The New York Jets are 0-5 in 2020 and 7-14 under head coach Adam Gase. Gase has lost every game in 2020 by at least two possessions, with an average point differential of 17.2, and 12 of his 14 total losses have come by a similar margin. It seems overdue, but Adam Gase is in danger of being fired. The only question, it seems, at this point, is how soon it might be. According to what Pro Football Network Insider Tony Pauline is hearing, it may be sooner rather than later.
Adam Gase’s tenure as head coach of the New York Jets
By the numbers, Gase’s tenure in New York hasn’t been pretty, but even past that, his negative impact on one of the NFL’s most storied franchises has been apparent. Under Gase, the Jets have struggled to develop home-grown talent, they’ve displayed a startling lack of discipline on the field, and they’ve also failed to establish a healthy culture.
Perhaps emblematic of Gase’s failures is his tendency to drive star talent away. Earlier in the offseason, Gase ended up trading disillusioned All-Pro safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks, and earlier this week, he ended up releasing once-revered running back Le’Veon Bell. The Jets had attempted to trade Bell, but the former All-Pro didn’t fetch any demand given his contractual status.
Now Bell, once thought to be one of the Jets’ few blue-chip talents, is gone, and New York will shoulder the $19 million in total dead cap remaining from his contract. The colossal failure of the marriage between Bell and the Jets only raises more questions about Adam Gase’s viability as the leader of the franchise, and culturally, Gase may be starting to lose his grip on the locker room. This, in turn, will likely result in Adam Gase being fired.
Tony Pauline’s intel on when Adam Gase could be fired
Tony Pauline referenced Gase’s depreciation in the latest episode of PFN’s NFL Draft Insiders Digital Show. When prompted by co-host Andy Herman at the 10:30 mark, Pauline went into detail on the current state of the Jets franchise, and more specifically, Adam Gase’s job security. Not long ago, Gase received a vote of confidence from acting owner Christopher Johnson. But as Pauline says, his welcome may be starting to wear thin, even among his supporters.
“Long-term, [the Bell situation] is really going to have a negative effect on Adam Gase — not only his poor performance as the coach of the New York Jets, but remember, this is the second star player in less than a year Adam Gase could not get along with… and the fact is this: Adam Gase has done nothing with the other available talent to make up for the loss of a Jamal Adams, or a Le’Veon Bell.
“In the short-term, I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later for Adam Gase [to be fired], from what I’m hearing. Sooner doesn’t mean in a week; sooner means, as far as I’m concerned, probably by the beginning of November. I’m told he’s starting to lose the locker room. There are a lot of players that are turned off and tuning him out… I think we’re at a point in time where Gase is only being kept around because Christopher Johnson, who hired Gase, has to save some face.”
“It’s going to be sooner rather than later. Unless somehow they win the next four or five games, which isn’t going to happen, I’ll be surprised, if by the end of the first week of November, Gase is still the head coach of the New York Jets.”
Why are the Jets keeping Adam Gase around if his firing is inevitable?
Herman then went on to ask Pauline why the Jets were choosing to wait until November to fire Adam Gase if it seems to already be heading in that direction. Pauline reiterated that the decision to extend Gase’s tenure further was directly related to the owner’s recent vote of confidence in the second-year head coach.
“The owner said just a couple of weeks ago, there was no playoff mandate for Adam Gase. It was not a situation where he had to win immediately. [Johnson] was going to chart the team’s progress through the season. He then went on to call Adam Gase a brilliant offensive mind. When I had a conversation with a player on the team, he said he thinks the only reason they keep Gase around is that they like him, and the ‘they’ that the player was referring to is ownership.”
What is the current state of the Jets amidst all this dysfunction?
Herman followed up by asking Pauline about the current temperature of the Jets franchise in the wake of the Le’Veon Bell news and the continued deterioration of Gase’s position.
“Yeah, it’s not good,” Pauline replied. “I’ve heard that from a couple of people. Losing never breeds a good attitude, and as I said in previous podcasts we’ve done, there has been finger-pointing, but I think certain players on the team are starting to tune Gase out, and while he hasn’t lost the locker room just yet, it’s very close. If they go out and get their doors blown off the next couple of weeks, I think he’s lost the locker room and they’ll cut him loose.”
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It’s entirely possible, and arguably likely, that New York gets thoroughly out-classed over the next few weeks, which would make the rumblings around Adam Gase being fired louder and louder. Ahead of November, Gase’s squad faces off against the Dolphins, who are 2-1 in their last three games with a 26-point win over the 49ers, and the Bills, who are 4-1 and leading the AFC East.
If Gase isn’t fired and gets past the remaining October stretch, the final nine games of the season are even less forgiving. In that span, the Jets will play the Patriots twice, the Dolphins, Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Seahawks, Rams, and Browns. New York’s final 11 opponents have a combined record of 33-20. New York will be hard-pressed to get a single win, let alone win enough to buy Adam Gase more time and not get fired.
Either way, it appears as though Adam Gase’s time in New York is starting to come to a close. The once-proclaimed offensive genius is running out of answers, and Adam Gase may be fired as soon as early November.