It’s amazing how Jets beat writer Manish Mehta is still writing articles. Mehta’s career is tarnished. Damning comments made by colleague Charles McDonald and EA producer Erika Esola-Imburgio support this claim.
Who Is Manish Mehta?
Manish Mehta is a beat reporter for the New York Jets. He works for the New York Daily News. Mehta has covered the Jets for ten seasons. His articles often give fans a tour of what’s going on behind the scenes. That is why Jets’ fans fanbase likes him. As a matter of fact, his articles are revealing and often rebellious towards the Jets organization.
Notably, he started breaking the reports of the feud between head coach Adam Gase and general manager Mike Maccagnan. He actually refuted this after the draft, saying Maccagnan’s job was safe.
“I said this a few days ago, but it bears repeating: Rumors about Jets GM Mike Maccagnan’s future are 100 percent false. The team is not making a change… and has never even considered making a change this offseason. Period.”
-Manish Mehta
-Mike Maccagnan— Izenears (@IzenEars) April 28, 2019
Ultimately, the Jets sent Maccagnan packing shortly after.
Mehta’s Jets colleagues despise him. The fans don’t wanna hear the sweet-talk of Brian Costello. They don’t wanna hear the organizational mouthpieces in Bob Wischusen, Connor Hughes, and Darryl Slater. The fans want to get the full scoop with no sugar-coding.
In press conferences, Mehta asked the tough questions, giving no one a mulligan. He is critical of Adam Gase. As a matter of fact, he and Gase have a long-standing feud. The team’s coach is known to be snotty and arrogant. Whenever Mehta presses Gase, he fires right back. But, I can’t say Gase’s act at the podium is professional.
Going further, he even sat down with disgruntled star safety Jamal Adams during his feud with the Jets. The details were released to the public. Adam Gase was criticized in the article. But, offensive lineman Alex Lewis and linebacker C.J. Mosley came to Gase’s defense.
What Has Landed Manish Mehta In Hot Water?
Quite frankly, Manish Mehta never shies away from controversy. Whether it be with colleagues or the Jets organization.
Adam Gase Burner Account Controversy
Emerging in late December 29, a very controversial Twitter account became popular. The account promoted Adam Gase and liked tweets saying positive things about the Jets head coach. The account started back in January 2019 when Gase was fired from the Miami Dolphins.
Tweets Included In Burner Controversy
Timestamps of “Gase” Tweets
NONE collide w/ practice/games. 12/13 was day off, 12/17 was after dinner.11:24am dec 20
5:35pm dec 17
5:46pm dec 13
5:44pm dec 13
1:02pm dec 13
12:58PM dec 13
12:55pm dec 13
12:46pm dec 13
12:34pm dec 13
12:30pm dec 13
Provided by @TheMarkusAdam— Danny Bags (@DannyBagsZ) December 24, 2019
Funny, isn’t it? The supposed “burner” account also tweeted that Le’Veon Bell was not a Gase signing. The tweet also acknowledged that the coaching staff preferred drafting Ed Oliver over Quinnen Williams. Oddly enough, Williams is rising in the ranks of defensive lineman in the NFL. He has taken that second step.
It wasn’t a 251, but it was still a decent night for Le’Veon Bell https://t.co/ybqmYLa0St
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 13, 2019
Then, the account replied:
“Would of been a better season if he hit the designed hole with consistent urgency”
The tweet above suggests Le’Veon Bell did not play with effort. Then, this came out.
So @MMehtaNYDN gets outed as the so called #Gase burner account : This guy slipped up by posting his @NYDailyNews tweet to the burner account, he’s also deleted @WyattV18 i warned him not to test me
Whooooopsie #goteam 😂 pic.twitter.com/decReu4oom
— IB 🔌 THE GAMBLER (@incarceratedbob) December 31, 2019
The burner account no longer exists. In the past, it’s been discussed that Manish Mehta had another burner account as a member of Jets Insider. The account name was “Brick City“. The burner account only posted Mehta articles. Then, the user deleted the account.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhODtNXJM0U
Manish Mehta has since denied this but fans alike think he is the culprit of this account. I believe Mehta held a grudge against Gase. Originally, Mehta was a fan of the Gase hire. He has changed his tune.
