place to pick one up.

Safety: The Jets sent Abe Elam to Cleveland which means the Jets have Kerry Rhodes, Eric Smith, Jim Leonhard and James Ihedigbo on the roster at that spot. This was a problem area last year, and Elam’s departure menas there’s just one reliable backup.

Tight end: No Brandon Pettigrew, but with just Dustin Keller on the roster the Jets need another TE. Preferably of the burly, blocking variety.

Running back: Someone with a little more size than the current crop.

Put his name in lights, Mark Sanchez is coming to New York. The USC quarterback may have only started in 16 games, but the Jets saw what they needed to when they went to his alma mater Mission Viejo High School to work him out.

That high school was 20 minutes away from the Jets hotel for the league meetings in mid-March, so Jets coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum brought him back to talk some more about a mock playbook. Sanchez said a lot of the plays were similar to USC’s, and he impressed the Jets with his ability to absorb that information.

“I felt like we really connected,” Sanchez said via conference call late this afternoon.

Last night Tannenbaum started talking to Cleveland about trading picks and three players, DE Kenyon Coleman, S Abe Elam and QB Brett Ratliff to the Browns for the fifth pick of the draft. Scoring at home: that’s five guys for one quarterback. No, they aren’t big names, but Cleveland coach Eric Mangini is familiar enough with this team not to take what he considers junk.

Irony alert: Cleveland’s coach is Eric Mangini, and Sanchez shares an agent with the Jets remaining QB, Kellen Clemens.

There will be a contest now between Sanchez and Clemens for the starting spot.

“I’ve never grown up dreaming of being a backup,” Sanchez said.

He said he looked forward to the chance to compete, and imagined Clemens did as well. The GM said he talked to Clemens about the pick and that Clemens was a pro about it.

Tannenbaum was asked if the Jets were done for the day after trading both Saturday picks, and he smiled. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said.

The Jets traded up and got the No. 5 pick from Cleveland (Hi Eric? This is Mike) and grabbed USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.

They traded this year’s first and second rounder, and Kenyon Coleman, Abram Elam and Brett Ratliff. More later…

If you aren’t on Twitter.com, here’s what you’re missing. Literally thousands of NFL fans interacting while watching the NFL Draft. Set up an account and search #NFLDraft to follow the stream of thoughts, or follow Jets watchers like me and The Jets Blog (or even Kerry Rhodes and Nick Mangold, amoung active Jets).

Here are some of my recent Tweets:

RT @tristanFine Stafford has never taken an NFL snap and is now earning more than any other play. Can you say Rookie Pay Scale? #nfldraft

@thejetsblog who needs a website on draft day?! Who needs all that traffic?

On site at Florham Park: Jets writers are in the interview room, laptops on laps, watching an HD screen with ESPN #NFLdraft

OK Jets fans, draft starts in 12 minutes. That’s 10 mins. between picks and 172 minutes until Tannenbaum gets the green light. #NFLdraft

Guesses on the Jets picks—Trade up for WR Michael Crabtree, trade up for QB Sanchez, stay @17 for WR Maclin/Heywood-Bey or TE Pettigrew.

When Berman does Ralph Kramden, it’s time to cut to commercial or start the damn draft.

Jets are hosting a big party in Florham Park for potential PSL buyers. And I’m guessing that’s not the 5K variety…

@woodyjohnson4 just had lunch in the Jets cafeteria and is getting down to business…
about 2 hours ago from web

Just helped Steve Overmyer set up his Twitter account @snysteve
about 2 hours ago from web

Jets RB Leon Washington on what draft day is like when they’re looking at your position. http://bit.ly/IxP7w

I have found the owner, and he is woodyjohnson4. He’ll be tweeting all draft long… (Interested to see how this goes…)

Spirited talk at Jets about who team will draft. Pause. Jets PR: “Can you believe we still have two hours to go before this thing starts?”

Do you have to be a first round QB? I break down the current NFL starters by round they were drafted http://bit.ly/5bZ4x

I went over to the Heartland Brewery earlier today, where Leon Washington and Jerricho Cotchery were doing some radio interviews as part of their sponsorship agreements with Reebok. It got me to thinking about what it’s like to be a current player on the Jets roster—any NFL roster—and know that you could get a vote of no confidence at some point in the next two days.

“That’s one thing about this sport,”Washington said. “The young guys are hot.”

Last year, while the Jets were in the middle of a contract dispute with TE Chris Baker, the team traded up to get Dustin Keller towards the end of the first round. Washington is aware of that, and aware that the current dispute with Thomas Jones could make it more crowded at his position.

“Everything’s a possibility. They could draft a quarterback they could draft a running back. They could trade Jerricho today and he’d be playing for the Detroit Lions,” Leon said, with his teammate laughing a seat away. “As a player you don’t want to see a guy get drafted at your position, it’s something you need to tighten up on. And that’s what makes the NFL draft so intriguing because there’s no definite answers set in stone.”

