New York Jets

New York Jets players reportedly informed the NFLPA about hidden cameras in the team's locker room in late October, but a league investigation determined the video equipment is being used for "internal security purposes" and wasn't in violation of rules.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reported Saturday the NFL found the cameras have been in place since 2008, when the organization opened its current training facility in Florham Park, New Jersey. A former Jets player still wasn't happy about the discovery, though.

"I'm pissed," the unnamed player told Mehta. "That's our space. Why would you have a camera in there? That's bullsh--t."

The New York Daily News spoke with several former Jets players, including those who were on the team when they opened the new facility in 2008, and none of them recalled being informed there would be cameras inside the locker room.

Current players told Mehta they asked a team official whether the organization, which informed members of the roster they'd be monitored on team grounds to ensure COVID-19 guidelines were being followed, could track their movement in the locker room and didn't receive a direct answer.

The NFL said no action is required by the Jets.

"We are aware of the situation, and will have no further comment at this time," a team spokesperson said.

The players association is working to decide whether to file a formal grievance seeking the removal of the cameras and investigating whether they are in violation of a New Jersey legal statute put in place in 2016 that prevents the filming of individuals who are partially or fully naked, per Mehta.

"It doesn't surprise me," a former player told the New York Daily News. "Some people over there are pretty worried about what's done behind closed doors or in the locker room."

Mehta noted the situation has added to the "growing trust gap between players and the current regime," which includes owners Woody and Christopher Johnson, general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Adam Gase.

The news comes with the Jets owning an NFL-worst 0-8 record. They host the New England Patriots (2-5) at MetLife Stadium on Monday night before embarking on their Week 10 bye.

Hall of Fame quarterback and New York Jets legend Joe Namath isn't ruling out the possibility of Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence forcing a trade if the Jets take him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. 

When asked about that potential scenario Friday by ESPN's Rich Cimini, Namath said: "Anything could happen in this world, damn near anything—except for the Jets maybe making the playoffs this year. It's happened before, so why would it shock anybody?"

Assuming Lawrence enters the 2021 draft as expected, he is heavily favored to go first overall. As the NFL's only winless team at 0-8, the Jets are in the driver's seat when it comes to landing Lawrence.

Namath specifically mentioned the Eli Manning situation in the 2004 NFL draft. Manning made it clear that he didn't want the then-San Diego Chargers to take him first overall, but they did so anyway.

The Chargers then traded Manning to the New York Giants for No. 4 overall pick Philip Rivers and multiple draft picks.

That worked out well for the Giants, as Manning led them to two Super Bowl victories. Meanwhile, Rivers set passing records across the board during his 16 seasons with the Chargers.

Lawrence has given no indication that he will refuse to play for a team if drafted by them, but the Jets present a less-than-ideal environment for any potential draft pick given their lack of talent on the field and their coaching issues under Adam Gase.

The Jets also haven't reached the playoffs since 2010, which is a longer drought than the one the Chargers were mired in when they took Manning in 2004.

Although he has doubts about whether Lawrence would agree to play for the Jets, Namath believes Lawrence could be a great pick for New York:

"But If Trevor Lawrence is available, I think the upside is tremendous there. Also, I think the upside with Sam [Darnold] is positive, but you're not going to keep both of them. You're not going to take a quarterback No. 1 without getting a couple of high draft choices ... for Sam. It depends on what the powers that be want to do."

The Jets took Darnold third overall in the 2018 NFL draft, and while he has shown some flashes, he is just 11-21 as a starter and his 39-34 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio in 32 career starts is not where it needs to be in order to be a successful NFL quarterback.

Meanwhile, Lawrence has lost just once in 31 career college starts at Clemson. He led the Tigers to a national championship as a freshman in 2018 and took them to the College Football National Championship Game last season as well.

For his career, Lawrence has thrown for 8,778 yards, 83 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, while rushing for 811 yards and 14 touchdowns in 36 appearances.

