Although most coaches end up leaving their jobs after the football season ends, much of the activity relating to front-office comings and goings happens after the draft. After this year’s draft, a man who has become a fixture with the Jets could be making his exit.
Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com reports that Jets V.P. of college scouting Joey Clinkscales may be leaving the team, after 16 seasons with the franchise. Clinkscales, who played for the Steelers and the Buccaneers in the 1980s, has spent three years in his current position.
Clinkscales, per Cimini, could be joining the Raiders in a lateral position. Cimini characterizes the move as a mutual decision.
The Jets currently aren’t characterizing it as anything. “The most important thing for us right now is the 2012 draft and that’s our focus,” Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum said in a statement.
Clinkscales recently was a candidate for the G.M. position in St. Louis. To the extent that the report characterizes Clinkscales’ status as creating a “cloud of uncertainty” with the Jets, there’s also a good chance that everyone involved knows exactly what will happen, and that the Jets and Clinkscales have decided simply to get through the draft before making any moves.
If, after all, the Jets and Clinkscales had parted ways before the draft, Clinkscales could have carried a lot of work and research and information as to the Jets’ plans to his next job, wherever it may be.