The Jets were ready for a different story in 2023. After year after year of question marks at the quarterback position, New York finally made the move for that franchise passer for which fans had been clamoring for so long. Yet in that trade for the then-39-year-old Aaron Rodgers, the Jets were getting much more than an upgrade to their quarterbacks room. 
A lot of the influence that Rodgers demonstrated over the Jets last year came before he ever arrived. In order to “woo” Rodgers during the trade standoff, owner Woody Johnson approved the hiring of Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator, per Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini of The Athletic. Hackett had a history with Rodgers, serving as his offensive coordinator for three years in Green Bay, two of which resulted in an MVP award for the four-time All-Pro. Unfortunately, though, Hackett was coming off of a disastrous campaign as head coach of the Broncos, during which he became just the fifth head coach since 1970 not to finish their first season as head coach.
Even before that, the Jets stayed busy signing many of Rodgers’ former teammates like wide receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, quarterback Tim Boyle, and offensive tackle Billy Turner. Not to mention that the veteran quarterback also pushed the team to add offensive tackle David Bakhtiari and tight end Marcedes Lewis to the roster, as well. Lots of this undue influence on personnel stemmed from his past in Green Bay, where he felt general manager Brian Gutekunst shut him out, especially after the drafting of his eventual replacement Jordan Love. In an effort to make Rodgers feel more in the loop, the team gave him a direct line of communication to general manager Joe Douglas.
Rodgers was even reportedly consulted on the lack of success from his offensive coordinator following Rodgers’ season-ending Achilles injury. Rosenblatt and Russini report that the team reached out to several veteran quarterbacks after Rodgers’ injury, including Chad Henne, Carson Wentz, and Colt McCoy. Of course, former Jet Joe Flacco was available, but the Jets staff reportedly didn’t view Flacco as an upgrade over backup quarterback Zach Wilson.
When the team ultimately chose to move forward with Wilson (and eventually Boyle and Trevor Siemian), many were critical of Hackett’s ability to adjust to the team’s new situation without Rodgers, with coaches and players describing the play-caller as “lacking in attention to detail.” The article reports that head coach Robert Saleh has explored the idea of adding new offensive staff and reducing Hackett’s role, an exploration that seems to involve Rodgers’ input.
Unlike Hackett, Saleh reportedly jumped into action after Rodgers’ injury, diving into a study of how the league’s best coaches of the past had dealt with similar situations. He found that, with the exception of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, all of the best current names in NFL coaching circles experienced losing records in seasons without their top passing option.
It was also Saleh who informed Wilson after his initial benching that he would be inactive for the remaining stretch of the season. When the head coach was forced to reverse course among injuries and other factors, it was Rodgers that Saleh turned to in order to convince Wilson to play again. That plan proved ill-conceived, though, as Wilson had soured on his former idol. Wilson reportedly expected to have a direct line to Rodgers as he undertook the duties of the starting quarterback. Despite reports that Rodgers had taken Wilson under his wing, due to the veteran’s obsessive pursuit for the world’s quickest return from a torn Achilles tendon, Wilson barely heard from him.
Aside from all of the internal influence, Rodgers’ activities outside of the building have caused ripples, as well. Even setting aside the headline-grabbing comments about late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, Rodgers’ famous paranoia was causing issues inside the Jets’ facility as he told Pat McAfee that there had “been a bunch of…leaks,” sending Saleh and staff into a witch hunt.
Regardless of it all, the plan remains largely the same for 2024. Saleh and Douglas, after public endorsements from Rodgers, will remain in place. Depending on how conversations between Saleh and Rodgers play out, the offensive coaching staff may look slightly different, but Hackett is likely to remain in place, as well. Rodgers, likely to be fully healthy by the beginning of the 2024 season, will return as the starting quarterback wearing several other hats beneath his helmet, his influence ever-present.
Rodgers is toxic.
Rodgers was a great QB, but no one player should have THIS MUCH influence on a team.
Overall, it just creates jealousy, tension, and unless you win right away it can definitely lead to quite a bit of turmoil.
Robert Saleh is an excellent defensive mind, and I have no doubts he’s probably a good head coach too, but he’s really fighting an uphill battle to get this turned around.
I’d be pretty surprised if he’s still the Jets head coach in two years..
I think every word you’ve said here is correct. The failure of this administration to me is in two moments: drafting Becton over Wirfs and drafting Zach Wilson. If drafting a QB second overall hadn’t been such a disaster that they needed to hand everything over to Rodgers, including hiring Hackett, I’d feel a lot better.
I feel a little bad for Wilson. He’s had a terrible OLine since he was drafted, which has been progressively worse each year. He also has had 2 terrible offensive coordinators. No rookie QB is going to flourish in those conditions.
His hands aren’t clean in the situation because he’s extremely immature, something that was the case in college but was glossed over by the media who usually obsesses over less, but the Jets are not a franchise you want to be drafted to if you’re a QB. The Johnsons are incompetent, and s*** rolls down from the top.
Divas gonna diva
Woody Johnson: “I’ve got a great idea…we’ll just let the inmates run the asylum”.
Is this the biggest butt kissing ever from a team to one player? “We want so bad, Aaron, that you can be the president, GM, OC and QB!!!’. As predictable, another sub .500 season. Even if Aaron didn’t get hurt, they would have lost. No offensive line.
I think they would’ve been better than 7-10. Hard not to be when you roll with Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle, and Trevor Simiean and still lose some close games (KC, in particular), but everything else, I agree with. It’s embarrassing. Can’t wait for this era to be over, except it means another rebuild looms.
I don’t think so, but the lack of oayoff probably makes it look worse. The Buccaneers with Brady and the Broncos with Wilson both stand out. The Bucs signed an entire team of starters to help out, but they ended up winning it all, so it doesn’t stand out as negative to us.
