JetsJ ready to meet

ADaily News report detailing that the Jets are the only NFL team not to conduct in-person meetings with players and coaches pro mpted Adam Gase to annou unce that Gang Green will start fac The e-to-face News sessions reported next Thursday week. that t the Jets are the only organizatio on not to conduct in-person play yer-coach meetings during train ning camp due to A) ownership p’s unwillingness to pay the neccessary amount to make chan nges at the team facility that wou uld adhere to Envvironmental Prootection Age ency recommen ndations for prop per ventilation and B) Gase’s prefere nce to limit face e-to-face meetings s with players beyond the prac ctice field.

The T Jets did not respond for com mment to the News about why they y were the only team to live in a vir rtual world during training before e Gase’s attempt to explain why y his team hasn’t had in-person meetings since Dec. 30, 2019 (249 9 days ago).

“WWe felt like the virtual learning is the best way,” Gase said Thu ursday after the final practice of c amp. “I feel like we got a ton out of it. I think our players did a grea at job of being interactive in it. Now w, hey do I feel like we can take a di ifferent step and start doing thin ngs in person? Yes. I feel better abou ut doing that now than I did whe en we started this thing. But I do tthink we got in a great rhythm with h the virtual stuff. That’s why we sstayed with it.”

Team T sources told the News that there was an undercurrent of frustration in the building despite coaches’ best efforts to find solutions to navigate interactive learning. However, Gase wasn’t inclined to take a hard stance against ownership. He typically prefers to limit face-to-face meetings anyway, according to sources.

“The way that our guys engaged in the virtual meetings…” Gase said. “I felt like we had a ton of guys asking more questions. Sometimes when you’re live, it’s easier to nod your head and say you got it. And you might not have it. On the virtual stuff, I just felt like there was a better back and forth for whatever reason.”

Coaches across the league greatly prefer face-to-face interactions over virtual ones.

Gase further attempted to rationalize eschewing face-to-face meetings by suggesting that 80 players were too much to accommodate social distancing for meetings. The Jets have a 224,000 square-foot facility on a 27-acre campus that includes five fulllength fields, 10 classrooms and an 80,000 square-foot field house that can be converted to a portable meeting space (like other teams already have done).

Gase said that cutting down the roster to 69 this weekend — or an average of 1.4 fewer people per positional group — would be more conducive to socially distanced meetings.

“When you’re in training camp, you got 80,” Gase said. “Now all of a sudden, we drop 11 guys off the roster. All of a sudden, it changes.

Now you have less people. The rooms work out better. So, we have a better setup when you go to 69 compared to 80.”

Gase insisted that meeting rooms were “adjusted… a little bit” to “have things spaced out,” but he didn’t provide clarity of whether there would be any significant related cost. He lauded CEO Christopher Johnson for renting out rooms at a nearby hotel during the pandemic.

Team employees told the News that they were told that the cavernous field house couldn’t be used for meeting spaces due to ventilation concerns (and associated costs to upgrade HVAC/air filtration).

“There’s some times when you can use the field house not necessarily for meetings, but almost create the meeting on the field,” Gase said. “That makes it super easy to space everybody out.”

The 80,000 square-foot field house did not expand or contract since the start of training camp.

Gase maintained that the inperson meeting setup is “something that we had been working on for a while.” Sources at all levels of the organization told the News this week that they were unaware of the plan for meetings during the regular season.

Asked Thursday if he likes having meetings in general, Gase quipped: “Yeah, I mean, that’s what we do. This is all we do. It’s nonstop meetings.”

Asource told the News that Gase thinks meetings are “a waste of time.” “Adam would rather not have those (face-to-face) interactions,” one team official said. “He doesn’t like meeting.”