Jets coach Adam Gase recently found himself getting the blame for safety Jamal Adams wanting out, based on an article from Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Jets guard Alex Lewis has taken up for Gase.
“I have mad respect for Coach Gase,” Lewis said on Instagram. “We have phenomenal personnel in the building, on both offense and defense. We are building a winning culture and mentality from the top down. I believe in this staff, this organization, and most importantly my teammates. I realize everyone has a job to do, our jobs are multifaceted. In the locker room, training room, weight room, meeting room and on the field we are building a winning culture. I felt like all of this needed to be said on the heels of reading Manish Mehta’s article lumping all players in one mindset disparaging the head coach. I am proud to be a New York Jet. . . .”
Mehta, in his article about Adams, wrote that "[p]layers don’t respect Gase, who has rubbed them the wrong way with his inability to lead and lack of support.” Mehta also wrote that "[t]oo many people on 1 Jets Drive -- including players, coaches and front office members -- don’t trust or believe in Gase, whose disingenuous bent hasn’t been lost on people in the organization,” and that players “painted a picture of an insecure figure always willing to point the finger at others for the team’s failings last season.”
Lewis separately said to Mehta, "[G]ive up your sources. You don’t speak for the locker room or myself. You got no place in the locker room if you are going to overgeneralize all players. Manish you are a poison to this team.”
Whatever the reason, Adams clearly wants out of New York. And to the extent that he was seeking an extension and those talks broke down, it’s fair to conclude that, if the Jets have given Adams what he wanted, he would have been happy to keep playing for Gase. Which tends to contradict the idea that Gase is the problem.
