What followed, instead, were spells of awkwardness and irreconcilable cracks. Four months after Gase’s hiring, the Jets fired their general manager, Mike Maccagnan, despite letting him run the two most critical parts of the 2019 low season: the draft and the free agency. Later, Gase rejected the perception that he had won a power struggle between the two men.
So, after opposing the Jets’ decision to hire Le’Veon Bell’s running back in March 2019, Gase pissed him off for not putting him in what Bell perceived to be the best of his abilities. The team ended up releasing Bell in October 2020. As a result, Bell became the last alienated player to lead this edition of the Jets, led by Gase and new general manager Joe Douglas. Bell joined security star Jamal Adams, who moved to Seattle in July, and Quincy Enunwa and Kelechi Osemele, who were upset about how the team handled their injuries.
The Jets, after ending the 2019 season by winning six of their eight final games, offered a hint of hope for a franchise that hasn’t made it to the playoffs since 2010 under Rex Ryan.
It was a mirage. They were not competitive in most games, and although teams generally aspire to peak in late December, the Jets’ victories at the end of the season may have done more harm than good. To Gase’s credit and perhaps to the detriment of the franchise, his players have not given up on him. His coaching legacy will be to bring his players together enough to win twice in the past three weeks, victories that cost the Jets the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 draft because they no longer had the league’s worst record. Instead, they will choose the second, behind Jacksonville.
The Jets are almost certain to have used that choice to choose Trevor Lawrence, the best consensus quarterback, if he decided to skip his senior season at Clemson. Now, just three years after removing Darnold from Southern California, the Jets must decide whether to continue building around him; pursue a veteran palliative in the free agency or via trade; or designate a successor, perhaps Justin Fields, of Ohio, or Zach Wilson, of Brigham Young.
Gase, like Ryan and Bowles before him, focused on his specialty, giving deposed coordinator Gregg Williams – fired after his disastrous call in Week 12 that led the Raiders to score the winning touchdown with five seconds remaining – autonomy over defense, and the whole operation suffered: the Jets allowed 457 points, the maximum in the franchise’s history.
While the league teams this season scored points and touchdowns at an unprecedented rate, exceeding the standard set in 2018, the Jets definitely did not. They entered Week 17 last in most offensive categories, including yards, passing yards, points and first downs per game; yards and points per ride; and efficiency of the red zone.