Lawrence missed Clemson's last game and will miss Saturday's clash with Notre Dame after testing positive for COVID-19, but he is a stud when he is on the field, and as one of the most highly rated quarterback prospects ever, it is difficult to envision any team passing him up with the No. 1 overall pick.

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase confirmed to reporters Thursday that quarterback Sam Darnold doesn't have any further damage to his ailing shoulder based on the results of an MRI. 

Gase also alleviated concerns about Darnold's availability for Monday's game against the New England Patriots:

To date, the 23-year-old's most meaningful contribution in the NFL might be that unfortunate Monday Night Football graphic from when he had mononucleosis. That about sums up his two-plus years in the league so far.

The Jets selected Darnold third overall in 2018 to be their quarterback of the future. By 2020, he was the subject of trade speculation.

The USC product sprained the AC joint in his right shoulder in the Jets' 37-28 loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 4. He missed two games before the problem resurfaced as New York fell 35-9 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8.

The Jets are on pace to be the worst team in the NFL, and that might put them in a position to select Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the draft. If that happened, Darnold would almost certainly be in a different uniform in 2021.

The New York Jets have been the worst team in the NFL this season, but general manager Joe Douglas said Tuesday he still supports head coach Adam Gase:

"This is not all on Adam," Douglas added. "I have to do a better job of surrounding him with better players and better weapons. We're in this together. I'm thinking of everything I can do to try to help Adam. The goal is to get this fixed together." 

The Jets are the only winless team in the NFL this season at 0-8 and have been outscored by a league-worst 144 points.

The team has lost by 20 points or more in five different games already this season.

Injuries have been somewhat of a problem with starting quarterback Sam Darnold missing two games while running back Le'Veon Bell missed time before being traded. Darnold has also struggled with consistency, throwing just three touchdown passes with six interceptions.

With limited experience at receiver and 37-year-old Frank Gore as the leading rusher, it's been hard to find much success.

However, Gase hasn't seemed to help much since coming to the Jets. Despite having an offensive background, the coach hasn't improved a unit that ranks dead last in the NFL in both yards and points. In five years as a head coach, Gase's teams have never finished in the top half of the league in points per game.

It has added up to a 30-42 regular-season record as a coach between the Jets and Miami Dolphins, clinching a fourth straight year without a winning record.

Despite that, it doesn't appear as though Gase is on the hot seat.

New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold underwent an MRI on Monday, with the results showing a reaggravation of a right shoulder injury, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. 

Per Rapoport, Darnold will attempt to manage and work through the injury.

Earlier in the day, Jets head coach Adam Gase discussed the situation.

"We want to make sure we're not putting him in harm's way where any further damage can be done," Gase added.

The third-year signal-caller missed time after suffering a shoulder sprain during a Week 4 loss to the Denver Broncos. Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco made his first start in almost a year in Week 5's 30-10 loss against the Arizona Cardinals, with Darnold "in a lot of pain," according to Gase (h/t ESPN).

He returned in Week 7 but has struggled over the last two games with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Jets haven't been better without him, going 0-8 in games that Darnold has not started since the 23-year-old joined the team as the third overall draft pick in 2018. 

Before he was sidelined for Week 5, the USC product was 82-of-138 passing for 792 yards, three touchdowns and as many interceptions to follow up on a sophomore campaign in which he threw for 3,024 yards and 19 touchdowns through 13 games. He missed time last season after he contracted mononucleosis and suffered an enlarged spleen as a complication.

He started 13 games as a rookie, going 4-9 with 2,865 yards, 17 scores and 15 interceptions. 

Flacco was inactive for Jets' first three games in 2020 and played four snaps in Week 4, going 2-of-2 passing against his former team. Fourth-round rookie James Morgan is listed as the third-string QB.   

It's safe to say New York Jets head coach Adam Gase is not exactly having a great time this season.  

"I'm doing this job to win, not to get my face stomped in," he said following Sunday's 35-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, per Brian Costello of the New York Post.

