Adam Gase will be looking for a job next week after the Jets fire him, which is a near certainty. There has been some buzz out of Boston that the Patriots might consider him to be their new quarterbacks coach. Jedd Fisch just left that role to take the head coach job at the University of Arizona.
It would make some sense to see Gase land in New England. He and Josh McDaniels go back to 1999 when both were low-level assistants on Nick Saban’s staff at Michigan State. Gase worked under McDaniels in Denver as the wide receivers coach when McDaniels was the head coach. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is always very complimentary of Gase, too, as he was again Tuesday during a conference call with Jets reporters.
“I think Adam’s done a great job this year of continuing to improve the team with coaching,” Belichick said. “As usual, his excellent game plan and play-calling are problems for the defense. This is a team that’s gotten better.”
The bigger question than whether the Patriots would want Gase is if Gase would be able to swallow his pride to work under McDaniels. Gase has been a head coach for five seasons. His Jets contract runs two more years, so he will be making money. It would surely be a blow to his ego to go back to being a position coach, especially under someone he worked for 10 years ago.
Gase may not have many other options, but it still feels unlikely that Jets fans will see him on the New England sideline next year.