“I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed.” These were the haunting words of vicious oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in There Will be Blood. I’d wager Adam Gase has a framed photo of Plainview mounted on his office wall. As Gase proved at his last head-coaching stop in Miami, he’s not here to make friends.
Which begs the question, why is Gase here? To develop Sam Darnold into a generational quarterback? To raise his profile by succeeding in the nation’s biggest media market? To bring the Lombardi Trophy back to the city that never sleeps? Or to stage a hostile takeover while eliminating any and all threats to his power?
That’s the great unknown that surrounds Gase, who the Jets hired to replace Todd Bowles shortly after his unceremonious departure from the Dolphins on Black Monday. It wasn’t long ago that Gase was thought of as an up-and-comer in the coaching world, an electric offensive mind with nowhere to go but up. That never quite materialized in Miami where Gase was something of a pariah, alienating players, coaches and front office higher-ups with his abrasive personality and Machiavellian approach to office politics. In fact, Gase’s welcome was so worn out that news of his firing was met with jubilation in the Dolphins’ locker room.
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After flaming out so spectacularly in Miami, it was surprising Gase resurfaced as quickly as he did, eventually winning the Jets’ head job over other seemingly stronger candidates including Todd Monken (later hired as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator) and long-time Packers coach Mike McCarthy. GM Mike Maccagnan took a chance on Gase under the presumption that his offensive sensibilities would mesh well with Sam Darnold, a raw but remarkably poised young quarterback the Jets rightfully view as a franchise cornerstone. So how did Gase repay Maccagnan for his show of faith? By taking the man’s job (cue the South Park clip).
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Gase, who burned every bridge on his way out of South Beach, is already the most powerful man in East Rutherford. You can pick apart his coaching all you want (and I will in a minute), but boy does he know how to play the game. Forget Daniel Plainview. He’s Napoleon with a Bose headset.
Mere hours after adding interim GM to his growing list of responsibilities, the conniving 41-year-old executed his first trade, shipping Darron Lee (who became expendable when the Jets made C.J. Mosley one of the highest-paid linebackers in football) to Kansas City for a sixth-round pick. Though Gase denied having a rift with Maccagnan, others suggest otherwise including beat reporter Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, who relayed that the Jets’ new head honcho wanted no part of Le’Veon Bell, especially at his lavish $13 million annual salary. Gase’s aversion to a bell-cow like Bell isn’t out of character—he had similar qualms with Jay Ajayi, who Miami eventually pawned off on Philadelphia in a trade-deadline blockbuster. All Ajayi did for the Eagles was average almost six yards per carry while guiding them to their first Super Bowl triumph in franchise history.
Ajayi’s instant success in Philadelphia after being shown the door in Miami reflects poorly on Gase, though compared to his other blunders, it barely registers. When Gase was coming up through the coaching ranks, many regarded him as a master tactician with a particular affinity for quarterbacks. The Michigan State alum was credited as a driving force behind Peyton Manning’s record-setting 2013 campaign (he was Denver’s offensive coordinator at the time) and also oversaw one of Jay Cutler’s better seasons in 2015, the latter serving as the precursor for his tumultuous Dolphins tenure.
It wasn’t all bad for Gase—the Fins snuck into the playoffs with a 10-6 record his first year on the job in 2016. But then things took a turn for the worst. Ryan Tannehill battled injuries—he missed all of 2017 with a torn ACL suffered in training camp, forcing Cutler (that bundle of joy) out of retirement. When Tannehill returned the following year, he showed little in the way of development, cementing his reputation as a no-frills game manager in the vein of similarly limited starters like Andy Dalton and Derek Carr. Maybe Tannehill was beyond saving but his lack of improvement the last three years is a black eye on Gase’s resume and should have been a red flag for the Jets, who can’t afford to squander an asset like Darnold. The 21-year-old has the look of a future star—he flourished down the stretch last season, submitting a breathtaking 99.1 quarterback rating over his final four games. But given Gase’s spotty track record and New York’s recent string of quarterback failures (Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith and Christian Hackenberg, to name a few), it’s understandable why Jets fans would cling to a healthy sense of skepticism.
You’d think Gase would swallow a slice of humble pie after such a lackluster showing in Miami, particularly when so many touted him as an offensive wunderkind (an honor now bestowed on Rams prodigy Sean McVay). But rather than turn over a new leaf upon his arrival in the Big Apple, Gase has been ornery as ever, fumbling through a cringe-worthy introductory press conference, butting heads with higher-ups (Maccagnan in particular) and seizing almost complete organizational control, all in less than five months.
Gase’s reign as GM is a temporary measure. The Jets have already requested interviews with a number of candidates including Eagles VP of player personnel Joe Douglas (considered the early favorite), Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly, Vikings assistant GM George Paton and Seahawks co-director of player personnel Scott Fitterer. Douglas and Kelly both have history with Gase, having crossed paths in 2015 when all three were employed in Chicago. Given their familiarity with the Jets head coach, it’s feasible New York could hire one and still have Gase calling the shots. The whole chain of events is eerily similar to what transpired in Oakland last year when Jon Gruden—fresh off a decade-long stint in the Monday Night Football booth—went ballistic, applying a scorched earth policy by trading away Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper while also using his pull to oust GM Reggie McKenzie.
Whether Gase’s ego gets in the way of the task at hand—restoring the laughingstock Jets to relevance—is entirely up to him. But even with Gase an odd fit (New York doubled down by hiring Gregg Williams, a similarly brash personality, as defensive coordinator), the remade Jets are still being met with cautious optimism thanks to an offseason spending spree that netted them Bell, Mosley and Jamison Crowder, among others.
Along with Darnold—who hopes to cash in on his superstar potential on the heels of a mostly promising rookie season—and first-round defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, a dominant force at Alabama, the Jets have the pieces to be a Wild Card team in a relatively wide-open AFC. That’s an exciting possibility for a fan-base that hasn’t tasted the delicious nectar of playoff football in nearly a decade. But as the Jets have learned on many painful occasions, high expectations can be a double-edged sword. That lesson manifested itself in 2016 when the Jets limped to a miserable 5-11 record a year after finishing an impressive (by their standards) 10-6. Gase didn’t handle the pressure very well in Miami and the lights will only shine brighter in New York. It’s a chance for redemption, but only if Gase can learn from his past mistakes. If not, well let’s just hope he doesn’t go nuclear with a bowling pin.
