04/03 — The NFL has just released the Jets' preseason schedule, and as with last year's regular-season schedule, this summer's games have a distinctly NFC East feel.

The opening preseason game will be at the Cleveland Browns. Then come home games against the Washington Redskins and the now Super Bowl-champion Giants. Finally, the traditional final preseason game against the Eagles will be held for the second consecutive August at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.

It's an interesting mix of new and old summer opponents for the Green & White. The Jets and Browns, for starters, will be playing for only the second time in the teams' preseason history. And the first game, in 1988, wasn't even contested in the United States. The Jets prevailed, 11-7, in Montreal in one of their "home away from home" games of that era.

The Redskins are another relative newcomer to the preseason slate. Yes, the teams did hook up in 2006 at FedEx Field — and the Jets' 27-14 victory was the first "W" for Eric Mangini as an NFL head coach. But before that, they hadn't met in the preseason since 1993.

The Jets and Giants, on the other hand, will be getting it on for the 40th consecutive summer, dating from that first meeting way back in 1969, when Joe Namath and the Super Bowl champions went up to the Yale Bowl and thumped Big Blue, 37-14, in one of the most anticipated preseason games in NFL history.

And the Jets and Eagles, the league's green teams, will close out their preseason skeds against each other for the eighth consecutive year.

As for trivia, let it be noted that the Jets went 0-4 against these four opponents in last year's regular season, with all four losses coming at the Meadowlands — to the home Giants (35-24), Eagles (16-9) and Redskins (23-20 in OT) in a five-week span, then to the Browns, 24-18, in December.

The dates and times of the games are still not set. All will be aired by New York's WCBS-TV.

Mel Chimes In

ESPN guru Mel Kiper Jr.'s view of the Jets' draft situation isn't much different than a lot of other experts and fans (many of whom are expert in their own right) that we've heard from in this predraft season, but we haven't posted any of his observations on the Radar, so here is the first, taken from Kiper's media conference call earlier this week.

In response to a question on Vernon Gholston and the other Ohio State prospects this year, Kiper replied:

“Let’s start with Gholston — top 10 is pushing it. He’s even higher than that. I’d say top seven at worst. He’s going to be considered by the St. Louis Rams, and then draw consideration from the New York Jets. I think that’s the key pick to see what [the Jets] do. Do they take Darren McFadden if he’s there or Vernon Gholston? The lowest he falls is seven to New England."

Jets' 2008 Preseason Schedule