‘This is so shameful’

Connor Hughes, who has become the dominant figure on the Jets’ beat, delivering more scoops than other beat writers, had another blockbuster.

And he’s had quite a few this off-season.

He made the following announcement on July 1 on Twitter: “QB Aaron Rodgers missed the team’s mandatory minicamp because of a pre-planned trip to Egypt, multiple sources told SNY.”

This story went viral, as many of his blockbusters do, with myriad talking head TV and radio sports shows doing segments on this.

On First Things First, on FS1, co-host Nick Wright in talking about the report, had an issue with something the reporter wrote in his article supporting this scoop.

This is what Hughes wrote in his story that set off Wright:

“Hysteria over Rodgers’ whereabouts emerged largely because of the way the absence was announced . . . While they were aware of Rodgers’ trip, and understanding of why it was important to him, their public stance on the matter gave the impression they were not and discounted Rodgers’ near perfect attendance throughout the voluntary portion of the offseason program.”

As host Kevin Wildes was reading this quote, Wright could be heard in the background saying, “This is so shameful. This is shameful.”

And when Wildes was done reading the quote which was on a graphic, Wright, who has been a harsh critic of Saleh over his time as Jets coach, had this to say:

“There is nothing I have said, that is as unfair to Saleh, as this line of reporting and reasoning, which is this would not have been a problem if Robert Saleh did not make it one. That is what that implication clearly is.”

In other words, Wright feels that explanation makes the coach look bad, and the host doesn’t even think the whole idea of calling Rodgers’ absence “unexcused” solely came from the coach.

“I don’t think it was Robert Saleh and Robert Saleh alone that called it ‘unexcused,'” Wright said.

Wright also doesn’t agree with the word “hysteria” in describing the media reaction.

“And by the way, I don’t think this was hysteria. I think this was fair questioning and I think there was legitimate prodding at this (being) wildly hypocritical given what you said on the record (‘The bull—t that has nothing to do with winning needs to get out of the building. That will be the focus moving forward.’)”

So Wright clearly feels the reporter, who is a rising star, and who knows, might end up at FS1, was pandering to Rodgers and blaming others for the bad PR the Jets got after Saleh’s press conference on June 11 saying the QB would not be at the minicamp.

But while I have been critical of Saleh about some things over the years this isn’t one of them.

Saleh was put in a very tough spot, and as Wright said, he likely wasn’t on an island when it came to how the story was presented to the media and public on June 11.

I actually think Saleh did a good job, and I tell you why. He was trying to thread a needle by not criticizing his star QB publicly for missing the camp, but also making it clear to the locker room that Rodgers, and defensive end Haason Reddick, who also missed the camp, were not beyond the rules, and could be subject to fines for their absence.

But the reporter from the Jets’ media partner, SNY, clearly didn’t see it that way.

July 4, 2024

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