The Jets made a long-expected move official on Wednesday, promoting Jeremy Bates to offensive coordinator. In addition to Bates' promotion, the team also announced the hiring of longtime offensive coordinator (most recently with the Bills) Rick Dennison as the offensive-line coach and run-game coordinator.
"Jeremy is a talented coach who has a sound understanding of what it takes to build a successful offense," coach Todd Bowles said in a statement, per the team's website. "Having spent last season with us, he offers continuity and has a good sense of what we need to do to improve. I look forward to him working together with our offensive coaches."
Let's focus on Bates, who inherits a job vacated by John Morton. When Morton was surprisingly fired in January, Bates' name was immediately floated as a replacement. By late January, all reports indicated that it was Bates' job. Finally, on Wednesday, the Jets made it official.
Bates was the Seahawks' offensive coordinator in 2010 when they finished 28th in yards and 23rd in points, and has been a quarterbacks coach for the Broncos, Bears, and USC. He hasn't seen that much success after a quick start to his career in Denver, where he bonded with Jay Cutler (cue the Cutler-to-New York rumors), but as the Jets' quarterbacks coach in 2017, he did help a 38-year-old Josh McCown experience arguably the best season of his career when he threw for 18 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a 94.5 passer rating. The Jets' offense definitely wasn't good in 2017 (24th in scoring), but they were short on quality players after purging most of their older talent in the offseason.
The Bates promotion could improve the Jets' chances to land Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins in free agency. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has been reporting that the Jets will target Cousins. And Cousins is a fan of Bates, who worked under Mike Shanahan and alongside Dennison in Denver (again, cue the Cutler rumors). Shanahan drafted Cousins in 2012.
"With the Jets, the first thing that stands out is Jeremy Bates has a connection to coach [Mike] Shanahan," Cousins told ESPN's "NFL Live" earlier this month. "Both Mike, Kyle [Shanahan], that whole system I played in. Sean McVay comes from that tree. I just think so highly of them as play callers, as offensive gurus if you will. Because Jeremy comes from that tree, it would be exciting to think about working with someone like that, knowing how important Xs and Os and game planning is and having the right play caller."
Of course, the Jets likely didn't promote Bates only because of Cousins. There's a very real scenario that sees Cousins landing elsewhere -- after all, he'll have a ton of suitors -- and the Jets finding their new franchise quarterback in the draft. Our NFL Draft writer, Chris Trapasso, has Baker Mayfield falling to them at No. 6 in his latest mock draft. If that happens, Bates will be tasked with leading Mayfield's development.
