Head coach Adam Gase did not go as far as promising a trip to the White House in the near future, as Rex Ryan once did, but he did make a bold prediction as the team reported to camp this morning. "We’re going to play meaningful games in the end of November and December," Gase said. "That’s what we’re going to do." It surely has been a while since the Jets did that, as the Gang Green have gone eight straight seasons without making it to the postseason.
The Jets reported to training camp earlier today. They will be on the field for their first practice Thursday morning and the first-round pick, DT Quinnen Williams, won’t be there unless there’s a breakthrough in contract negotiations. He remains one of three unsigned picks from this year’s draft.
When pressed on Williams' absence, Gase called it part of the “draft process” and seemed unaffected by the prospect of opening camp without the top pick. "When he gets here, he gets here," he said. According to various reports, the issue is the team's desire to defer the payment of some of Williams’s signing bonus into his second season. This would cost Williams around $100K, as he's still a resident of Alabama where tax rate is lower than in New Jersey where he will be residing in his second season.
Williams' absence should not really affect the odds on the Jets for the upcoming season. Various sports gambling websites have the Gang Green winning 7 or 8 games in 2019. Meanwhile, one of online betting sites has the odds of +2000 that Gase will be the first head coach fired this season.
Second year QB Sam Darnold also spoke with the media and stated that his expectations for this season were "a lot of wins." Well, we can certainly hope so, as the Jets haven't had a winning season since 2015 when they finished one win short of claiming a playoff berth.