New York Jets

Quinnen Williams' breakout season for the New York Jets has come to an early end because of a neck injury. 

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Williams will be placed on injured reserve and miss the final two games of the season. 

Williams left Sunday's win over the Los Angeles Rams in the third quarter with a head injury. Head coach Adam Gase later confirmed the second-year defensive lineman suffered a concussion. 

Before exiting the game, Williams had four combined tackles and sacked Rams quarterback Jared Goff once. 

Few things have gone right for the Jets in 2020, but Williams' emergence has been a bright spot for the franchise. He was selected No. 3 overall in the 2018 draft. The 23-year-old struggled as a rookie with four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in 13 games. 

In 13 games this season, Williams racked up 14 quarterback hits, 10 tackles for loss and seven sacks. 

With the Jets only playing for draft positioning at this point, there's nothing to be gained from trying to rush Williams back on to the field. The Alabama alum will get a full offseason to prepare for 2021 when he will be the anchor of the Jets defensive line. 

New York will finish the 2020 season with games against the Cleveland Browns in Week 16 and New England Patriots in Week 17. 

The New York Jets announced Tuesday they will donate $1 million as part of their social justice efforts.

The team will give $250,000 to each of the All Stars Project, Innocence Project, New York Urban League and Year Up. Jets players and staff members will also have the chance to volunteer to help these organizations.

"We wanted to contribute to these organizations and help push our community forward," Jets president Hymie Elhai said. "It is our hope through these partnerships that we can positively affect the access, equity and rights of those in need."

Teams around the NFL pledged to take on bigger roles in social initiatives over the summer following protests against racial injustice. The Jets identified several key areas to focus on, including poverty, racial equality and criminal justice reform.

The New York Urban League and Year Up both assist in improving circumstances and finding work for Black men and women in need, while the All Stars Project helps underserved youth. The Innocence Project works to free people in prison who were wrongly accused of crimes.

The New York Jets won their first game of the season against the Los Angeles Rams, 23-20, on Sunday, and head coach Adam Gase had a message for fans who were hoping they would continue their losing streak in an effort to secure the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

"Our job is to go out and try to win every week," he said, per Connor Hughes of The Athletic. 

The Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars are the teams most likely to get the first pick, which would allow them to take Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence—assuming the junior declares for the draft. Both teams are now 1-13, but the Jaguars have the advantage for the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker. 

The team with the worse opponent winning percentage gets the better draft slot in the event multiple franchises have the same record. Jacksonville's .554 opponent winning percentage is worse than New York's .595. 

But for Gase, a win against anyone—let alone a win against the league's top defense—was worth celebrating. 

"I'm just happy for our guys," Gase said. "They've done such a great job of how they've worked. They've been through a lot of adversity. It's been too long for us to even remember what a win feels like, almost. It's great to see those guys that excited." 

The Jets managed to shut out the Rams in the first quarter and went into the final frame up 23-10, but the Rams nearly pulled ahead. They came within three points of the Jets and got the ball with five minutes left before the defense—namely Marcus Maye—stepped up to take back possession. From there, New York got two first downs to set up victory formation. 

With the first pick in the draft likely lost, the Jets will host the Cleveland Browns next week before closing the season with a visit to the New England Patriots. 

New York Jets defensive lineman Quinnen Williams suffered a concussion in Sunday's 23-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, head coach Adam Gase confirmed to reporters.

The 23-year-old, who was the third overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, entered Week 15 with 49 tackles and six sacks. He accumulated 28 tackles (four for loss) and 2.5 sacks in 13 games for the Jets as a rookie.

Williams started the first eight games of the 2020 season, but he missed the Week 9 loss to the New England Patriots with a hamstring injury.

In 2019, Williams missed two games after suffering an ankle injury in Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills but returned after the team's Week 4 bye for the game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Williams also missed a Week 15 contest at the Baltimore Ravens with a stinger.

The former Alabama defensive lineman was considered the 2019 draft's top prospect by many, including Bleacher Report's Matt Miller.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein had the same ranking, writing:

"Williams' hands, feet and overall movement are extremely efficient and he combines those features with short-area burst to create instant wins at the point of attack to propel him to the football. His play strength is good, but his lack of mass and length will show up at times against NFL competition.

"Despite having just a single season of headline production, his instincts, quickness and athleticism are projectable play traits that should allow for continued production against both the run and pass on the next level. Williams is an instant starter with Pro Bowl potential."

Williams won a starting role with the Crimson Tide in 2018 before he was on anyone's draft radar and had 71 tackles (19.5 for loss) and eight sacks.

His efforts earned him an eighth-place ranking in the Heisman Trophy voting. He was named a consensus All-American and won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman.

