After what has been a filled two weeks of fan speculations and theories over social media about who would be the best fit for this New York Jets team the search is over and they have made it official yesterday that the next head coach is non other than former Dolphins head coach Adam Gase. Although Gase was their choice in the end, he wasn't their first one because it was reported by espn analyst Rich Cimini that Baylor's head coach Matt Rhule was the preferred choice but Rhule wanted to pick his own staff while the Jets had different ideas. Adam Gase was the safest bet along with Mike McCarthy, but is he the right choice?
The Jets took the patient approach throughout this searching because they wanted to make sure that they were going to get this right, but once we started noticing other coaching spots being filled you had the sense that the Jets were going to decide either yesterday or somewhere along the week. Even though Gase may not have been the sexiest of choices but one of his references seemed to have made a strong impression on both Maccagnan and Christopher Johnson, does Peyton Manning sound familiar? Apparently he made a strong endorsement about his former offensive coordinator and that should count considering he is a future hall of famer with an spectacular resume. If that wasn't impressive enough, it seems as though him and Darnold made a strong connection during the interview process which is what he hoped to see.
Gase had a tough time in Miami which was his first job as a head coach, he tried to build a winning culture to this but failed to do so due to the fact that the players he had wasn't fitting into what he envisioned. So he cut ties with talented players like Jarvis Landry and Suh, it had seemed to work in the beginning of the 2018 season after going 3-0 but the Dolphins would collapse to finish the season 7-9. Most Jets fans are not happy with the decision because this is a tough case to sell especially to what transpired in Miami.
In his three years that he has been there, Adam Gase had a 23-25 record with the Dolphins and his offense ranked 26th in points put up, 31st in total yards, 30th in passing, and 18th in rushing (pro-football reference). In his defense, the Dolphins have faced injury issues throughout his tenure including Ryan Tannihill who missed all of the 2017 season as well as part of the 2018 season. But Gase is an offensive play caller, which is good for Sam Darnold because it provides stability. The Jets haven't had a stable offensive system since 2011 where they had six different offensive systems, every one of them different than the other.
All and all Gase wasn't the sexiest choice but hiring him means that the Dolphins messed up, which is what I'm hoping for in addition to learning from his passed mistakes. It will be interesting to see how Maccagnan and Gase will get along with one another as they try to demonstrate authority.