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In the recent story where somebody laid out the Jets perspective to SI’s Albert Breer, a high-road picture was painted on why the Jets moved on from Aaron Rodgers.
Headlines – “Jets moving on from Aaron Rodgers wasn’t that simple.”
Subhead – “Their divorce wasn’t an easy call.”
Some people would call this story spin. Some people would say it’s not spin, but just the Jets getting out their side of the story.
But while I understand whoever the source was, attempted to paint a picture of no being bad feelings, and this not being about Rodgers’ personality, just the desire for the new regime to have a fresh start, I’m not totally buying what is being sold here. They tried to paint the departure of Rodgers in a Mr. Rodgers kind of way.
Not sure who gave Breer all this stuff, but if Aaron Glenn was involved, he should try to avoid this stuff moving forward.
Why? Because his mentor, Bill Parcells, would never spend time trying to spin any of his football decisions. That isn’t how he rolled. You make the decision and move on. Parcells wasn’t a spin guy. He would consider all this time somebody spent spinning this story – “Chasing windmills.”
But I have no idea if Glenn had anything to do with this story, but as the most powerful figure in the new Jets football operation, he’s got to make it clear to people – “We aren’t trying to win in the media, just on the field – let’s not waste time spinning our decisions, we got more important things to do.”
However, as much as this story tried to tell us that the Jets still think Rodgers can play, and how the decision was about “The timelines of the Jets and Rodgers no longer matching up,” I’m not sure about that.
To me, while the story kind of stayed away from Rodgers’ personality being a factor, to me, a driving force behind this move was Rodgers’ iconoclastic personality.
But the official who explained all of this to Breer wasn’t interested in ad hominem attacks on Rodgers.
That wasn’t the agenda here.
But the following line, while not giving specifics, was perhaps the most revealing in the story.
“Both knew it would be difficult to mesh the Jets’ desire to turn the page on their recent past with where Rodgers is in his career,” Breer wrote.
The “recent past” issues with Rodgers had nothing to do with his play, so there was no reason to “turn the page’ from that. He threw 28 TDs, the same as league MVP Josh Allen, and more than both Super Bowl QBs.
Aside from the Buffalo game playing with two backup tackles, he looked excellent down the stretch of the seasons, including a 4 TD performance in the season finale.
Why would you move on from what you saw in that Miami game in a league where if you don’t have an answer at QB you are toast?
Darren Mougey knows that first hand from his time in Denver, experiencing the decade between Peyton Manning and Bo Nix.
This takes us back to the “turn the page from the recent past” line. Whether it’s the weekly Pat McAfee distraction, or the bizarre decision for the franchise QB to skip the mandatory minicamp, or throwing Mike Williams under the bus for running the wrong route, or the QB openly mocking the owner’s teenage son’s involvement with the organization, this move was clearly driven by his personality.
Let’s just say Rodgers has a personality like Andy Dalton. I know Rodgers is better than Dalton, but just trying to paint a picture here. Dalton, a deeply religious man, never does or says anything that causes any waves and always sticks with the program. If Rodgers had a Dalton personality do you think he would be back?
If Rodgers wasn’t so bombastic, and you saw him play last year, and you know you need an answer at the QB position or you have no shot, wouldn’t he be back? Forget the timelines. You keep Rodgers and you draft an heir apparent or you view that person as Jordan Travis, and that young QB plays under Rodgers for a year or two, and then you turn the page to the kid, new regime or no regime.
C’mon now – let’s be honest – this was about his personality man.
“I’m just letting you know, [Aaron Glenn] ain’t going to start his career with that mess (Rodgers). It’s not going to happen,” FSI’s Keyshawn Johnson said on January 24.
February 21, 2025
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