New York is now an abysmal 0-8 on the campaign following the blowout loss to the defending Super Bowl champions.

Unfortunately for the Jets and Gase, they have been getting their faces stomped in much more often than they've been winning. Of their eight losses, the Jets have finished within single digits just twice. Four of their losses have been by 20 or more points.

In fact, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News noted Gase has more losses as the head coach of the Jets by 20 or more points (eight) than he has total wins (seven).

Gase's team was not quite this bad last year and finished with a 7-9 record in his first season as coach. It was New York's best finish since the 2015 campaign and seemed to indicate that the team was making progress.

Instead, the Jets are the worst team in the league and only have hope through the 2021 NFL draft, in which they could theoretically select someone like Clemson's Trevor Lawrence or Ohio State's Justin Fields if the losing continues.

Gase was just 23-25 in three seasons with the Miami Dolphins prior to his tenure with the Jets, so it's not as if he has a history of winning.

The question now is whether Gase will even be the head coach next year when, depending on the draft, the franchise may be in the hands of a different quarterback than Sam Darnold.

Former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator Todd Haley criticized New York Jets head coach Adam Gase's usage of running back Le'Veon Bell, who was cut by the Gang Green on Oct. 13.

Haley, who was Bell's offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2013 to '17, recently told The Albert Breer Show that he was "very frustrated for [Bell] in New York" (h/t Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News):

"I felt like that was a bad spot for him to go. Because he is a unique talent... When you have players with the special ability that they have, you got to make them feel and trust that you’re giving them an opportunity to be the best they can be.

"So, the frustration for me watching him in New York is... I'm cringing saying, 'They're just lining this guy in the I [-formation)] and they’re not utilizing'—and I'm not trying to be overly critical—but you're not using the ability that this kid has. Because he's not just a running back."

Bell made three Pro Bowls and two All-Pro first teams during his time with the Steelers. He recorded 7,996 yards from scrimmage and 42 touchdowns over 62 games.

The former Michigan State star held out of the 2018 season amid a contract dispute and signed a four-year, $52.5 million deal with the Jets in March 2019. Bell went from averaging 5.2 yards per touch with the Steelers to just 4.1 with New York, and he accumulated just 1,363 yards from scrimmage in 17 games with Gang Green.

The 28-year-old running back signed with the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of days after being released by the Jets, and Haley believes that the defending Super Bowl champions will better utilize Bell's talents as he shares backfield duties with Clyde Edwards-Helaire:

"Your best players... they better believe and trust that you're maximizing their abilities. In Kansas City, what I've seen from those coaches is that they do that. They got a lot of mouths to feed, but they've been one of the better teams that utilize the different talents that they have. Andy Reid and the staff will understand and see what they have in Le'Veon and do the things necessary to let him help you."

Bell has suited up once already for KC. He rushed six times for 39 yards in a 43-16 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 7.

The Chiefs will now face the Jets on Sunday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET at Arrowhead Stadium.      

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase downplayed a matchup against Le'Veon Bell, who was released by the Jets in mid-October, ahead of the team's Week 8 clash with the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Bell, who made his Chiefs debut against the Denver Broncos last week, and Gase never saw eye-to-eye about his usage during his time in New York. The Jets coach said he's not concerned about the "revenge game" narrative, though.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that he's going to be worried about just winning a game, period," he told reporters. "That's what most players are worried about. They're worried about, 'Hey, what do I have to do this week to help my team win?' So, I'm sure that's what he's going to be worried about doing. We've got a lot of guys to worry about on that side of the ball against them."

Bell hasn't talked much about his departure from the Jets after 17 mostly forgettable games.

"There's not too much I can say as to why it didn't work out in New York," he said last week. "It just didn't work out."

Going from New York, the front-runner for the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft thanks to an 0-7 record, to Kansas City, the reigning Super Bowl champions, is quite the change, though.