At 1-13, the Jets have little to play for in their last two games. Nonetheless, they could be without one of their best young defenders in Week 16 against the Cleveland Browns.        

The New York Jets are 0-13 this season and looked poised to finish the 2020 season without a single win. 

Amid that startling mediocrity, head coach Adam Gase said he feels he's let down team CEO Christopher Johnson. 

"He knows how I [feel]," Gase told reporters. "I've told him multiple times. He deserves better, especially with how he is with our players, our staff, coaches...anybody involved in this organization. I mean, I couldn't ask for to work for a better guy."

Gase's time in New York is likely drawing to a close. In his two seasons with the Jets, the team is 7-22. And in his entire run as a head coach, including his three seasons leading the Miami Dolphins, he's had just one winning season (the Dolphins went 10-6 in 2016).

When asked directly if he has let down Johnson, Gase answered in the affirmative:

"Yes. You try to figure out where things went wrong and what we can change. It's like you're trying to evaluate things as you go and adjust. ... But at the end of the day, it's about winning. We haven't done that. For him not to feel a playoff feel, of being competitive in December, it's disappointing to me that we haven't been able to do that for him."

It likely won't be just Gase that will get an address change this offseason. The team is also on track to finish with the worst record in football and the top pick in the 2021 NFL draft, meaning they'll be in position to select Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. 

That would likely mean the end of the road for Sam Darnold, who has disappointed since being the No. 3 overall pick in 2018. The 23-year-old has thrown for 1,560 yards, five touchdowns and nine interceptions in nine games this season, completing a woeful 58.4 percent of his passes. 

He's regressed—another mark against Gase. 

"I came here to help him, help him develop his career, and we haven't been able to do that," Gase told reporters this month.

Gase has continued to defend Darnold, however.

"It's not just him. Everybody's got to do their job," he told reporters. "We need the line to do their job, backs to do their job, tight ends, wide receivers. He can make the right decision on his reads, but he can't catch it. He can't make the guys be in the right spots. We need all 11."

"He's doing the right things," Gase added. "We're having breakdowns around him."

In the midst of his third season with the New York Jets, who haven't won a game this season, quarterback Sam Darnold doesn't want to consider playing for another team—though he may not have a choice.

"I love it here," he said Monday, per Dennis Waszak Jr. of the Associated Press. "I love the people here. I love living here. I've always said it, that I want to be a Jet for life. But again that decision isn't up to me."

The Jets are likely to come out of this season winning something—the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL draft. The consensus top pick is Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who could be Darnold's immediate replacement. 

On Monday, Darnold said he wasn't concerned with the draft talk.

"I mean, I believe in myself as a quarterback and as a player in this league," he said. "Obviously, that decision isn't up to me, but I'm always going to believe in myself. I have the utmost confidence in myself to be able to go out there and play good football on Sundays." 

The 23-year-old, who was drafted by the Jets with the No. 3 pick out of USC in 2018, has appeared in just nine games this season as he battles shoulder issues. The California native has tallied 1,560 yards and five touchdowns on 156-of-267 passing. 

He had a season-low 132 yards on Sunday in a 40-3 blowout against the Seattle Seahawks, and it marked the fifth game this season in which he has failed to throw a touchdown pass. 

When Darnold was on the sidelines, the team turned to veteran Joe Flacco, who tallied six touchdown passes across his four starts, including three in a 30-27 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 9. 

Darnold and the Jets have outings against the Los Angeles Rams, Cleveland Browns and the Patriots to close out the 2020 campaign.

Jamal Adams may have requested a trade from the New York Jets ahead of the 2020 season, but the Seattle Seahawks star takes no pleasure from his old team falling to 0-13 after a 40-3 loss to his new squad on Sunday.  

Adams told reporters it's "tough" to see the Jets in their present state and added that he's rooting for the franchise to turn things around:

The 25-year-old approached Jets head coach Adam Gase after the game, recounting how Gase told him to "go get you one" in reference to a Super Bowl title.

Adams went through a bitter divorce from the Jets in the offseason.

He told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News in July how he had grown frustrated with what he felt was a lack of transparency and honesty regarding negotiations over a long-term extension. The two-time Pro Bowler also raised doubts about Gase and whether he was "the right leader for this organization to reach the Promised Land."

New York's record certainly supports his point.

Adams explained on the All Things Covered podcast in November how the situation was taking a toll on him mentally as he "fought depression in New York."

He got his wish when the Jets traded him and a fourth-round pick to the Seahawks for Bradley McDougald, a 2021 first-rounder, a 2022 first-rounder and a 2021 third-rounder, and he was naturally going to be in a good mood after picking up such a comprehensive victory.

