Adam Gase, Sam Darnold building ‘chameleon’ offense for Jets

The New York Jets have a new new offensive scheme in 2019, with a second-year quarterback putting in the work to maximize it, and a new head coach molding it to the talents of his players.

From top to bottom, the Jets will likely look much different in 2019. Sure, there are familiar faces, but the way they go about their business could be night-and-day from what we saw under former head coach Todd Bowles.

With Adam Gase calling the shots now, fans can expect a much different approach this season, particularly on offense.

That starts with Sam Darnold, last year’s No. 3 overall pick, and Gase has been working closely with him on learning the concepts of his new scheme (via team senior reporter Eric Allen):

He can watch concepts. I think he’s just taking it in a little bit at a time and he’s picking certain things to watch, whether it’s a conceptual thing, protections, footwork or certain routes. We have it broken down so many ways. I just think he’s trying to pick certain points that he wants to improve on.

Darnold certainly took his lumps as a rookie, but showed many flashes of brilliance that should give Jets fans plenty of hope heading into 2019.

Gase has already been impressed with how quickly Darnold is picking up and executing the new offense:

You can see a confidence where you can tell when you run a play maybe the first time, and then a week later maybe it’s the third or fourth time we’ve done something similar, and you can see just body language, throwing, timing, all those things just change. The more we do stuff the more confident he’s going to get.

Describing his scheme as a “chameleon,” Gase wants Darnold and his entire offensive roster to take his concepts and make them their own, using their unique talents to maximize the playbook:

It’s really about him putting his spin on the whole offense. Same thing with the position and skill guys, them putting their spin on what we do. We kind of give them the blueprint, and then we morph into whatever our players can do.

Darnold’s continued improvement in his second season should be a huge reason for hope for Jets fans, as well as the addition of dynamic playmakers like Le’Veon Bell and Jamison Crowder. Trading for Kelechi Osemele improves the offensive line in a big way, and underrated additions like free agent weapon Ty Mongtomery and fourth-round tight end Trevon Wesco should give the unit even more versatility.

It’s not easy for a young quarterback to digest a new offense, but it seems like Darnold is picking things up quickly, and leading his team in the right direction under Gase’s new marching orders.