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There could be a media-frenzy at Jets camp on Thursday.
As strange as that might seem, it could happen.
You see, Thursday, May 10, is the first day the OTA’s will be open to the media.
Last weekend was a rookie minicamp, with just the draft picks, undrafted free agents, and tryouts.
Thursday will be the first open locker room with veterans.
The media is foaming at the mouth to talk to Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow.
What has been going on with Sanchez and the media the last few months has been a little strange.
To his credit, Sanchez has attended three different charity events, two of them to help out teammates and coaches.
One of those was to support a stuttering charity that Matt Slauson is involved with. The other was an event organized by Mike Pettine for a big Jets fan who needs a bone-marrow transplant.
The third event was a charity honoring Sanchez.
Beat writers showed up at all three events. Not all beat writers, but a smattering of beat reporters at each of the three events.
And each time, Sanchez , or his handlers, told reporters, he will only talk about the charity, and not football.
He did this every time.
This obviously ticked off the reporters.
And I have to be honest, I would never agree to an arrangement like that.
While I will promote the charity on my own, I refuse to talk to somebody I’m covering with ground rules.
I don’t want to come across as Edward R. Morrow, but it’s just no way for a journalist to do his job.
We should be able to ask whatever we want, and of course, and the subject, can chose not to answer them.
Kudos to the New York Post’s Brian Costello of the Post who refused to interview Sanchez with ground rules attached.
So the assumption is that Sanchez won’t make the same demands in the Jets’ locker room on Thursday.
That is if he’s available.
While the NFL does require players to do interviews during the season (or they get fined), no such rules apply to the off-season.
He could choose to avoid the media. We will see.
As for Tebow, any time the press has a chance to interview a man ESPN dubbed, “the most popular athlete in America,” they are going to jump at it.
OTA media attendance is usually light, but based on this Sanchez-Tebow soap opera, expect a big crowd on Thursday . . .
This just in – Joey Clinkscales is leaving the Jets.
The Jets’ long-time college scouting director is joining the Oakland Raiders’ front office.
When Clinkscales said he intended on staying with the Jets, at the post-draft presser, not a lot of people in the room were buying it.
The Clinkscales-to-the-Raiders rumored surfaced before the draft. Clinkscales is very close to the Raider’s new GM, Reggie McKenzie, from their playing days at the University of Tennessee.
This isn’t a big deal. The Jets will survive, and they will save money. They could just move Terry Bradway over to the job, a position he held for a long time in Kansas City.
(Premium will return by Thursday night at 9 pm.)