Bell played a limited role in his first game with the Chiefs, but he made the most of his touches with 39 yards on six carries (6.5 YPC) in a 43-16 blowout of the Denver Broncos.

The 28-year-old three-time Pro Bowler will probably end up in a pretty even timeshare with standout rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire once he gets up to full speed in the K.C. offense.

Like Gase, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid doesn't believe Bell will be overly focused on revenge against the Jets once the game gets underway.

"I think once the whistle blows and it's time to start, I think you kind of put that in the back of your mind if that was kind of your plan," Reid told reporters. "You're just playing and you're playing to the best of your ability, and that's what you end up doing."

Posting big numbers against a winless Jets squad that allows 125.6 rushing yards per game wouldn't be a major accomplishment anyway.

The bigger key for Bell is using the second half of the regular season to show he can still be a high-end offensive playmaker like he was across five seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. That could allow him to enter the playoffs atop the Chiefs' running back depth chart.

Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes admitted Wednesday he believed the New York Jets were eyeing him before taking safety Jamal Adams with the No. 6 overall pick in 2017.

"I definitely thought there was interest there," Mahomes said ahead of his Week 8 matchup against the 0-7 Jets.

With many in New York already daydreaming about landing Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the 2021 NFL draft, the admission by Mahomes gives the fans another reason to groan over the direction of the franchise.

Sunday will mark the first time Mahomes faces the Jets, though he did visit the club ahead of the draft in 2017.

Now an MVP, Super Bowl champion and two-time Pro Bowler, Mahomes has remade Kansas City into the league's model of success while the Jets are searching for their first winning season since 2015. New York can take some solace in knowing the general manager who passed on Mahomes in favor of Adams, Mike Maccagnan, is no longer with the team and many of his decisions are being revisited on the fly.

Perhaps none is more relevant here than the career of Adams. A first-team All-Pro in 2019, Adams was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in July after contract-extension talks broke down.

At the time of the 2017 draft, the Jets had Josh McCown, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg on their quarterback depth chart. The Jets opted not to take a quarterback from that stacked draft class. One year later, however, New York selected Sam Darnold No. 3 overall in 2018—passing on the likes of Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

New York will get another shot at rectifying the decision to pass on Mahomes in the coming years, however. The team acquired Seattle's first- and third-round picks in the 2021 draft and a first-round pick in 2022. Those types of selections could change the franchise for the foreseeable future. It's just a matter of whether that's for better or worse.

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase announced Wednesday that offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains will call plays for the second straight game in Sunday's Week 8 clash with the Kansas City Chiefs.

"It wasn't really the play call in those situations. It was the right play call," Gase told reporters about the Jets' second-half struggles in Sunday's 18-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. "We just have to finish the play differently."

New York came out strong against Buffalo after the change of play-callers. It scored 10 points over its first three drives, and the one that didn't result in points was a 12-play march that ended in the red zone on a failed fourth-down conversion attempt.

The Jets failed to score again. Here are the results from their final six drives:

• Interception
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Interception

They managed just four yards in the second half.

Quarterback Sam Darnold, who returned from a shoulder injury after a two-game absence, completed just 12 of his 23 throws for 120 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions.

The poor performance came against a defense that had allowed an average of 30.2 points over its previous five games. In their other two games, both against the Jets, the Bills have allowed 27 points combined.

New York's poor offensive performance also squandered a strong outing by the defense, which held Buffalo out of the end zone. Kicker Tyler Bass accounted for all 18 of the Bills' points.

Loggains will attempt to get the Jets on track against Patrick Mahomes and Co., and they'll probably need to score 30 points to have any chance of a massive upset.

That will be a tall task against a defense that ranks ninth in points allowed (20.4 per game) and second in takeaways (13). The Jets have scored more than 17 points just once, when they posted 28 in a Week 4 loss to the Denver Broncos.

Another low-scoring effort could lead Gase to consider calling plays again as his hot seat grows ever hotter with the Jets off to an 0-7 start.