There were grumblings of discord between New York Jets head coach Adam Gase and general manager Mike Maccagnan before Wednesday's firing of Maccagnan.
Now, there is confirmation of disagreements between the two men.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Up to the Minute the differences of opinions surrounded money spent during free agency and even views on certain players.
"Adam Gase likes Le'Veon Bell, just did not love spending that much money for a player at that position," Rapoport said of the Jets signing Bell to a four-year, $52.5 million deal. "It's really just the running back position itself. So he likes the player just didn't love the price tag."
The Jets also spent big on linebacker C.J. Mosley, who signed an eye-popping five-year, $85 million deal with $51 million guaranteed, an average of $17 million per year.
"I was told Gase didn't want to pay more than about $13 million," Rapoport said. "So the disagreements on the price were something that were clearly issues."
Rapoport said Gase wanted center Matt Paradis, but Maccagnan didn't appear to agree. Paradis eventually signed with the Carolina Panthers.
And with two key decision makers not agreeing on how to spend money to improve a team, someone ultimately had to go.
"These things all add up," Rapoport said. "And from what I can tell, it does sound like [Jets CEO and chairman] Christopher Johnson spent a lot of time in the building evaluating this relationship in the lead-up to the draft, and then after to see if this was the direction he wanted to go. And obviously decided around 7 a.m. this morning that it was not."