So this morning Washington started thinking about what it must feel like to be Kellen Clemens.

An audio clip of that.

0425leon

“I get a little feeling when they being in a free agent running back, I think, man I have to tighten up my game,” Washington said.

At the same time, he thinks competition at different positions makes players better. Washington was a fourth rounder with a knock on him as a small back who wouldn’t be able to compete at the pro level. He thinks the late rounds of the draft are where the real work is done.

(The post below lists all the current starting QBs in the NFL by round they were drafted in.)

So maybe Leon wouldn’t be the best General Manager. I asked him what he’d do as Mike Tannenbaum.

“If I’m the GM, I’m thinking, ‘Man you know what? I’m going to pick somebody where I don’t get blamed for it.’”

P.S. Follow me on Twitter—I’m tweeting all draft long at Janesports.

A lot of fans are on the fence about whether or not to draft a quarterback, and does it make any sense to get one at No. 17 after Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez are gone. So I spent the morning looking at the current starting QBs around the league (and it’s too early to slot Stafford for the Lions no matter how much of a lock it is) and here’s what the numbers say.

Of those who would start a game before 4 p.m. today, 15 were first round picks. Four were the No. 1 pick of the draft, and four were undrafted. The rest fall somewhere in the middle. For the purposes of argument I’m using Kellen Clemens as the Jets starter and he was a second rounder.

Clearly, you don’t need a first rounder to be competitive, and it isn’t just the statistical anomolies like Kurt Warner who prove that. But you can read this list a few ways.

Top picks: Peyton Manning (Colts), JaMarcus Russell (Raiders), Eli Manning (Giants), Carson Palmer (Bengals).

First rounders: Brady Quinn (Bengals), Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh), Kerry Collins (Titans), Phillip Rivers (Chargers), Donovan McNabb (Eagles), Jason Campbell (Redskins), Jay Cutler (Chicago), Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay), Matt Ryan (Falcons), Joe Flacco (Ravens) and Chad Pennington (Dolphins).

Second: Kellen Clemens (Jets), Drew Brees (Saints).

Third: Matt Schaub (Texans), Trent Edwards (Bills).

Fourth: David Garrard (Jags), Kyle Orton (Broncos), Sage Rosenfels (Vikings), Luke McCown (Tampa Bay).

Fifth: Dan Orlowsky (Lions).

Sixth: Tom Brady (Patriots), Marc Bulger (Rams), Matt Hasselbeck (Seattle).

Undrafted: Tony Romo (Cowboys), Jake Delhomme (Carolina), Kurt Warner (Arizona), Shaun Hill (San Francisco).

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was on ESPN’s Mike & Mike in the Morning today. He talked about a lot of league issues, and since you’re thinking about football right now you might as well study up…

Thoughts on a rookie wage scale…
“It’s really had a dramatic impact on the way we pay our players and the way teams are built in the draft. … It’s not that I’m opposed to the rookies getting money, I think that’s great. But I think the veterans that have proven themselves on the NFL Level deserve the bulk of the compensation. When a player is drafted and doesn’t make it and he takes that money out of the system, that’s a disadvantage to the other players in the league. That’s what I keep trying to get across. We need to keep the money in the system and it needs to go to the veterans that deserve it. … It’s a relatively simple fix if we sit down and address it.”

On ticket prices around the NFL…
”We’re not going to be immune from the economy. We recognize that our fans are hurting. They’ve got a lot of uncertainty and fear. Twenty-four of our 32 teams did not increase ticket prices and the other eight did so modestly and in certain categories. We’re trying to work with our fans…do things to help them through a difficult period of time.”

On Michael Vick…
”I’ve always said I’ll look at this as soon as his legal proceedings have concluded. We may start reviewing or analyzing the circumstances as it becomes more clear. … I’m going to want to talk to a lot of people. I want to talk to professionals. I want to talk to Michael himself. I may want to talk to some of the people around him. And, I want to understand how he feels about what’s happened in his life. Does he have genuine remorse, does he have regret? Does he understand the significance of what he did, which is a horrific act? Is he going to change the way he’s going to act going forward? That’s the most important thing to me. He’s paid a heavy price. Is he going to turn around and be a positive influence on something he recognizes was a horrific act?”

On expanding the season to 17 or 18 regular season games…
”We still have the shortest season in professional sports by a long shot — almost two months. I think everyone recognizes the quality of our preseason is not up to standards. If we have the opportunity to find a way to change two meaningless games to two meaningful games that’s good for our fans and good for our partners and good for the game.”

My counterpart on the Giants beat, Ernie Palladino, and I will host a video Q&A today at noon to discuss the Giants and Jets.

