Add Antonio Cromartie to the list of people who don’t believe Adam Gase is the right man to lead the Jets.
The cornerback spoke to TMZ about his feelings toward Gase, and he didn’t exactly give a ringing endorsement. One of the main reasons Cromartie doesn’t like Gase is because of the way he uses and treats running back Le’Veon Bell.
“We don’t give our running back the ball in the second half of a game,” Cromartie said. “It just shows you that you’re trying to say that you don’t need him.”
Gase was reportedly against paying a 27-year-old running back, Bell, a lucrative contract, but former general manager Mike Maccagnan did it anyway. Bell received a four-year, $52.5 million deal from the Jets, but his usage was limited in 2019 and he had one of the worst years of his career.
During the season, Gase seemed to avoid handing the ball off to Bell in the second half of games. He claimed it was because of the game flow, but there were plenty of times when the Jets could have used him. Meanwhile, in the one game Bell missed due to an illness, Gase made it a point to run the football with Bilal Powell and Ty Montgomery.
If Cromartie had his way, he would have fired Gase after the season, despite him leading the team to a 7-9 record after a 1-7 start. As for who Cromartie would replace him with, he would go straight to Andy Reid’s staff and hire his offensive coordinator.
“I would go get Eric Bieniemy,” Cromartie said.
Bieniemy did interview for the Jets job after the 2018 season, but New York elected to go with Gase instead. He interviewed for a handful of openings this offseason but didn’t get hired.
To the dislike of Cromartie, Gase will be the Jets’ head coach in 2020. Christopher Johnson guaranteed him another year during the middle of last season. Whether Cromartie likes it or not, Gase isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.