Jamison Crowder does his research, and he knows Adam Gase’s history. It was enough to bring him to the Jets.
“In this offense, you look at it,” Crowder said, “slot guys have had success in this offense. That was one of the things that really caught my attention.”
Crowder, who came to the Jets from the Redskins on a three-year, $28.5 million contract this offseason, knows what he’s talking about. With Gase in Miami, Jarvis Landry’s profile shot up. Landry led the league in receptions in 2017 with 112 for 987 yards, leveraging those numbers into a $75.5 million extension after getting traded to the Browns.
Landry’s gaudy reception totals belied a lack of efficiency — he averaged just 8.8 yards per reception, and the heavy criticism of Gase’s offense in Miami came because he consistently threw short of the sticks. But nobody can say Gase doesn’t get the ball to his slot guys. That brings us to Crowder, who the Jets hope can be their version of Landry.
An injury scare overshadowed the first few days of his training camp, as he came off the field limping Monday. After an MRI exam cleared Crowder, he was back on Wednesday, coming open on a borderline pick play to catch a red zone touchdown.
“Sam (Darnold) made a great throw,” Crowder said. “I made the catch.”
Last year, Darnold had Jermaine Kearse in the slot and failed to get much productivity out of him. In 14 games, Kearse had an abysmal 48.7% catch rate, totaling all of 371 yards on 37 receptions. Crowder had 388 yards despite missing seven games with injury — and caught 59.2% of his targets, the lowest mark of his career.
“He’s so quick. Everyone knows how quick he is, but he’s fast too,” Darnold said of Crowder on Monday. “I think he can hit another gear, too. He’s got game speed, especially when someone gets the better of him. If someone maybe predicts what route he’s going to run and they maybe beat him to the spot on one play, the next play you know he’s just going to come out firing. That’s just kind of who he is, he’s a competitor and it’s good to see that.”
Trumaine Johnson went up against Crowder in training camp last year when the Jets practiced with Washington.
“You really can’t guess on his routes,” Johnson said.
Not even a week into training camp, everything comes with the veneer of a shiny new toy that could break at any moment, and this is no exception. Crowder is still learning the offense, the terminology in particular, but he likes what he sees.
“It’s not so much really what the defense kinda gives,” Crowder said. “I think it’s more so we take.”
Whether that holds true is impossible to say in late July. But in Crowder’s case, Gase’s history speaks for itself.