- Gase says he has been addressing issues with players not studying enough for “two years.” Says he’s fed up with it.
The issue I have with this statement from Gase is that if this was a known problem in the first season, why did he and the front office not do anything about it this off season?
Generally the first season of any new regime is one in which the staff evaluate the players they have and decide which ones have a long term future with the team and they stay, and those that do not have a long term future leave. If he knew that certain players were lazy in their preparation, or simply not able enough to pick up the play book and learn it, and in turn he had to simplify the offense for them in his first season, then they shouldn't have been on this football team for his second season. I don't care if their name is Jarvis Landry or Jakeem Grant, Jay Ajayi or Damien Williams - I really don't. If those players are not doing their job, then you move on from them.
I guess you might argue that you can't trade Jarvis Landry because he set the NFL record for most receptions in the first three years of his career alongside ODB, and likewise you might argue you can't trade Jay Ajayi after his breakout season. After all this team needs play makers and these two guys were important for us last season. However, if Gase feels that they don't know the playbook and he has to simplify things in order to utilise them on the field, then realistically you can do one of two things: option one, you take the hit on a simplified playbook (and in turn you can't really complain about this later on because you knew beforehand what keeping them meant); or option two, you move on from those players and replace them with players that can learn the entire playbook. You can't have it both ways if certain players can't/won't learn the full playbook.
Now to put it another way. What would Bill Belichick do to a player that can't/won't learn the full playbook? I would hazard a guess that player wouldn't last very long in New England if they were seen to be holding the team back. He has proven before that he is willing to let players go and replace them. Take the Jamie Collins trade as a prime example. Most teams don't trade away players like Jamie Collins, but Belichick did, and he stated they traded him away in the best interest of the team. They have done it time at number, and perhaps it is easier for them because of how successful they have been and they can get away with trading players that our team couldn't, but as far as I'm concerned our team shouldn't be afraid of moving on from players even if certain fans throw a tantrum.
Perhaps Landry isn't one of those that Gase is talking about, but if he is and you argue that you can't trade him because he's had managed a thousand receiving yards in consecutive seasons - well, so what? Brian Hartline managed the same thing in Ryan Tannehill's first two seasons in the league. We have seen receivers come into this league and make an impact almost immediately, and we have seen receivers cast off by other teams go on to have success elsewhere. So as much as I like Landry, Parker and Stills as our top trio of receivers, if any of them are holding us back, then this team should move on from them and replace them. And frankly, had this been a known issue at the end of year one, they should have been shown the door there and then.