Content available exclusively for subscribers
Somebody needs to lower the temperature.
A lot of crazy stories have terminated from the Jets the last couple of months.
*The Athletic story with 30 sources making the Jets look somewhat dysfunctional last season.
*Two key personnel executives, Rex Hogan and Chad Alexander, both leaving the organization about three months before the draft, which is very unusual for guys so involved in the draft prep. Usually these kind of moves happen after the draft.
*Former Jets WR Mecole Hardman being accused of leaking Jets game plans to Philadelphia and Kansas City, before he was traded to the Chiefs mid-season. One of the people accusing Hardman of doing this was one of the Jets players Sauce Gardner, who tweeted about it, before taking the tweet down. Gardner isn’t just a force on the field, but also on social media, where he is also acting like the pseudo-GM suggesting to the team what free and draft moves to make.
*Jets owner Woody Johnson saying the team didn’t have a backup QB last year when they are trying to trade the backup QB.
Somebody needs to come in and lower the temperature and bring the focus back to the field, and his name is Aaron Rodgers.
He’s the guy to do it.
Now some would argue that he creates distractions of his own with his appearances with Pat McAfee and Joe Rogan, but probably not that much, because he’s not usually not talking about football.
And honestly, when he did talk football, he’s the only one who said what needed to be said about fixing the culture with the following what should be the mantra of the Jets moving forward:
“Anything in this building that we’re doing that has nothing to do with winning needs to be assessed,” Rodgers said after the season. “Everything that we do has to have a purpose … the bullshit that has nothing to do with winning has to get out of the building.”
This quote was right after the season, and then all these other things followed, which had to piss him off to no end.
He also said in December about leaks:
“That’s a problem with the organization, Rodgers said on December 5. “We need to get to the bottom of whatever this is coming from and put a stop to it privately, because there’s no place in a winning culture where — and this isn’t the only time. There’s been a bunch of other leaks, I think it’s chicken s— at its core, and I think it has no place at a winning organization.”
Little did he know, the leaks he saw during the season, were just the tip of the iceberg with the blockbuster with 30 sources, not all from inside 1 Jets Drive, but many were, co-authored by Jets beat writer Zack Rosenblatt.
Jets need to fix their culture, and the guy who can lead the way is Rodgers.
Not only does the 4-time MVP and future Hall of Famer have the gravitas to do it because of his great career, but he also doesn’t give a rat’s behind what people think of him, so he’s going to tell it like it is.
Once the Jets get going with the off-season program, Rodgers needs to roll up his sleeves and fix this the best he can.
He’s the only one who can do it.
March 4, 2024
Premium will return by 9:30 pm or sooner on Tuesday.
