New York Jets tight end Chris Baker is coming off a solid 2007 season, and he's making a pedestrian salary of less than $1.5 million in 2008. It's hard to blame him if he's not happy with his contract.

So maybe that's why Jets coach Eric Mangini doesn't seem to blame him. Talking about Baker today, Mangini sounded calm and rational:

"I've talked to Chris and one of the things that's important to Chris and I is that he stay current on the information and that's what we've been focusing on," Mangini said. "Chris has been working with the information and will continue to work on the football side of it."

But there's a wild card in all this: Last year the Jets didn't have any viable tight ends other than Baker. This year they've added veteran Bubba Franks, the former Packer.

The Jets have been taking part in voluntary practices all week but today's workout will loom much larger than the first three days. Why? The press is invited to watch and that means they'll get to make their first judgments in the team's quarterback competition.

Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens are fighting for the job which Clemens seemed to have locked up when he replaced Pennington last season. For a variety of reasons, he didn't secure the job as fully as the team hoped and, after an offseason of roster improvement, Pennington remains a serious contender. He's won before with good teams around him. Still, , as Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post reports, the team seems to prefer Clemens.

No one will say it publicly, but the organization is clearly pulling for Clemens to emerge as the starter for several reasons, beginning with the fact that this regime drafted him in the second round two years ago and would like to be right in its talent assessment.

Clemens is seven years younger and more athletic than Pennington. If he becomes a quality starter you've solved a major problem for the next five years and diversified the offense in one fell swoop. That might not mean as many wins as the more seasoned option provides, though. The regime may want to look smart but I think they'd rather look like winners which, in the NFL, is essentially the same thing.

Donald Elam Jr., the brother of New York Jets defensive back Abram Elam, was murdered Friday. It was the third an Elam sibling was shot and killed.

"We're handling it, thanks to the Lord," Elam's father, the Rev. Donald Elam Sr., told the New York Daily News Saturday.

Abram Elam previously had a 12-year-old sister and an 18-year-old brother shot and killed, with all three murders taking place within a mile of the family's home in Riviera Beach, Florida.

There have been no arrests in the death of Donald Elam Jr., who was in and out of prison for much of his life and at age 14 was the youngest person ever charged with murder in Palm Beach. He was acquitted of that charge but was convicted at other times of assault, robbery and weapons charges.

Abram Elam knows the experience of having a sibling die all too well. His half-brother Donald Runner was shot and killed in 1987. His sister Christina Elam was shot and killed in 1999; the Daily News reports that he ran to the park and cradled her blood-soaked body afterward.

If there's one guy you'd think could get away with anything in Hempstead, New York it would be Wayne Chrebet. The former Jets receiver came out of Hempstead's Hofstra University as an unknown, undersized wide receiver and became one of the team's most popular players. Hofstra got tons of free advertising and a bold name to add to their roster of famous alumni and, after he retired, Hempstead got a restaurant owned by a bona fide celebrity.

Because of a man he hired as the eatery's manager, though, Chrebet's joint became a target of local police. That's what a suit filed in federal court by Matthew Prince, the manager, alleges, anyway. His suit claims that Chrebet's Steakhouse and Lounge was raided on opening night by police and fire marshals because he'd testified on behalf of a man accused of assaulting a police officer in 2002.

"Mr. Chrebet came to understand that if he did not sever his business relationship with Mr. Prince, the county police officers and fire marshals would continue to raid Chrebet's," the complaint alleges.

They parted ways last fall but Prince claims that the police came to the restaurant this March looking for him. Chrebet had no comment and a Nassau County spokeswoman said it was nothing more than an unproven allegation.

If true, such vindictiveness should be punished. Chrebet's only deserves scorn if it serves steaks as small and tough as the owner.

At FanHouse, one man's trash is another man's treasure. But only the few raise to the level of Notable Moments in FanHouse Commenting.

Yesterday I noted that I thought it was nice that the choreographer of the New York Jets' cheerleading squad said that a drag queen would be welcome to try out. FanHouse commenter Joe says a drag queen cheerleader would turn him off to the NFL -- but he has an interesting take on what needs to happen for pro football to get its wholesome image back:

I agree it is representative of New York as a whole but, it will be the straw that breaks my back in watching the game.
Thank God Brett retired so he doesn't have to admit to even being remotely involved with anything like this during his great football career.
Have you thought about asking back Frank Gifford and Kathy Lee? I think they would make excellent New York Jet Commentators.

Frank and Kathie Lee in the booth as the Jets' commentators? I guess Kathie Lee would do play-by-play and Frank would handle the color commentary. I have a feeling that Awful Announcing would not approve.

But what's most interesting about Joe's comment is his implicit suggestion that the Giffords represent everything that is decent, moral and pure. I think Suzen Johnson would disagree.

The New York Jets Flight Crew is the team's official cheerleading squad, and it's made up of, as you would expect, nothing but attractive women.

