Aaron Rodgers returned to the Pat McAfee Show, the place where he made his regular appearances that directly contradicted his challenge to the Jets to reassess everything that “has nothing to do with winning,” on Wednesday, and proceeded to rip the franchise’s new regime for how they handled the aging quarterback’s exit.
According to the future Hall of Famer, Aaron Glenn and company had Rodgers fly across the country “on his own dime” (boohoo) to meet with them, only to let him know that they would be moving on at quarterback within minutes of sitting down with him to discuss the future. Rodgers’ recollection of the events including Glenn abruptly leaving the room at one point before returning, expressing concern that Rodgers would potentially “undermine” him if he were to stay, and ultimately told him they were moving in another direction shortly after asking Rodgers if he wanted to continue his career.
Rodgers also noted to McAfee that the way he was treated wasn’t much of a difference from the discourse he witnessed with the Jets during his two disastrous seasons, and clearly didn’t care much for Glenn, who he only referred to as “the coach.”
Some fans heard Rodgers’ side of the story and saw it as a knock against Glenn and Darren Mougey, that perhaps it shows the new regime is showing its inexperience and mishandling the first big decision of its tenure.
Or perhaps Glenn and Mougey knew exactly what they were doing, because they knew exactly who they were dealing with.
Let’s run through Rodgers’ complaints about the meeting, then address why those complaints only highlight why Glenn and the Jets made the right call. Rodgers clearly didn’t care for the Jets having him fly out for a meeting that he expected would last hours, but only lasted minutes. He even noted that, had the team known its decision, why not just make a phone call or a Zoom? Let’s not forget the forum that Rodgers was voicing these complaints on, the same show where he appeared every week to provide further distraction from the actual football business of the Jets to vent about Jimmy Kimmel or anything else that was bugging him that week. Are we to believe that a consistent complainer wouldn’t have shifted the narrative to “They didn’t have the decency to break up with me face-to-face” had Glenn just called him? No matter how it was done, Rodgers’ past behavior at least suggests that he would have had a problem with it, and made sure to let everyone know that he did.
Next, the shortness of the meeting, which Rodgers said ended moments after Glenn asked him about his intentions to play or not next season.
Rodgers himself said that he didn’t give Glenn a firm yes or no, as he had things going on in his personal life that he wanted to tend to first. The reasoning for not having a decision is fine, but why knock Glenn for moving on and working to address the quarterback room so he can have that big question settled as he moved into his first offseason as a head coach, and Mougey’s first as a GM?
Rodgers had fans waiting through his darkness retreat two years prior, and still has fans waiting now. Isn’t it fair to say that Rodgers’ current standing when it comes to his football career reinforces the fact that Glenn was right to cut ties quickly and move on? Glenn likely wanted to look Rodgers in the eye and see how serious he was about playing football, and if he wasn’t sold, he was moving on. There is no fault in that strategy, especially when dealing with an undeniable talent that has undeniably brought attention away from football for years now.
Finally, the “undermining.” Well, given how Rodgers’ Jets tenure went, can you blame Glenn for having that concern? Rodgers arrived to the Jets, and suddenly, Nate Hackett was on board, while Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, and eventually, Davante Adams, followed. Hackett was a disaster, and none of the other former Rodgers teammates were much better. There was constant talk of who was really running the show in New York, and we’re supposed to believe that it’s a bad thing that a first-year head coach was worry about being undermined by Rodgers, who was at the center of all the leadership discourse for two years, even while he was out with an injury for all but four snaps of his debut season?
Rodgers was seemingly hurt that he wasn't asked about the Jets atmosphere and what he might change to turn things around. Perhaps Glenn was uninterested in hearing such input from a main source of discourse in the building since he joined the team back in 2023.
This doesn’t sound like a novice move by a new head coach or GM. It sounds more like a regime in lockstep with its desire to change the culture around a tortured organization, and one that knew going into its meeting with Rodgers that if they got a certain answer, it would solidify their decision. They knew who they were dealing with, so when they looked him in the eye, they knew what they felt was best for the organization moving forward. It’s hard to see much fault there.