There's also a difference between being upset with one or two people inside an organization and burning every bridge you have built. Adams' issues seemed to be isolated to Gase and general manager Joe Douglas, and he said in the buildup to Sunday that his problems with Gase were less personal and more due to professional differences.

Adams' relationship with the Jets clearly soured to the point of no return, but any animosity toward New York is long gone.

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase said he "hugged" Seattle Seahawks safety Jamal Adams, formerly a Jet, after Seattle's 40-3 win on Sunday.

The Jets traded Adams and a 2022 fourth-round pick to Seattle in July for Bradley McDougald, a 2021 first- and third-rounder and a 2022 first-round pick.

Adams told reporters this week that he didn't harbor hard feelings toward Gase but had some critiques, too:

"We had a solid relationship. I don't hate Adam Gase, I have no problem with Adam Gase, I just didn't feel he handled certain situations well as a head coach. And that's just my opinion, everybody is entitled to their opinion, right? ... I have no hate toward Adam. Obviously, things are not going in a positive way over there in New York with the record but, at the end of the day, man, I'm going out there to win a ball game.

"If Adam comes up to me and shakes my hand, I'ma shake his hand, there's no love lost. Listen, I'm at peace, man, and I'm a different guy, I'm really a different guy. I'm still gonna talk my noise but I'm at peace with it, man."

Adams had been far more critical of Gase over the summer, which Gase said surprised him during a press conference ahead of this week's matchup, believing he had a solid relationship with Adams:

"I thought it was good, but obviously he felt different. I don't know, I never had any poor interactions with him. I thought everything was – he was somebody I talked to a lot and communicated with. Just kind of once the offseason hit, that's kind of where – there's nothing I can do, I'm not in charge of contracts. I'm not involved in those talks. That's kind of where his agent and front office guys got to go to work."

Since the breakup, life has been better for Adams. The Seahawks are 9-4 and battling for the NFC West title, with a playoff berth looking inevitable barring a major meltdown. The Jets, meanwhile, are 0-13 and Gase is likely going to be fired in the offseason barring a major—and arguably unearned—show of loyalty from Jets ownership.

Jamal Adams doesn't have fond memories of Adam Gase during their one season together with the New York Jets.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Sunday's game between the Jets and Seattle Seahawks, Adams explained that he has some questions about Gase's ability as a coach, but doesn't have any problem with him as a person:

Before being traded to the Seahawks in July, Adams made it clear he didn't see Gase as an inspiring leader for the Jets. 

"I don't feel like he's the right leader for this organization to reach the Promised Land," Adams told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. "As a leader, what really bothers me is that he doesn't have a relationship with everybody in the building."

Adams seemed like a franchise cornerstone for the Jets after being selected No. 6 overall in the 2017 NFL draft. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2018 and 2019, as well as the All-Pro first team in 2019. 

Ultimately, though, a contract dispute caused a rift that led to Adams being traded prior to this season. He's performed well in his new home with 7.5 sacks. 

Meanwhile, the Jets are currently 0-12 and are four losses away from joining the 2008 Detroit Lions and 2017 Cleveland Browns as the only teams in NFL history to go winless in a 16-game season. 

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase was caught off guard when Jamal Adams took a shot at him before the All-Pro safety was traded to the Seattle Seahawks. 

Speaking to reporters on Thursday ahead of the Jets-Seahawks game this weekend, Gase said he was “surprised" by Adams' comments earlier this season. 

Amid a contract dispute during the offseason, Adams made a trade request to the Jets. They honored his wish on July 25 by sending him to the Seahawks for Bradley McDougald, first- and third-round draft picks in 2021 and a 2022 first-round pick. 

One day before the trade was agreed upon, Adams told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News that he didn't trust Gase's ability to lead a team:

"I don't feel like he's the right leader for this organization to reach the Promised Land. As a leader, what really bothers me is that he doesn't have a relationship with everybody in the building.

"At the end of the day, he doesn't address the team. If there's a problem in the locker room, he lets another coach address the team. If we're playing s---ty and we're losing, he doesn't address the entire team as a group at halftime. He'll walk out of the locker room and let another coach handle it."

Even though Adams has dealt with injuries this season, he leads the Seahawks with 7.5 sacks and eight tackles for loss in eight games. Seattle is tied with the Los Angeles Rams atop the NFC West with an 8-4 record.

Gase and the Jets are flirting with becoming the third team in NFL history to go winless in a 16-game season. They have lost each of their first 12 games in 2020, including a 31-28 defeat to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 13 on Henry Ruggs' 46-yard touchdown catch with five seconds remaining.