03/03 — Calvin Pace is in a New York frame of mind. After being courted by both Bill Parcells’ Dolphins and the Jets of Mike Tannenbaum and Eric Mangini, the free agent DE/OLB weighed his options and determined the Big Apple would be his new home.

This is a major coup for the Jets. They kept Pace away from a divisional rival and the 6’4”, 270-pounder is entering the prime of his career. Last season Pace racked up a career-high 6.5 sacks out in Arizona and his 96 tackles led the team. After five seasons with the Cards, Pace became a free agent and ‘Zona management indicated it would be difficult to keep him because of the its cap situation.

“With Calvin, along with other free agents, it is all tied to having the available [salary cap] room to work those deals,” said general manager Rod Graves. “At this point, we have not been able to get the necessary room needed to do those contracts.”

Enter the Jets, a team that had both the room and the need. Victor Hobson started last year at OLB for the Green & White, but he’s currently a free agent and could sign elsewhere. Pace — the second of the Cards’ two first-round selections (No. 18 overall) in 2003 — has experience in both the 3-4 and 4-3 and should help the Jets’ pass rush. Last season the Jets ranked 25th in the NFL with 29 sacks.

And then the day was not complete before "Tangini" inked veteran OL Damien Woody. A veteran of 128 games, the 6’3”, 340-pound Woody has 121 career starts and most recently played with the Detroit Lions. He’s a versatile lineman who might be in line to take over at RT.

Since Friday, the Jets have been hard at work addressing their needs and changing the look of their team through trade — NT Kris Jenkins acquired from Carolina and ILB Jonathan Vilma shipped to New Orleans — and free agency with the additions of perennial Pro Bowl G Alan Faneca, an up-and-comer in OLB Pace and a steady O-lineman in Woody.

When Tannenbaum proclaimed the Jets were comfortably under the cap, he wasn’t kidding. And all this movement will give the Jets — who currently own the sixth overall pick in the draft, one second-round selection and multiple fourth-round picks — flexibility come April.

If they stay at six, they’ll undoubtedly get a fine talent. But they won’t be forced into anything and that’s exactly the position Mr. T. wants to be in come draft day. Also give him some bonus points for landing a decisive blow against his mentor in the Pace tussle.

“I wish him well, not too well, but I do wish him well,” Tannenbaum said with a smile of Parcells when the former took over the football operations in South Florida. “He's in the division now, so he's a competitor.”