Logan Ryan & Kyle Long
In May, Manish Mehta came out with a report saying that the Jets were expected to sign veteran defensive back Logan Ryan. Ryan and the Jets did show mutual interest. Some expected Ryan to appear on NFL Network’s morning show Good Morning Football to announce that he signed with Gang Green. He did appear on the headlined morning show, but no announcement was made. In fact, a headline came out saying that Ryan was in no rush at all to pick a new team to sign with.
Fans responded in outrage to the report made by Mehta.
On September 5, Logan Ryan signed with the interstate rival New York Giants.
This could’ve been a great signing for the Jets. Unfortunately, false reporting ended up with the victory.
On June 5, Manish Mehta came out with a report stating the Jets talked to former Bears guard Kyle Long about coming out of retirement. In 2019, the Jets successfully pulled former Panthers center, Ryan Kalil, out of retirement. But, that experiment blew up in their faces.
When Long was asked about the report, he said it was false.
Wrong again.
Jets Remove Manish Mehta’s Credentials/Final Straw
Before the regular season started, the Jets organization removed Manish Mehta’s credentials and banned him from the facility. The thought to fans was that Mehta’s tense relationship with Gase and ruthless reporting on the team. Well, that wasn’t the case. At all.
On Wednesday, “Carton & Roberts” co-host Craig Carton went into full detail. Per Carton, Mehta was banned from the Jets facility for reportedly stalking general manager Joe Douglas‘ son at a baseball game. Here’s a tweet that supports that claim:
Manish Mehta Gets Exposed
What led to Manish losing his Jets credentials? A lot of things.
But the last straw was when Manish decided to harass Jets GM Joe Douglas’ child at a baseball game.— Erika 😷 (@emesola) November 25, 2020
Following those tweets, Erika created an entire thread of tweets based on stories about Manish Mehta. He has reportedly harassed many Jets employees.
http://
Another fun Manish story: He stalked Jets owner Christopher Johnson at the NFL Combine and followed him into an elevator despite CJ repeatedly asking him to leave. Just weird, man.
— Erika 😷 (@emesola) November 25, 2020
More Manish stories: He told Joe Douglas at the Senior Bowl that he’d give preferential coverage if he agreed to talk & be his source. He said he was writing a story on his time in Philly. If JD talked he would blame it on Howie. If he didn’t he’d out JD. JD told him to fuck off.
— Erika 😷 (@emesola) November 25, 2020
At the NFL Combine, Manish went to Dowell Loggains and multiple people close to Adam Gase asking to have them set up a meeting with Gase to “bury the hatch” and if Gase agreed to start talking to him he’d stop pressing him in print.
— Erika 😷 (@emesola) November 25, 2020
You haven’t seen anything yet, though.
last one because im about to go enjoy my first day of funemployment, but this guy can’t just go around treating people the way he does
his bullshit has gone on for way too long and he tried the wrong mf one https://t.co/DN7WV9MEfa pic.twitter.com/tEuhGLerjc
— charles (#1 fraud) mcdonald (@FourVerts) November 25, 2020
Summary
After the organization removed Manish Mehta’s credentials, the New York Daily News decided to promote Charles McDonald to be the Jets beat writer for their paper. Shortly after, Mehta began emailing McDonald the questions that should be asked at the next press conference, which would be a week before the season. Mehta began taking credit for McDonald’s work. Shortly after, McDonald grew frustrated and left the New York Daily News and this since has unraveled. Per EA Sports Producer Erika Esola-Imburgio, the New York Daily News defended Mehta’s actions.
I got word that at the NYDN “emergency meeting”, management actually defended Manish’s actions. pic.twitter.com/LDWdxUjPhL
— Erika 😷 (@emesola) November 27, 2020
Opinion:
I am not a big fan of Manish Mehta. People should be disgusted by his actions and people in the sports journalism field should be way better than that. I don’t call for people’s jobs but Mehta’s actions are outright peculiar. I am ashamed that the New York Daily News hasn’t made a public statement or condemned his actions. Manish Mehta has not denied his strange actions, which is more detrimental to his journalism career. It’s sad to think that a once decently thought of writer is now a hated pariah among Jets fans. This scandal definitely brings down the integrity of Mehta and the New York Daily News. It’s safe to say the Jets made the right decision.