However, Brian Bassett of The Jets Blog points out that the Flight Crew's choreographer, Denise Garvey, gave an interview to a public radio station in which she said she was open to expanding the roster to include men who look like attractive women:

GARVEY: We don't have any strict requirements - no weight or height requirements - we have all different girls on the team and all different girls looking to try out..."

REPORTER: There's not the kind of human variety you might find in a supermarket checkout line - the largest body is about a size "6″ -and there are no male cheerleader wannabe's.

GARVEY: we haven't had any men apply... we are looking for young women.

REPORTER: If there was a mind blowing drag queen?

GARVEY: I guess everyone deserves a fair chance - so that would be my attitude.

It's nice to know that drag queens are welcome. NFL Network has a reality show, Making the Squad, about NFL cheerleader auditions, and the presence of a drag queen in the mix would make the show more entertaining.

Getty Images photo caption: Adam Hannaford transforms into drag queen Summer Salt for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras on March 1, 2008 in Sydney, Australia.

I wonder if the complaints of a solid but unspectacular tight end in Jacksonville would be the cause of as much spilled ink (I know, I know pot meet kettle) as those of Chris Baker. The Jet has been outspoken about his issues with his contract and has walked out of offseason workouts in protest. He took to the radio yesterday to keep the pressure turned up high.

"They said go out and have a good year and we'll talk. I've done my part and they haven't done their part ... Hopefully, they will step up and honor what they said. I do want to be here."

Rich Cimini of the Daily News is reporting that the organization never made any promises to Baker and, in addition, that they fronted him $800,000 of his 2008 salary when he came to them to address his contract. Both issues are significant, the latter especially so since it makes his actual 2008 salary $1.483 million rather than the $683,000 previously reported.

Now that still leaves Baker feeling like he's the worst-paid tight end on the team and it doesn't answer the question of promises made and promises broken. The end result of that is only known to the Jets and Baker but whether or not a promise existed is less important than the way team and player interact with each other.

One of the most surprising picks of Saturday's first round was the Jets selection of Dustin Keller. Trading back up to select a tight end wasn't something anyone saw coming. Even though Keller can't block and won't be a traditional tight end, part of the reason behind the move had to be the souring of the team's relationship with Chris Baker. A longtime starter, Baker's been agitating for a new contract and asked the Jets to trade him if they didn't want to give it to him.

They should have traded him over the weekend. Once Keller signs, Baker will be the third highest-paid tight end on the roster and that's not sitting well with a player who believes the team is reneging on promises.

"I'm angry about the fact that they said, 'We're going to do something for you,' and nothing's being done. It doesn't make any sense. I've been here six years and I've always done what they've asked me to do."

Baker's not Antonio Gates and the Jets could certainly survive with Bubba Franks and Keller but it's damning that they keep finding themselves in these positions. Baker's saying exactly what Laveranues Coles said a few months ago (and Kevin Mawae said years ago) about promises and trying to run the same game that landed Coles two years of guaranteed money. That's no way to run a franchise and trading Baker would have stemmed a bad tide.

New York Jets 2008 Draft Picks:

Round 1 (6): Vernon Gholston, DE/LB, Ohio State
Round 1 (30): Dustin Keller, TE, Purdue
Round 4 (113): Dwight Lowery, CB, San Jose State
Round 5 (162): Erik Ainge, QB, Tennessee
Round 6 (171): Marcus Henry, WR, Kansas
Round 7 (211): Nate Garner, OT, Arkansas

The Good: There might not be a player with Gholston's upside in the entire draft. A physical freak who made a mess of offensive lines in big games, Gholston could have a Shawne Merriman-type impact on the Jets pass rush. The questions about his consistency and effort need to be answered but there wasn't another player the Jets could've taken with this pick. Henry will be a good red zone target and Garner is a road grader in the run game. Keller will definitely help the offense. Even though he doesn't block, he catches the ball well and creates matchup issues. Brian Schottenheimer will use him in a variety of ways but ...

The Bad: did they really need to trade up to pick him? I don't think he was worth the fourth-round pick they gave up nor the fact that the contract issue with Chris Baker will now be a full-fledged distraction. Lowery isn't fast enough to man up with receivers which will be a problem if the Jets commit to being an attacking defense. Maybe he moves to safety? Either way the four you spent on Keller could have been used to get a better corner, which was a bigger need.

For a couple hours, I feared that the world had spun off its axis: Jets fans actually cheered when their team selected Vernon Gholston with the sixth pick in the NFL Draft. But the goodwill didn't even last a full round -- when the Jets traded up to draft tight end Dustin Keller with the 30th pick, the reaction was unmitigated disgust.

Given Keller's poor blocking and the Jets' needs for a wide receiver, it seems that the gut reaction of the New York faithful may come from a solid base of knowledge, and not just cans of Sparks and naps at McDonald's.