We’ll go over draft prospects, (Redskins trade up for Mark Sanchez and trade Jason Campbell to the Jets?) and why Dustin Keller is the only tight end on the current roster. Let’s work through the madness together.

Here is a link and the actual address is http://bit.ly/11ORT3.

UPDATE: For those of you who missed the AMAZING chat, please click on the link above and hit “on demand” for a replay. Also, I will be sending out draft updates via Twitter. Follow by searching my name or my tag, Janesports.

Above, a still shot of the chat, where Ernie does a magic trick and pulls a quarter out of his ear.

Rex Ryan was so impressed by the Jets draft room, that he nearly invited reporters up there last week. It was the kind of gesture made by the larger than life coach who plays quarterback for the defense on certain drills, and it would not have been extended under prior administrations.

“I wish maybe after the draft or something we can go in there and show you, give you an idea of what they look at, where they have grades, all that kind of stuff,” Ryan said earnestly.

Clearly, he said that before checking with the general manager. If the NFL didn’t dictate that teams hold a pre-draft press conference, Mike Tannenbaum wouldn’t have followed Ryan on the podium. Tannenbaum, personnel head Terry Bradway and leading scout Joey Clinkscales, gave a 12 minute overview on the process of picking a player, and Tannenbaum spent the next 12 minutes bobbing and weaving through 21 questions.

Would he at least concede that the bulk of the picks would be offensive players after stocking the defense during free agency?

“We are going to try to let the board, as much as possible, dictate what we do,” Tannenbaum said. “You just never know who is going to go. Certainly our numbers, as (offensive coordinator) Brian Schottenheimer has walked by my office twice-a-day, everyday, are a little skewed right now from a strictly numbers standpoint, but we really want to take the best player possible.”

And if that player is a linebacker?

“Uh, then we’ll take the best player,” Tannenbaum said.

He did hear about Ryan’s offer to open up the draft room, and made it clear that wouldn’t be happening.

“We are going to make his playbook available instead,” Tannenbaum said, laughing.

DON’T FORGET —Tomorrow at noon Ernie Palladino from the Giant Journal and I will be hosting a video chat to talk about the Jets and Giants draft.

Keep reading… I detail the Jets needs on draft day below…

The Jets have a few glaring needs, and most of them are on offense. The Jets are being cagey with their options, as is every other NFL team, but we can read the tea leaves and see which way they might go.

Wide receiver — When Laveranues Coles and the Jets parted way at the end of the season it opened up a spot for a receiver to compliment Jerricho Cotchery, which means speed is the quality the Jets need. Since the Jets have the No. 17 pick in the first round and the 52nd pick overall in the second round. There are a number of talented wide receivers in the draft this year, including Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Jeremy Maclin (Missouri), Darius Heyward-Bey (Maryland) and Kenny Britt from Rutgers. If they decide to go for a wide receiver, the Jets could trade down and pick up an additional pick, and still get a high quality player. If they opt for a different player in the first round, they could trade up for one in the second or go for a player like Hakeem Nicks, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound burner out of North Carolina.

Quarterback — Rex Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum have said they like the quarterbacks they have. So why have they been looking so closely at Mark Sanchez from USC, who mysteriously booked a trip back to New York yesterday? The Jets would have to trade up to get him, which Tannenbaum has been known to do for players he likes (think Dustin Keller in the first round last year). If not, the Jets could try to get Kansas State’s Josh Freeman with No. 17. If they go for a QB, the Jets need to get one in the first round since it doesn’t make any sense to have four unspectacular QBs on the roster.

Those are the most obvious needs. But in later rounds the Jets will need to pick up a few other positions.

Running back — The Jets are having issues with Thomas Jones, who wants more money this season after being the leading rusher in the AFC. Aside from Jones, the Jets running backs have something in common: size. They are all pretty small (Danny Woodhead, Leon Washington), and the Jets could use someone with a little more bulk to compliment the current set.

Tight end — The depth chart lists Dustin Keller, drafted late in the first round last season out of Purdue. He was impressive in his rookie year, but in the absence of Bubba Franks and with Chris Baker heading to New England, the Jets need a blocking tight end.

Offensive line — Alan Faneca and Damien Woody aren’t getting any younger, and it’s in the Jets best interest to get one now to get him in the system for a year before needing a starter.

Defense — Yes, the Jets picked up NT Howard Green, DE Marques Douglas, LBs Bart Scott and Larry Izzo, S Jim Leonhard and CB Lito Sheppard in free agency, but defensively-minded Ryan is probably going to push to fill a few more positions. Last year the team was negatively impacted whenever NT Kris Jenkins had to sit with his back injury, and the Jets need a more reliable replacement when he does. Another safety might also be on the board.