Ranking the best potential NFL head coaching openings

8. New York Jets

When the Miami Dolphins fire someone, that should be a red flag. But the Jets hired Adam Gase anyway, with the expected results thus far (5-9 entering Week 16). Team owner Christopher Johnson gave his first-year head coach a vote of confidence back in November, ruling out an in-season firing and declaring Gase wouldn’t be fired after the season either. It’s usually wise to give a head coach more than one year with a situation like the Jets have, but a vote of confidence is also often seen as a death knell.

Then there’s this, from Matt Miller of Bleacher Report.

"One player told me Adam Gase has lost the respect of the locker room with his “tough guy bulls–t attitude” and the team’s lack of a plan offensively. “Guys actually respect Gregg Williams,” the player said. “No one respects Gase."

The Jets appear to have a long-term answer at quarterback in Sam Darnold, with some talent around him and further upgrades sure to come on both sides of the ball ($61.5 million in cap space for 2020, via Over The Cap). If a possible new head coach is sold on Darnold, and moves to convey that interest via back channels, it might be hard for Johnson to resist making a change. And the on-field talent situation is promising.

If Gase was better than a coin flip proposition to be fired, as least as it looks right now (for better or worse), the Jets might be higher on this list. But add a general manager in Joe Douglas that’s tied to Gase and who may be forced into a coaching search, as well as a poor overall ownership situation, and this potential job opening gets bumped down a couple extra notches.