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During his press conference after the season . . .
. . . Jets GM Joe Douglas was asked about how much input Adam Gase will have on personnel decisions.
“We are going to speak daily,” Douglas said. “There is going to be a lot of conversations, not only with me and Adam, but with me and the entire coaching staff, Adam and our personnel staff, collaboration is big with me. At the end of the day Mr. Johnson has tasked me with making the final decision on roster moves, but I can tell you guys that there are not going to be decisions that are made unilaterally. There is going to be a lot of inclusion, there is going to be a lot of collaboration and we are going to work together to do what is best for the New York Jets.”
Gase will have input, as he should, but he’s not going to have final say like he did in Miami. Yes, Gase had final say on the roster down there.
He doesn’t with the Jets.
And that is probably a positive for Gang Green. I know that sounds like I’m dissing Gase, but I’m not. I’m just dealing with reality. He’s perhaps too emotional and reactionary when it comes to personnel decisions, and that is a bad thing.
He dumped some very talented players in Miami – guys like running back Jay Ajayi, wide receiver Jarvis Landry and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, who had a Pro Bowl-level year for the Buffalo Bills, who claimed him on waiver after Gase sent him packing during the 2018 season, in what seemed like a knee-jerk move. in 2016, he got rid of three offensive lineman after a bad game.
So with the Jets, he isn’t empowered to trade players like Ajayi and Landry, or cut Phillips, or waive three linemen, because that’s what his mood dictates. He can’t do that stuff anymore.
So while Douglas will talk to Gase about personnel moves, and not force players on him, he also, isn’t going to allow the coach to make the knee-jerk move,s like perhaps he did in Miami, at times.
Douglas can say: “Adam, no freakin way am I trading Jordan Phillips.”
Douglas can say: “Adam, I’m not cutting three lineman, what are you crazy?”
There were some ill-informed people who claimed on the radio during the season that “Gase is running the Jets.”
They were almost implying that Douglas is his puppet.
If you ever have a chance to meet or talk to Joe Douglas, you will know within seconds this guy isn’t anybody’s puppet.
Douglas is running the Jets’ player personnel department. There is no gray area here. It’s a stone cold fact.
And this is going to help Gase be a better coach. Because at times, you get the sense that his impulsive nature as a personnel guy can get him in trouble.
It was kind of interesting when the narrative was out there, through some of Gase’s surrogates in the media, that the coach was some kind of victim this year because he had to play Luke Falk at quarterback with Sam Darnold and Trevor Siemian out.
Who do you think wanted Falk in the spring? Yes, the guy who had him in Miami – Gase.
The Jets needed somebody in the building to say, “No Adam, we aren’t signing Falk – he has a pop gun arm – we are staying with Brandon Silvers as a third QB.”
The Jets have that guy now in Douglas.
Yes, he will listen to Gase plenty, but he won’t cave to him, and make moves based on coach’s emotions.
January 10, 2020
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