The Broncos, on the other hand, were arguably worse than the Jets. At least Rodgers has the excuse of not playing; Wilson took the field and ran what could be the worst offense that we’ve ever seen, given how easy it is to run offense in today’s NFL.
Not seeing Flacco as an upgrade to Wilson should have been a firable offense.
The Jets thought Flacco was finished. How were they to know he would go to Cleveland to be the second coming of George Blanda?
Fans to NFL people knew Zach was finished though. They kept Wilson because they didn’t want to admit he was a wasted #2 pick. That’s what bad teams do, deny their own mistakes. Same for Mecton. They really think ‘this is the year he stays healthy and in shape!’.
It’s not so much that – what Flacco actually wound up doing – it was what Wilson actually had already done and had proven over the two previous seasons. How anybody thought nobody else could have been an upgrade over Wilson is a shock to me.
He’d been in New York for 3 years before this and looked cooked, it wasn’t an unreasonable opinion at the time. Amazing what proper coaching can do for a guy eh??
Or maybe it was because the offensive line stunk, and Cleveland has one of the league’s best.
Flacco folder like usual in the playoffs.
Jets fans would be ecstatic to make the playoffs. Wasted a great defense on egos, especially that of their new GM, Aaron Rogers.
Possibly – but that’s countered by Flacco being 13 – 14 years older than Wilson and less mobile, less able to create on his own if need be. That’s where Flacco’s extra years worth of experience would have come into factor, if he went to the Jets. Wilson just doesn’t appear to have a high football IQ.
He’s ️.
Trash
Doesn’t matter what happens in the off season, the Jets are doomed. Nobody inside that locker room is really gonna trust Rodgers. They won’t win more than 5-6 games and then ot will be another tear down and rebuild. How did Saleh go from a hot up and coming HC candidate to being on the verge of seeing his career go completely off the rails this fast?
Robert Saleh got 7 wins out of a team that should’ve won only 3 or 4. The AFC East is ripe for the taking in 2024: Miami is soft, Buffalo can derp away a game at times, New England is awful.
That defense with a serviceable QB would have gotten the Jets into the playoffs. Not admitting the trash they had as backups cost them the season.
Not sure about making the playoffs but they would have been a helluva lot closer. They had four games in which they lost by one TD or less; New England (1st game), KC, Las Vegas, Atlanta. If they split those two, still losing to KC and one other where maybe things don’t roll their way, that’s a 9 – 8 record. With better QB play, maybe that 9 – 8 happens. True, they had some games that were close, went their way and they won but, then again, maybe with better QB play, those particular games wouldn’t have been that close either.
So they’ll be worse with Rodgers than Z. Wilson/Boyle/Simiean, plus the assurance of an effort to upgrade the OL? I’d take that bet and I’m sure Vegas would, too.
ughhhh… no QB was going to lead this team to victory. That OLine was dreadfully horrific. Instead of wasting money on Cook, Cobb, and Lawson (who should have been cut), they should have used that $ on the
OLine.
Easy to say in hindsight cos the O-line problems weren’t exposed until Rodgers tore his Achilles.
No, people were saying it last summer. Some of you just didn’t pay attention.
But, that’s also what a first-ballot HoF QB can do for you. Saw it happen a lot in GB over the years..
Pretty sure NY media is blowing this all out of proportion ,,, like usual. Doom and Gloom sell!
This story originated with The Athletic, which is a national sports site, NYC media have been defanged as their audience has evaporated.
I mean no one saw this coming. Sean Payton might have been crass to say it, but he wasn’t wrong that Hackett was one of the worst coaches he’d ever seen. It was kind of puzzling why more people didn’t say outloud what we all saw. Meanwhile, Rodgers continues to be a crazy person who could play QB at a high level.
Wah wah….enough. Simple fact is season ended 4 plays in. Now we get a do over with presumably a better O-line in front of not only Rodgers, but Hall as well. Young D players one year more experience. It’s not like we’re coming off a 3 win season….the leap from 7 wins to playoffs is not huge. Let’s calm down preppers
So, Rogers may make it 8 plays next season? Those injuries have a lasting effect on a 40-year-old body and if he’s picking the players again, NY won’t have a line to protect him or any other QBs.
If the inmates run the prison, guess what happens!!
As a former midsize business owner, if I had let any of my employees make decisions I would lose the respect of my entire company.
The Jets are in the verge of just that.
As the Italians always say “the fish stinks from the head”, so the blame rest with Woody and Douglas.
YOU make decisions based on what’s best for the entire team, but don’t let the team make the decisions.
And the coach is there to lead and develop his team, not just carry someone’s bags.
If Rogers is such a team player then he should understand.
None of us know. Rodgers track record of success before the season-ending injury is pretty persuasive.
What would have happened if Rodgers hadn’t been injured? We certainly would have enjoyed a more interesting NFL season.
When it was obvious that Woody was so enamored with getting Rodgers he’d shell out top tier salaries for third tier talent for him to surround himself with the writing was on the wall. Who on Rodger’s short list amounted to anything this year?? Most of those guys even WITH Rodgers would have been hard pressed to repeat anything close to their glory years. Why would it surprise anyone that the ego maniac would use his influence to surround himself with essentially nothing more than his poker buddies, then make himself scarce when anyone reached out to him for help. When a team and city says good riddance to a one time icon there’s good cause. Now he’s a year older, coming off a bad injury, and a full year off the field. When he underperforms who will get the blame? I can only hope Johnson can build a better war room for the next draft and not rely on Rodgers while he burns the team down from the inside. And I understand after years of bad quarterbacks that desperate times call for desperate measures and Rodgers was available. Let’s just not give the court jester the keys to the castle again next year please.