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When the NFL decided to schedule the Pittsburgh Steelers at the New York Jets in Week 1, the presumed reason why was clear to many.
With rumors that Aaron Rodgers will sign with the Steelers, sending Pittsburgh to New York to face the team that cut the legendary QB this off-season would be ratings gold.
The NFL schedule-makers are downplaying that angle, and they do have plausible deniability since Rodgers has not signed with Pittsburgh yet. However, some would have to assume that the powerful NFL league office must have gotten some kind of back-channel wink-wink that the QB is going to end up with the Steelers.
The signing is supposedly delayed because Rodgers is dealing with a personal issue.
“Talking to a couple other people close to Aaron, I think I have a sense of what it might be. I’m not comfortable repeating it right now, but I don’t think it would prevent him from playing football with the Steelers,” Rodgers biographer Ian O’Connor said on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. “I just think verbally, behind the scenes, not that he guaranteed it, but he’s told (the Steelers), ‘Listen, I’m gonna play for you. I just don’t want to go there and then miss part of mandatory minicamp because of my personal issues. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna be solved by the end of May, at least in my satisfaction where I can give you my all.’ So that’s where I think he is.”
Who has more Rodgers sources that O’Connor who spoke to hundreds of people to write a book about the mysterious QB.
Rodgers facing the Jets, coached by Aaron Glenn the man who cut him, in Week 1, could be great theatre, leading up to the game, and in the actual contest itself.
Now I don’t think there will be a ton of questions to Glenn leading up the game or after, because he likely won’t want to talk about it much, and based on what we have seen since he took over as Jets coach, when he tells the press he’s done talking about something, most usually oblige.
When Glenn was asked about Rodgers going on ESPN and criticizing the coach for how he handled the meeting when the QB was cut, an old school reporter asked Glenn if he’d like respond to the future Hall-of-Famer’s comments.
“Absolutely,” Glenn said when asked about Rodgers’ comments. “Membou’s a really good player and I am so excited that he’s a Jet.”
Cue laugh track.
Headline – “Jets’ Aaron Glenn Gives Hilarious Response to Aaron Rodgers.”
And that was the end of the questioning on that topic.
Expect the same thing the week of Steelers-Jets, Glenn will shut down the questions before and after the game.
He will likely say something like he did a couple of occasions before he cut the QB when they were reportedly deciding what to do.
“The thing is I don’t want to disrespect any other players we have on our team, and it kind of pisses me off and some of the other players that that’s what we all talk about. You have Quinnen Williams, you have Quincy Williams, you have AVT (Alijah Vera-Tucker), you have Joe Tippmann, all those guys need to respected as far as winning games also,” Glenn said at the combine.
So he perhaps will give this kind of answer again, that’s it’s about more than one player.
But it is a QB-driven league, and in a key analytic category, WAR – “Wins Above Replacement,” QB is the most important position category.
Time will tell how his decision to go with Justin Fields instead of Rodgers works out.
But the Week 1 game, if Rodgers goes to the Steelers, and Pittsburgh wins that game, and the QB plays well, could be a tough one for Jets fans.
Perhaps not for Glenn, who felt he needed to move on, but for Jets fans, for sure.
It should be great theatre if the Rodgers against the Jets game in Week 1 comes to pass.
May 19, 2025
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