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Whether you like Twitter (X) or not, you often get candor from players on there that you don’t get in press conferences.
For instance, two Jets players made it abundantly how they feel about the talent of QB Aaron Rodgers, who the team decided to release.
When Fox’s Jay Glazer announced on Super Bowl Sunday that the Jets told Rodgers they were moving on, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams tweeted, “Another rebuild year for me I guess” with a thumbs down graphic.
Then, after NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo announced that the Minnesota Vikings are interested in Rodgers as a free agent, Sauce Gardner tweeted, “If Aaron goes to the Vikings, he might be #1 in all QB stats.”
Could they make it any clearer how they feel about Rodgers as a quarterback?
So the team’s standout defensive tackle tweeted that they are back in rebuilding mode after Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey decided to release the 4-time NFL MVP, and then their best defensive back said the QB could lead the league in passing if he goes to Minnesota, perhaps this move is not playing well in the locker room now.
Look, you don’t let players make personnel decisions. Those teams run by beta males who say they look for player input on decisions are misguided. Players play, coaches coach, and GMs pick the players. People need to stay in their lanes.
But it’s pretty clear, by Williams and Gardner’s tweets, that they feel the Jets let a really good QB out of the building.
There was a lot of talk over the weekend that the Jets are interested in signing quarterback Justin Fields, which they did on Monday.
When Aaron Glenn was introduced as Jets QB, he was asked what he is looking for in a QB, and he said, “A winner.”
But some might wonder how Fields, who is 14-30 as an NFL starting QB, fits that criteria.
You wonder if anybody will ask Glenn that question, but it seems like the coach already has a lot of reporters intimidated, so we might not get that question.
But one of the reporters who broke the story that the Jets are interested in Fields, Fox’s Jordan Schultz, made a point about the Jets’ view of the player that should not go unnoticed.
“They love his athleticism, leadership traits, ability to move the pocket and maybe most importantly, believe his best football is ahead of him,” Schultz tweeted.
That last line is interesting – they “believe his best football is ahead of him.”
Depending on your worldview, that line could be taken in a few different ways. Some might look at that as a glass half-full perspective on a player who has world-class speed and a rocket arm, and perhaps is still maturing as a prospect.
But you could also look at it as a very dangerous scouting view that could get you in a lot of trouble.
If you look at suspect film, and convince yourself “the best is yet to come” to quote Frank Sinatra, that is a slippery slope.
Theoretically, you could say that about ANY inconsistent player you scout, and get yourself in a lot of trouble as a personnel man.
There has been a pattern with Fields – he could not beat out Jake Fromm at Georgia and transferred, was released after three seasons in Chicago after coming in a first-round pick, and then was replaced by Russell Wilson mid-season last year in Pittsburgh.
Very talented athlete, but clearly, something is missing.
The dubious optic now is the Jets signed Fields, with a 14-30 lifetime record, to place Rodgers, with a 153-87-1 lifetime record, after the coach said he was looking for “a winner?”
It could be hard to sell that, but then again, he likely won’t get pressed on it. Times have changed.
March 10, 2025
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