Chad Pennington's agent has rejected the Jets' proposal to slash the injured quarterback's base salary for 2006 to $1 million and force him to earn the remaining $8 million he is owed through incentives. The impasse is not surprising, but it means newly anointed general manager Mike Tannenbaum and Pennington's high-powered agent, Tom Condon, are in staredown mode. The Jets have until March 3 to decide if they can live with Pennington's current contract, negotiate a cap reduction or release him. Pennington is due a $3-million roster bonus that day, a payment that would bring his earnings to $25 million on the seven-year contract extension he signed in September 2004 - a span during which he has played only 18 games. Pennington's cap figure was scheduled to be $12 million this season, but the team already has the discretion to reduce it to $7.5 million by prorating all of his $6-million base salary against the cap for the next four seasons. But the Jets, who are more than $20 million over the projected cap, need to cut deeper. They don't want to pay the $3-million bonus and believe Pennington should account for the fact that he's coming off a second operation on his right (throwing) shoulder in as many seasons.