Today, the NFL announced that starting Jets OLB Calvin Pace will be suspended for the first four games of the NFL season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. He will be eligible to return to the team on Monday, October 5th, and he will begin serving the suspension prior to week one.

Here are the games he will miss.

Week 1: at Houston
Week 2: vs New England
Week 3: vs Tennessee
Week 4: at New Orleans

Looking at the schedule, could Pace have picked a worse time in the season to be suspended? Houston, New England, and New Orleans have three of the most potent offenses in the NFL, and Tennessee has one of the best running games in the NFL!

Pace started off 2008 with a bang, but he's starting off 2009 busted. As a result, Vernon Gholston will have to step up and take a bigger role right from the start. It's hard to have any expectations for Gholston as a starter since he barely played at all last year. Rex Ryan has faith in him. We'll see if it's justified, or if Jason Trusnik and Marques Murrell take the bulk of the playing time. Trusnik was one of the few bright spots down the stretch last year.

The Jets do have decent depth at linebacker, but it's unproven depth. Gholston, Murrell, and Trusnik have all been impressive at times in practice and preseason (well, maybe not Gholston), but none of them have gotten extensive time on the field to show their skills. Clearly, that's about to change, although there's always the possibility that a veteran is signed for insurance. The first four games are important for Ryan's defense to prove they can play as well as they can talk. The Jets may feel like they can't risk starting such a question mark in such an important position for 25% of the season.

Don't ever say Mike Tannenbaum doesn't turn under every rock or that he doesn't work hard. Former New York Giants practice squad OG Mike Fladell has been claimed by the Jets off waivers.

Fladell started two years at Rutgers before being picked up as an undrafted free agent by the Giants. He's a big, big guy, at 6'7, 344 pounds. As you might expect, his main weakness is a lack of athleticism that comes with his massive size. He ran a 5.43 forty yard dash coming out of college.

He joins Mario Urritia and Rashad Barksdale (not related to Avon Barksdale from The Wire) as waiver wire pickups in the past week.

The Jets have claimed former Louisville WR Mario Urrutia off waivers from Cincinnati.

Urrutia is 6'6, 235 pounds, but he failed to make an impact with the Bengals as a rookie 7th round pick last year.

He probably won't make the team, but his size is certainly intriguing, and he had some success in college. He's only 23 years old, so there's still upside to be had. Still, with Jerricho Cotchery, Chansi Stuckey, Brad Smith, David Clowney, and Wallace Wright all likely to make the roster, Urrutia is a long-shot at best.

The Jets also signed former Eagle, Chief, Giant, and Albany Great Dane Rod Barksdale. He is a 6'0, 208 pound cornerback who will add depth to a position that has already seen Lito Sheppard and Donald Strickland brought in. He played six games in 2007 for Kansas City, recording nine tackles, but it's unlikely that he makes the final roster.

Just wanted to pass out this link.

Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated did a fabulous profile on Rex Ryan for Sports Illustrated that should be a must read for Jets fans. Some of it you will already know, but Layden's a good writer, and all Jets fans will appreciate this.

No terms disclosed yet, but the Jets have agreed to terms with 3rd round runningback Shonn Greene. The Jets are the first team in the league to sign all their draft picks, and they have done so by the middle of June. Not bad. Although it can't be that hard to sign just three guys...

3rd round picks never hold out, so this wasn't ever going to be anything to worry about, but I'm sure Mike Tannenbaum is glad he doesn't have to worry about signing these guys anymore. Now the focus will likely become what to do with the receiver position (Plaxico Burress?) and what to do with his two disgruntled backs, namely Leon Washington.

Burress, by the way, had his court date adjourned to September 23rd. His camp says he'll be able to play this year. We'll see for just how long. I'm not sure why he would keep putting it off, as it seems like the elephant in the room that will rear its ugly head again during next football season, but I'm not close to that situation. Procrastinating is something somebody like me does with homework or with writing a blog post. It's not something to be doing with prison time.

