New Jets coach Adam Gase can’t talk shop with quarterback Sam Darnold before the start of the offseason program, but they spoke before Gase was offered the job, via FaceTime. Gase liked what he heard.
“I loved the questions he was asking,” Gase said on Wednesday’s #PFTPM podcast. “He was on it for what was going through his mind what he was looking for. The questions he was asking me about offense kind of how I’ve gone about it in the past of handling certain situations and just football-wise and with quarterbacks. You could see there’s a great energy about him to where he loves this game, he’s got that fire in him where he’s always looking to learn. Anytime you’re around a young kid like that that kind of already has that part of it that’s something you want to be a part of. A lot of times you have to get young guys to understand, ‘Hey, athletic ability only gets you so far.’ It’s expanding your mind, it’s making sure that you’re constantly learning. That’s the key to being a great player.”
Gase likes that he’s getting a chance to mold Darnold so early in his career.
“I think this is the youngest I’ve ever had any experience with a quarterback,” Gase said. “The older guys that I’ve had, it’s the back half of their career. Physically there were limitations there and they were fighting through injury and just Father Time, basically. Where now it’s like, ‘Hey, you’re 21 and your body feels great, you recover quickly, you can make all the throws, you can move around.’ It’s a new experience for me. I think it’s an exciting one. I’m anxious to kind of get going and I know you love to make sure everybody knows when the CBA rules really start taking place so I know I can’t do anything until April. So I got a ways to go. I just want to get to that point.”
Gase was being more than a little sarcastic about his reference to our mastery of the CBA rules. But the reality is that he has no choice but to wait for his chance to work with Darnold. When April rolls around, they’ll hit the ground sprinting.