Getty Ex-New York Jets head coach Adam Gase calling in a play on the sideline of an NFL game.
The New York Jets just completed the first season under the new Robert Saleh regime in 2021.
Prior to that, the green and white were engulfed in one of the worst reigns in recent football history under the watchful eyes of Adam Gase.
The longtime former NFL assistant was running the show for the green and white for two seasons from 2019 through 2020. During that time he went 9-23 and was widely criticized by the media for his infamous mishaps.
In 17 games under Adam Gase, the Jets have scored 33 touchdowns, and they’ve punted 93 times.
@Espngreeny breaks down the “brilliant offensive mind” of Gase:
Now the embattled coach could be making a return to the NFL.
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An NFL Comeback?
Longtime New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left the team this offseason to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. That has created a vacancy in the Patriots’ ranks and there has been a lot of media speculation on who could fill that void.
The suggestion of Gase landing the Patriots’ vacant offensive coordinator position was first playfully suggested by NYJ Matt on Twitter as a joke.
A few days later it went from a joke to a potential reality as Mike Giardi of the NFL Network shared that the two names in the running are Bill O’Brien and Gase.
The 43-year old’s name “keeps popping up” when speaking to an array of league sources.
In addition to Bill O’Brien, Adam Gase’s name keeps popping up when speaking to league sources about the #Patriots now vacant offensive coordinator position. In Foxboro, there’s hope for an internal promotion, although that likely wouldn’t come with the official OC title.
Since being fired by the Jets, Gase has laid low and has yet to take on another project.
Patriots legend Bill Belichick has always spoken glowingly about Gase.
Back in 2020, he said he had “a lot of respect for Gase” who has ties to Nick Saban from their time together at both Michigan State and LSU.
“I have a lot of respect for Adam,” the Patriots coach said via NESN. “I think he’s a very good coach. He’s always been tough to coach against. He’s always made things difficult on our defense. He goes back to Josh in Denver, so we’ve known each other for a while through a mutual connection there.”
The future Pro Football Hall of Famer also said, “Adam’s always had an offensive system that really gave the quarterbacks all the opportunities to have tools that they need to be successful.”
Despite the overall poor coaching record with both the Jets and the Miami Dolphins, Belichick thought he did an “excellent job” in both places and said, “Gase is a coach I have a lot of respect for, and he gives us a lot of problems and is a tough coach to coach against. That’s really the way I feel about him.”
The Silver Lining
Gase’s run with the Jets was memorable for all the wrong reasons, but fans do have one thing to thank him for and that’s wide receiver, Braxton Berrios.
The talented wideout was one of the final roster cuts heading into 2019 for the Pats and the Jets claimed him quickly. Shortly after that transaction went through, Belichick called up Gase to tell him, “you got a good one.”
Berrios slowly worked himself up the pecking order with the Jets and became a key cog on special teams and in the receiver room.
This past year Berrios broke out as a do it all man delivering for the green and white in ways thought unimaginable:
- 46 receptions
- 471 yards from scrimmage
- Five total touchdowns
Those marks were all career highs for the 26-year-old and they couldn’t have come at a better time as he is set to reach unrestricted free agency this spring.
Berrios confirmed in a recent interview that he has already started contract extension talks with the Jets but “we’ll see what happens.”
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