Executive VP & GM Candidate: Mike Greenberg

Edition #780

☀️ Good morning ☕

NFL playoffs are truly up and running, I thought the Ravens looked the best team by far over wildcard weekend. We’ll see if Sam Darnold can do the business tonight against the Rams.

We spent the majority of last week focusing on the head coach search and that’s set to continue into this week with more interviews planned.

Today I’m going to switch it up and look at a GM candidate that the Jets interviews last week, Tampa Bay assistant general manager Mike Greenberg, not to be confused with the outspoken Jets fan and radio personality of the same name.

Will we get any new hires this week? Or is this search destined to go to the end of the month? My instinct says we’ll get a new GM before we get a new HC.

• The Jets interviewed Darren Rizzi for the HC job on Saturday.

• They also interviewed a number of GM candidates. Darren Mougey the assistant GM of the Denver Broncos. Lance Newmark, the assistant GM of the Washington Commanders. Trey Brown, the senior personnel director with the Bengals. Chris Spielman, a special assistant to the Lions CEO and Ryan Grigson, SVP of player personnel with the Minnesota Vikings. Busy, busy busy.

• The New York Jets will play a home game in London next year. So if season ticket prices weren’t bad enough for NY based fans, you’re also losing game. As a UK based fan I’m obviously happy with this, but I do feel for how poorly the US fans are treated by ownership. Bad product, higher prices, less games.

• PFF have outlined one free agent every single team should pursue, and for the Jets they’ve chosen edge rusher Malcolm Koonce - “The Jets’ talented defense ended the season ranked only 21st in EPA per play and 22nd in team PFF pass-rushing grade. Finding a way to add more talent depth at multiple positions, including edge rusher, will be critical. Koonce missed all of 2024 due to a knee injury but was a monster the season before. In 2023, he amassed 52 pressures and a 78.9 PFF pass-rushing grade in addition to a solid 66.3 PFF run-defense mark. With Haason Reddick unlikely to stay a Jet and Jermaine Johnson recovering from an Achilles tear, Koonce would make sense as a high-upside rotational piece next to Quinnen Williams and Will McDonald IV.” Personally I’ve got the likes of Jevon Holland above Koonce, but I think buying low on Koonce who’s coming off a lost season would be a smart move for the Jets.

• Mike Vrabel was officially confirmed as the New England Patriots new head coach at the weekend. As soon as Mayo was fired this was 99.9% done. The Patriots didn't even try and hide their box ticking when it came to the Rooney Rule and I genuinely think that rule has to be reviewed as it seems to me that it does more harm than good.

• Speaking of which, the Jets have completed two interviews with minority candidates for both positions. So a hire could happen any minute and the feeling out there is that the Jets are closer to deciding on a GM than they are a HC.

• Expect a lot of interviews tomorrow/Wednesday. The Jets are likely setting up interviews with coaches who have been in the WC round, so the likes of Brian Flores, Vance Joseph, Josh McCown, Arthur Smith, Bobby Slowik and Joe Brady. There may be a few more that we haven’t heard about too.

• Here’s some good news from the weekend, Connor Hughes had this to say on the Jets head coaching search “Rex Ryan I heard is completely out, that is not gonna happen with the Jets," - I always got the impression that interview request was a favour to an old friend rather than a realistic option, but as always with the Jets, you never can be 100% sure.

The Jets continue to work through the who’s who of NFL executives. I can only presume that the vetting process by the 33rd team proved more difficult than first thought. As long as they make the right hire I’m not going to drag the team over the coals, they give us plenty of reasons to do that during the season. But the speed at which we’re interviewing is a little concerning to me, it seems as though our short list consisted of anyone willing to talk to us.

Mike Greenberg is an interesting name that wasn’t on my radar, the assistant GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is widely considered to be a cap man, with his speciality based around contracts and cap management. On the face of it he doesn’t have much scouting experience and while it’s easy to presume that would mean Phil Savage staying on in some capacity, I’m sure he has people within the Tampa organisation that he trusts from a scouting perspective, after all he’s spent 15 years there.

2024 represented his second year as the assistant GM of Tampa, a perennial playoff team. Prior to that, he spent two seasons as the vice president of football administration after eight seasons as the director of football administration and two seasons as the coordinator of football administration. Look up the job description of those roles and you’ll see why he’s largely considered a cap magician.

Before joining the Buccaneers, Greenberg worked with the Jets as a football administration intern in 2008/2009 under Mike Tannenbaum who’s helping Woody Johnson in the search for a new GM. It’s easy to call this into question considering that relationship, but Greenberg has plenty on his resume to interest the Jets outside of the relationship with Tannenbaum.

However over the first decade of his time with Tampa the team failed to go to the playoffs. They finished in 4th position in the NFC South on 7 occasions and had 5 seasons where they won 5 or less games. They had just one season of double-digit wins and that was in 2010 when they won 10 games but still placed 3rd in the highly competitive NFC South.

Then came the Tom Brady years and in their own words “Greenberg was vital in negotiating quarterback Tom Brady's two-year contract”, he was also named to The Athletic'’ "NFL 40 Under 40: The rising stars shaping the direction of the NFL." Re-signing talent became job #1 for Greenberg as the Tampa Bay Bucs fought hard to ensure they put a talented roster around Tom Brady. Greenberg is largely credited with playing a key role in the negotiations that kept the team together.

In 2020 he helped build the team that won Super Bowl LV, which started a run of five consecutive years of playoff football, including 2024. So after that playoff drought, Tampa have won double-digit games in three of the past five years under former Jets Head Coach Todd Bowls, and that period has included a switch in QBs and plenty of roster upheaval.

Here is a short list of the players he re-signed and it’s interesting to see that his official Tampa bio does state that it was Greenberg and not the GM who signed these guys. Former Pro Bowlers Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh, nose tackle Vita Vea, Shaquil Barrett, linebacker Lavonte David, tight end Rob Gronkowski, running back Leonard Fournette and of course Tom Brady. The Buccaneers became the first team in the Super Bowl era to return all 22 starters after winning the Super Bowl.

More recently he’s been involved in re-signing Carlton Davis III, Pro Bowl receiver Chris Godwin, and Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen as well as All-Pro Mike Evans and the rejuvenated Baker Mayfield. He’s also credited with working closely with Jason Licht on free agent signings like Baker Mayfield, running back Chase Edmonds, defensive lineman Greg Gaines and kicker Chase McLaughlin.

Here’s what his current role is according to the team that employs him “Greenberg works directly with General Manager Jason Licht on all aspects of the salary cap, contract negotiations, compliance with the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, as well as the club's financial and strategic planning. He also oversees budgeting for all football operations, including the coaching, scouting, video, athletic training, equipment, groundskeeping, strength and conditioning and player development departments.”

I mean when it comes to navigating the cap and working in pro personnel, I’d say his reputation and his resume are pretty impressive. Very few candidates have his extensive track record of signings and re-signings, and considering the Jets are about to enter a period of tricky salary cap balancing with a need to re-sign plenty of their own talent, I can see why he got an interview and why he’s generating some interest for the Jets.

I do have some concern about the complete lack of college scouting experience and the fact that Tampa really don’t talk about him having any major contributions to the draft selection process. I’m sure he has an opinion and it’s one that Jason Licht appreciates and respects, but he would absolutely need to bring someone in with a vast amount of college scouting experience. Maybe that’s Phil Savage or maybe he can convince someone like Jim Nagy to join him as assistant GM with some other titles thrown in to give him the kind of power needed to make the position attractive.