Is Mike Tannenbaum Safe?

Joe Caporoso of Turn on the Jets has a source telling him Mike Tannenbaum will not likely be on the chopping block in the event the season ends as unsuccessfully as it appears it will.

Before we get into it, we have a few more tid-bits from a former NFL personnel executive who still works in the league -

On Mike Tannenbaum’s job security - "The GM has the owner convinced that he isn’t at fault. He will play the Revis and Holmes injury card and plus he can play the Blame Rex game. He is brilliant at that." (Translation – as we have been saying all along, Tannenbaum isn’t going anywhere next year).

For obvious reasons, we don't and can't know the identity of the source. It doesn't seem to be coming directly from Florham Park. Caporoso is a trustworthy writer, though. I trust he is speaking with somebody in the know.

This seems very plausible too. Tannenbaum seemed to plant the seed in Woody Johnson's ear that Eric Mangini was the problem in 2008 to save himself. In that case, he had a point. The team underachieved under Mangini.

Rex Ryan certainly deserves a portion of the blame for 2012 so far, but you would have to know nothing about football to think Tannenbaum is not responsible for this mess. Holmes and Revis are out, sure, but one of the most important jobs of the general manager is to make sure a team has adequate depth to survive injuries, not go to battle with a paper thin roster in the most physical and injury-prone sport around.

Tannenbaum also can't get a free pass even if Rex is the number one problem. Who hired Rex? Tannenbaum. Mike might not have been the general manager at the time the Jets hired Mangini, but every report says he was the driving force behind that hire. It isn't a coincidence he ascended to the general manager job right after that hire. One of the two most important people on a football team is the head coach. If Tannenbaum is 0 for 2, he certainly doesn't deserve a third shot.

The other most important person on a football team is the quarterback. Mike whiffed on Kellen Clemens. Mark Sanchez is looking like another whiff. If he's also 0 for 2 picking the quarterback of the future, he certainly does not deserve a third shot.

As I said above, you would have to know nothing about football to not see how Tannenbaum is at fault here. The question is whether Woody Johnson knows about football or whether he still trusts Mike. This concerns me. We don't know where Woody is. Tannenbaum's job certainly should be on the line over the next eight weeks, but maybe he really does have the owner's ear.