One receiver option that could pop up is Denver WR Brandon Marshall who has asked for a trade. Marshall is extremely talented, but a bit of a head case (what receiver isn't?). Personally, I prefer to give up nothing but cash to sign Burress rather than move a high pick for Marshall, even though the Bronco star is younger and probably better at this stage.

UPDATE (5:35 PM): Rich Cimini reports that the Jets have "cooled" on Plaxico Burress. If that's true, it has to be because of his legal problems.

Still, I don't really believe it. Rex Ryan praised Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff to no end before trading up for Mark Sanchez. The receiving corps has some young talent, and I think the Jets might be warming to the idea of giving them a chance, especially considering the risk of bringing in a prima donna who still might get suspended or jailed.

Today's practice, I spent a lot of time watching the quarterbacks again because, let's face it, it's the most important positional race on the team and it's the easiest thing to look at in practice.

Neither of the quarterbacks really stood out. Both had a few hiccups practicing out routes, but against actual defenses, here is how they did.

Clemens was 11-15 in a variety of 4 on 3's, 6 on 7's, and 11 on 11's, having some success moving the ball and completing his last seven passes. He had a pair of touchdowns, one to Dustin Keller, who beat everybody's favorite secondary whipping boy Drew Coleman and another to Wallace Wright.

Sanchez was a mostly shaky 13-20, but in an 11 on 11 drill towards the end of practice, he completed his last six passes, culminating with a fade to Wallace Wright in the corner of the endzone for a touchdown. This prompted excited teammates to chant "Wallace, Wallace" after the grab, while the fans were cheering the throw. Sanchez himself was happy to end the practice on a good note. The key receivers on that drive were Wright, who caught the touchdown, and David Clowney who had four receptions.

The biggest difference between the two quarterbacks at this point is the decisiveness. The newly signed Sanchez has been hesitant, often holding onto the ball for too long. Anybody can tell by watching the two quarterbacks which one is the veteran and which one is the rookie because Clemens makes his reads much more quickly than Sanchez does at this point. The game needs to slow down for the golden boy, and there's no reason to expect that it won't. Hopefully, Rex Ryan never uses the "s" word by saying Sanchez is "swimming" learning the offense. We all saw how well that went for Vernon Gholston (who actually had a few pressures in yesterday's practice that I forgot to mention).

Clemens was far from perfect though. Most of his completions were short, and he tended to struggle landing the deep ball, overthrowing a few deep passes. He probably doesn't offer a whole lot of upside, but he also rarely made mistakes.

Sanchez, on the other hand, did throw one interception, and it was once again Eric Smith making the play after a James Ihebdigo tip. He also fumbled one snap. As for Smith, this was his fifth interception in the three day camp, making him the clear top performer. Still, don't expect him to challenge Jim Leonhard for a starting job, at least not yet.

Players that caught my eye were Dwight Lowery, who had another nice pass deflection today. Also, I must add that the quarterbacks must be pretty smart because they barely throw the ball in Darrelle Revis's direction.

D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Damien Woody both looked bigger than last year. The offensive line sealed really well on an outside run by Shonn Greene that he would have broken for a long gain if it was real. Greene is being given a lot of respect by the coaching staff, as he's right there behind Thomas Jones and Leon Washington in terms of reps, including on the goal line.

Finally, it's time to mention the punting battle, where both Reggie Hodges and T.J. Conley had good practices. Reggie Hodges punted well, averaging 45 yards on four punts, including one booming 55 yarder angled towards the sideline. But it was Conley who had the slightly better day, averaging 45.9 yards a punt, including two 55 yarders with good hang time.

As for the people receiving the punts, Chansi Stuckey muffed one Conley bomb. More interesting was the Music City Miracle-style lateral play the Jets ran on another Conley boomer. Jim Leonhard received the punt, took a step and then threw it across the field to Darrelle Revis for a good gain.