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While he was perhaps out-of-line
for accusing Robert Saleh of not being forthright on why the team hired Nathaniel Hackett, some things he said at the end of his rant, about Aaron Rodgers, are thought-provoking.
Talking about ESPN’s Ryan Clark.
At the end of his rant, he said this about the Jets and Rodgers:
“Watching Aaron Rodgers play last year, without Davante Adams, and that’s going to be the guy to be the savior of your team,” Clark asked rhetorically.
Headline after the season from the Green Bay Press-Gazette: “Aaron Rodgers has worst season of his Green Bay Packers career.”
Rodgers didn’t play well this past season. You saw that first-hand in the Jets’ upset win over Green Bay at Lambeau Field early in the season.
“You don’t want Aaron Rodgers, you don’t need Aaron Rodgers,” Clark said to the Jets in his diatribe. “If you went to get to Nathaniel Hackett to get Aaron Rodgers, that is a stupid move. This is not the way to go. Go get the best quarterback you can for your team. So if your doing all this for a quarterback who in his great career, absolutely phenomenal career, has won one Super Bowl, then you are doing it the wrong way.”
Now as we discussed in previous days, I don’t think the Jets hired Hackett with the soul purpose of getting Rodgers to come to Florham Park.
Is it possible that a reason, perhaps a small reason, of many reasons, they hired Hackett, was to maybe pique Rodgers’ interest in the Jets, since he has a no-trade clause and has a say in where he might be traded, that is certainly possible.
But to say they hired Hackett, with the main reason being to get Rodgers, how foolish would that be?
The chances of getting him are a long-shot. The Packers would take a $40 million cap hit, and the new team would have to take on his salary of over $59 million this year. And any suitor for him would probably have to give up a two first-round picks. Is it smart to give up two first round picks for a QB who turns 40 next season, and who’s play seemed to decline last year? Some would argue that isn’t the way to go.
Rodgers might be considering going down the road Tom Brady just did, walking away.
One thing guys like Brady and Rodgers don’t tell us is how bad their bodies feel right now after a season of hits. And both took a lot of hits this season, and the older you get, the longer it takes you to heal.
However, the difference between Brady and Rodgers is that Rodgers is owed around $59 million next year. Brady wasn’t under contract and was set to be a free agent.
Does Rodgers have the gumption to walk away from $59 million guaranteed?
In one regard, his best bet would be to go back to Green Bay. and I will tell you why?
He likes to do his own thing in the off-season, hang-out in old stomping grounds of Chico, CA. He only goes to the mandatory mini-camp.
If went to a new team, do you really think it would make sense for him not to work out with the new team in the off-season, get used to his new teammates, get on the same page as his new targets?
In Green Bay, he can just show up in training camp, and nobody will say a word, but to go to a new team, and blowoff the off-season program, that could lead to a pretty bad chemistry, and perhaps is a bad recipe for success in his new stomping grounds.
February 2, 2023
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