Content available exclusively for subscribers
John Morton is out as offensive coordinator. The announcement was made by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
I think the feelings were mutual.
I don’t get the sense that John Morton was a big fan of Todd Bowles either. He was probably waiting to get fired so he would get the money. Quitting is stupid from a legal standpoint.
This is a guy who worked for Jon Gruden, Sean Payton, Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh.
Todd hasn’t proved to be on the level thus far. We will see how he does moving forward.
Schefter, who made the announcement, wrote that Jets QB coach Jeremy Bates is a candidate to take over, and the writer stated, “Bates is well liked and respected in building last year.”
Not sure how somebody not in the building, can know how people in a building feel about somebody.
Maybe an agent told him that, or maybe Bates is a source. Who knows? Just wondering. Not accusing anybody of anything.
Often when an insider offers effusive praise like that, there is an agenda behind him – either trying to help an agent’s client, or trying to help a source.
Just keeping it real folks.
As for the job Bates did as Jets’ QB coach. He did a solid job with Josh McCown, but had little impact on Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg. That isn’t a criticism. I think Petty is who he is. Not sure some of the stuff is fixable. Hackenberg was overdrafted by the Jets, and last time we saw him, he threw nine three-and-out’s in the fourth preseason game against backups and a vanilla defense. It’s hard to fix accuracy issues with a quarterback. Gil Brandt has told me that repeatedly.
Also, one other thing about Bates. I can’t testify to how people felt about him in the building this past season, but I do his first go-around with the team some people didn’t like his act.
Bates was with the Jets as QB coach in 2005.
When the Jets hired Bates in early February, a former Jets executive shared some memories on Facebook about Bates.
“Did you see Jets just hired Jeremy Bates, as I recall he was bad news when he was part of Herm Edwards staff,” said the former Jets staffer. “Didn’t he punch out a wall or throw something at someone, can’t remember the specifics but I remember he was not very well liked and his stay was short.”
I will not mention the name of the staffer, but he was a VP.
Bates was out of the league for four years getting his life together. He clearly had some issues. Perhaps they are behind him, and he was well-liked in the building last year. I don’t hang out in the part of the building with the coaches, so I don’t know, and neither does the NFL insider.
But the Jets’ constant changing of offensive coordinator is bad for their program.
I tweeted before, “How many offensive coordinators has Bilal Powell had? Schottenheimer, Sparano, Mornhinweg, Gailey, Morton, another one on the way. Not an ideal way to run things.”
So since arriving in 2011, Powell will now be on his sixth offensive coordinator. That’s crazy.
Perhaps a change was needed since Bowles and Morton clearly had issues.
But to keep throwing new playbooks at players, especially young players, is far from ideal.
I also tweeted before, “Robby Anderson three different offensive coordinators in three years. If anybody can some how spin that being a good thing, do tell.”
Three coordinator in three years for Anderson. Awful for a young, developing receiver.
The new coordinator could be either Bates or Todd Haley, both who have had temper issues in the past, so the Jets better think this one through extensively.
And stop the offensive coordinator carousel. It’s bad for continuity.
January 17, 2018
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Thursday.