In today’s paper, we have the full story from yesterday, with comments from Jets coach Eric Mangini—who said he hadn’t talked to tight end Chris Baker about the contract impasse—and general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who answered questions using a memorized set of talking points such as: Baker signed a contact and we expect him to be on the team.

Although, that seems to be the prevailing point of view on this board given the responses to the Baker posts on the blog.

One thing I will say to the idea that athletes are spoiled and rich—and some are for sure—but Baker is no superstar and there are no guaranteed contracts in the NFL. What he makes now is it, and if he doesn’t make the roster next season he will have trained through high school and college for a job that lasted six years.

He will then need to find a second way to make money—be it coaching or freshening his skills from Michigan State. Hopefully he invested well. But this—the height of his career—is the time to press his advantage in the business sense.

• His skills didn’t seem rusty yesterday even though he missed all the voluntary team workouts. Baker even made a nifty one-handed catch in practice. He took reps with fellow tight end Bubba Franks, while Dustin Keller and Jason Pociask were the second string.

• Pete Kendall, the guard who went through the same kind of contract dispute last year before being traded, and he was put in the rookie dorm. Baker said the Jets hadn’t done anything which might be construed as insulting to him.

Chris Baker was at the Jets mandatory minicamp today, but he let it be known that he wasn’t happy. The tight end said Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum had promised Baker’s ex-agent that his contract would be revisited after a strong year.

Baker feels like he delivered, but the Jets haven’t. Baker said that there hasn’t been any indication that anyone was willing to talk about his contract, even though coach Eric Mangini had lunch with him to keep him up to date on football matters.

Baker has a new agent in Jonathon Feinsod and Neil Schwartz, the agents who represented Pete Kendall last year. Baker went so far as to say that the Jets refusal to negotiate with Kendall, the team’s center, basically “tanked” the season last year. Here is the audio clip with that quote.

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Baker reiterated that he wanted a new contact or a trade, and that his gut said he would not be a Jet come the team’s first game of the season on September 7.

Looks like Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum is getting things in order with his front office staff, and will hire former Eagles director of player personnel Scott Cohen—announcement TK. A few others will get extensions and revamped titles, most likely in time for the mandatory minicamp starting Thursday.

More importantly (indulge me here or click to the poll and vote for your fave QB!) thanks to the roughly 700 people who packed E.J. Murray’s Skating Rink in Yonkers to see the first Suburbia Roller Derby exhibition. My own Indian Point Sirens won the second round, and then went to the afterparty at Barney McNabb’s just in time to see Kimbo Slice blow up some dude’s ear.

We may try to knock each other off the track, but usually the bloodletting is pretty limited. My fellow sportswriter Adam Zagoria came to see the bout and blogged about watching it and the MMA match in the same night.

Next bout is June 28 at Murray’s! Details are on the flier!

Bubba Franks, the former Green Bay tight end the Jets signed to a one-year contract earlier this year, is an imposing guy at 6-foot-6.

But in a lot of ways he’s like the new kid in school, studying plays and taking extra reps after practice. Now in his ninth NFL season, with two of the last three marred by injuries, the three-time Pro Bowl player has a year to make his case. Story is here.

He’s looked good in practice, catching passes in simulated red zone situations.

“That’s something that’s always been a strength of his,” Jets coach Eric Mangini said at the morning presser today.

The AP photo above is a flip pass from Brett Farve to No. 88 in a game against the Jets. Anyone remember it?

I know I’m new on the Jets beat, but even I can read the tea leaves on Danny Woodhead. The Chadron State running back has no chance of making the roster as a running back. So today the 5-foot-7 NCAA rushing leader returned punts. It looked like he’ll need a few more reps, but since this is the 8th of the team’s voluntary workouts he’s got some more time.

Jets coach Eric Mangini said he also thought acquisition RB Musa Smith would be used on special teams.

A couple of things from the practice. Quarterbacks Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens are still going 50/50 with the reps in practice. Pennington can’t be happy that he is competing for the starting spot for the second time in three years. Clemens has a great arm—youth and potential versus experience.

No. 6 draft pick Vernon Gholston will rejoin the team on June 6. He has to sit out because of arcane rules that say a college junior can’t practice with the team to draft him until the seniors at his University matriculate. Not sure what point that makes, but it means Gholston won’t be around for the first day of minicamp.

Running Back Musa Smith was signed by the Jets today. The 6-foot, 232 Smith was originally drafted by the Ravens in the third round of the 2003  draft, and in Baltimore he rushed for 496 yards and four touchdowns. He also caught 27 passes for 363 yards.

Jets DT Kris Jenkins lost 30 pounds and now uses phrases like “olive oil infused with truffles” with authority. Check out the story here.

It was a rainy morning, but things cleared up here at Jets HQ and the players were on the field in time for—the hailstorm. Literally. Earlier, we gleaned a few items from coach Eric Mangini.

Vernon Gholston isn’t here. NFL rules say that juniors have to wait until after the end of the school year before practicing with the teams that drafted him.

Erik Ainge’s finger is injured and wrapped, and he was on the field though he didn’t practice. Ainge was apparently able to name all 100-plus people in an earlier meeting. This impressed Mangini. No doubt he’s smart, but can his skills on the field also impress?

Chris Baker isn’t in camp either, still waiting to renegotiate his contract. Mangini said the lines of communication between the two were still open.

The picture is Kerry Rhodes, who got close enough to my cell phone camera for a decent shot.

The Jets announced today that they have signed CB Jonathan Zenon and CB Kenny Patton, both free agents. Zenon is a 6-foot, 176 pound player out of LSU, who had 91 tackles and nine interceptions in 41 games there. Patton at 5-11 and 193, played for Hawaii, and was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by Oakland last spring. In 42 collegiate games, Patton had 139 tackles and three interceptions.

The Jets announced today that they signed Nick Jarvis, a long snapper from Wake Forest who was at the three-day rookie minicamp the first weekend in May. Jarvis is 6-foot-3 and 271 pounds and was a four-year player for the Deacons.