The New York Jets have struggled mightily this season.
The New York Jets have scored 75 points this season. Fewest in the NFL. The team with the second fewest points scored this season is the Denver Broncos, with 100 total points (and one less game played!) The Adam Gase Era.
— Mets Fan (@AMetsFan) October 19, 2020
As a result, it is hard to decide who may be shown the exit door quicker if the winless streak continues.
It could be either QB Sam Darnold or Head Coach Adam Gase.
If the Jets continue their winless ways, there isn’t a realistic scenario that shows Darnold as the starting QB next year.
Then again, the Jets ownership could clean the coaching house out also.
In the meantime, Gase is trying to encourage Sam Darnold after falling to 0-7 this past weekend.
“I just keep thinking he’s 23. None of this can be easy. My thing to him was we got to stay the course, we got to keep finding ways to get better, we have to do a really good job of being great leaders and showing guys the right way to do things, and keeping our focus.”
Adam Gase wasn’t in Sam Darnold’s ear during Sunday’s game, but he was after it.
The coach on the hot seat wanted to make sure the young frustrated QB was good mentally and tried to assure him that things will get better. #Jets https://t.co/d0x6bKQ0Az
— Al Iannazzone (@Al_Iannazzone) October 26, 2020
Making the Case for Keeping Sam Darnold
It’s a weak case at best.
Darnold has completed 58% of the passes he has thrown this year.
Through 7 games, he has 94 completions for 912 yards (less than 10 yards per throw on average).
He has 3 TDs and 6 INTs.
This is Darnold’s third year in the league, all with the Jets.
He was the third overall pick in the 2018 draft.
Darnold is in the third year of his contract and is expected to make $8.3 million this year.
To be fair, the New York Jets have not provided a supporting cast for Sam Darnold.
Just because he does not fit or experience success with the Jets, it doesn’t mean he is not an NFL QB that would excel on a different team with a different coach.
Sam Darnold's audition for the Cowboys/Colts/Broncos/etc is going well so far todaypic.twitter.com/q0CWrOrXwp
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 25, 2020
Darnold’s Replacement Acquired Via 2021 NFL Draft
If the Jets continue on this trajectory, the team will have the first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The best quarterback in that class is Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence.
It’s not a stretch to say that Lawrence could be a Jet before next summer.
Adam Gase might be the perfect man for the job in New York this season after all. Per @WattAreTheOdds the Jets are now +370 to go 0-16, which is a 21.28% implied chance. An 0-16 season translates to a 100% implied chance the Jets draft Trevor Lawrence 1st overall. @OddsCheckerUS https://t.co/0NM51iQ0Ru
— Domenic Padula (@Dom_Padula) October 21, 2020
How will Lawrence as a first-round draft pick fare compared to Darnold?
It’s too early to speculate.
Making the Case for Keeping Adam Gase
This case is weaker than the Darnold argument; Gase could be gone before the end of the season.
Gase does not seem to have fostered a relationship with the Jets’ fans or even his players.
ADAM GASE IS STILL THE HEAD COACH FOR THE NEW YORK JETS I CANNOT TAKE ANOTHER WEEK OF THIS NITEMARE pic.twitter.com/m6puWuk73P
— 𝙅𝙀𝙏𝙎 𝙈𝙀𝘿𝙄𝘼🛫 (@NYJets_Media) October 19, 2020
It is still impossible to believe that Gase engineered the release of RB Le’Veon Bell.
Bell had struggled with injuries for nearly half the season but came under fire for using social media as an outlet to question his coach’s decision making.
Le’Veon Bell has a storied history of being disruptive when he wants to be, but the Jets knew what they were getting.
Ask the Steelers how they felt when he sat out an entire season so he could land a new team and a bigger contract.
Sam Darnold on 98.7 ESPN says @LeVeonBell "was so great in the locker room, at practice, and on game day."
Adds that he's "not sure what happened to be honest."#TakeFlight
— JetLife (@JetsLife4) October 19, 2020
That aside, if healthy, Bell is a talented player and could have helped Darnold’s cause a little bit.
Bell did land on his feet with another great team after the Jets released him.
That would be the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Ironically, the Chiefs play the Jets in Week 8 so Bell may have the last laugh against his former team.
Whereas Sam Darnold could land somewhere else next year and beyond, the same cannot be said for Adam Gase.
His regular season record as a head coach is 30-40.
31 of the 40 losses are by double digits so they weren’t even close games.
He may be more suited to a coordinator role elsewhere.
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