Jets head coach Adam Gase didn’t dress up the team’s decision to bench cornerback Trumaine Johnson against the Browns in Week Two.
Gase said on Wednesday that the fit between Johnson and the Jets “hasn’t worked out as well as we need it to” while trying to end on an optimistic note by saying theres plenty of time left on Johnson’s deal for things to turn around. Johnson signed a five-year, $72.5 million deal with the team before the 2018 season and missed six games — five with a quad injury and one due to missing team meetings — in his first year with the team.
There may not actually be much hope that better days are ahead for Johnson, however. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the Jets don’t think Johnson loves football and believe he has a “laissez faire mindset.” Johnson argued otherwise on Wednesday.
“Of course I love football,” Johnson said. “I’ve been doing it all my life. I’m passionate about it. It’s my life. It’s not a job to me. I love what I do.”
Parting ways with Johnson wouldn’t bring the Jets much in the way of cap relief this year or next, but if they truly don’t think he’s committed enough for things to improve that may be still wind up being the outcome.
