Pressure is on Gase, Darnold, Jets after turbulent offseason
The New York Jets hope to hop off the hamster wheel of irrelevance by breaking a nineyear playoff drought. Adam Gase’s seat is scorching entering the 2020 campaign after a 7-9 season that included a 1-7 start, head-scratching decisions and the league’s worst offense by nearly every meaningful statistical category.
The Jets’ turbulent off-season included trading away their best player (All-Pro safety Jamal Adams) and losing their second-best player (Pro Bowl linebacker C.J. Mosley) to the COVID-19 opt-out.
The franchise is pinning their hopes on third-year quarterback Sam Darnold to carry everyone on his 23-year-old shoulders, an arduous task for a developing player.
“Our goal is always going to be playing in January,” Gase said. “Always going to be the goal. A lot of things happen. We have to adjust. We have to do everything we can to make sure that’s where we end up. We’re always going to be shooting to do that and that’s going to be the goal this year. You want to get to January where a lot of good things are happening.”
Easier said than done for a team that will have four new offensive linemen to protect Darnold. General manager Joe Douglas re-arranged the deck with plenty of new faces in the trenches, but new doesn’t necessarily mean better.
Darnold is the key to everything.
“There’s definitely room to grow,” Darnold said. “Throughout the back half of [last] season, I thought I improved on a lot of things. I thought I got more consistent and was able to get more comfortable with the offense. So, there’s obviously room to be better for this next year. And for myself, I’m just trying to be as consistent as possible and play at a high level.”
The Jets believe that a 6-2 finish last season will springboard them, but the roster turnover coupled with the pandemic realities that restricted this group’s ability to get on the field in the spring will make it a daunting task to hit the ground running.
There’s a litany of fair questions about whether Darnold’s supporting cast is good enough help the Jets snap the NFL’s third-longest playoff drought (behind the Browns and Buccaneers). Douglas & Co. are banking on Le’Veon Bell to bounce-back after the worst season of his career. Gase’s poor deployment of the Pro Bowl running back led to predictably poor results.
Bell, 28, enters his second season with the Jets in terrific shape, but Gase is expected to lighten his load by sprinkling in 37-year-old addition Frank Gore. Darnold also needs to develop a rapport quickly with newcomers Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims.
Gregg Williams’ defense was efficient last season, but he’ll have a massive challenge without Adams and Mosley. Second-year defensive lineman Quinnen Williams could morph into Williams’ new centerpiece in the trenches, but it might be a long year for the secondary.
The Jets face one of the toughest schedules on paper after having one of the easiest last year. Gase, who is 30-35 in four seasons as a head coach, has plenty to prove to survive beyond 2020. He’ll be keeping his fingers crossed that Darnold can make a significant jump in his second season.
“I’m really encouraged by where he can go from here,” Gase said. “Some of the throws that he makes, it’s one of those things where you just shake your head like, ‘How did he make that throw?’… It’s just really going to be about consistency, game in and game out. Can he be the same guy every game? That’s something he’s always going to work on and, hopefully, we can get him there this year.”
Gase’s future likely depends on it.