New York Jets head coach Adam Gase took all of the blame for Avery Williamson’s season-ending injury, telling media that he regrets the decision to play him for so long. Speaking to the media via ESPN, Gase acknowledged that he shouldn’t have played Williamson for as long as he did, and even pointed to linebackers ACL tear as the reason Le’Veon Bell has yet to play.
“I was 99.9 percent sure what we were going to do,” Gase said in reference to Bell not playing. “The [Williamson injury] probably made it 100.”
When Gase was asked if he regrets playing Williamson late into the game, with the backup players, he gave a simple acknowledgment that he did before explaining that he now wishes he would have pulled him much earlier.
“Looking back on it — hindsight is 20/20 — I wish I would've gotten him out of there a series earlier,” Gase said. “I talked to him. It's on me. I'm the one who has to make that call and get him out of there. We didn't. It's a shame because he was having a good camp.”
Williamson tore his ACL during the Jets preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, suffering the injury as a result of a cornerback diving into Williamson’s right knee in the end zone. With Williamson learning a new position, Gase’s thinking was to let him get some extra snaps, but it obviously backfired, and now the team will be without their leading tackler from 2018.
After signing a three-year contract in 2018, Williamson’s contract is fully guaranteed this season, but has no more remaining guarantees left, which could leave him as a potential option to be cut next year. Of course, given how talented he’s been for the team, it wouldn’t be too shocking to see them hoping he returns to form.
In the meantime though, it’s a bad break for a Jets team in need of talent, and even worse one for Williamson himself.
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