A new expose reveals some major issues the New York Jets offense has ahead of next season due to the unsurprising influence NFL legend Aaron Rodgers has had on the franchise since joining the team last year.
After so much hope and promise before the season, the Jets’ 2023-24 campaign ended up being a disaster. And just like their potential to be a Super Bowl contender began with the addition of Aaron Rodgers to the roster, their downward spiral also started when No. 8 suffered a season-ending injury four plays into his season.
While the future Hall-of-Famer has put up a positive public face and tried to create a hopeful narrative about the team heading into next season, it seems he is also the source of the current drama inside the organization that is putting some doubt on their chances to be an efficient and united team in 2024.
On Wednesday, The Athletic published an in-depth report on the worrisome situation inside the New York Jets facilities that was put together with the help of 30 sources in and around the team. Firstly, many who follow Gang Green know the huge influence Rodgers had on the construction of the offense for 2023. The team brought in his former Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and several former Packers teammates.
However, sources claimed Rodgers wasn’t happy with just being surrounded by familiar faces and a part of the process, he instead very much controlled the offense’s transition to a new style this past season.
Aaron Rodgers had shocking control over New York Jets offense in 2023
“Rodgers and Hackett’s relationship dynamic is more frat brothers than player/coach, and Rodgers appreciates having the free will to operate the system as he sees fit. Both Rodgers and Hackett call the offense ‘quarterback friendly,’ but as the Jets learned in 2023, that might only apply to one quarterback … Often, Rodgers would hear Hackett’s play call and want something else, so the entire offense would reset.”
When Rodgers went down for the season, his hand-picked coordinator reportedly “lacked attention to detail” when trying to reinvent the unit without him. Also, while he would meet with some of his assistants during the week to prepare for games, he “wouldn’t get together with the rest of the offensive staff until the ‘last minute’ of game prep.”
Hackett also reportedly struggled to make adjustments in the game and Rodgers’s return to the facility after surgery was partly motivated so he could help offer input during and before games. But that still nonetheless did not change the Jets’ struggles on offense.
Jets head coach often had a very different opinion of Zach Wilson behind closed doors
Due to the poor results, head coach Robert Saleh allegedly plans to expand the offensive staff in 2024 and Hackett will have a reduced role compared to this past season. The bad press the team received from New York media for their performances on offense also led to notable frustration for Saleh behind closed doors, and claims that “the Giants don’t get as much negative coverage as the Jets.” He also called the negative headlines “unfair.”
The report claims that owner Woody Johnson is active on social media and is known for consuming criticism from fans and media alike, and shared that with his head coach. In the Jets facilities, Saleh often pinned the blame for the team’s horrid offensive play on backup Zach Wilson — who was again disastrous this season. Which was very different from his very public support of the former first-round pick.
It led to a common quip from Saleh about the offense during the season: “What do you expect? We lost Aaron Rodgers.”
It has left a very messy situation that can probably only be fixed with Rodgers returning to his MVP former in 2024 — which is no guarantee after Achilles surgery — because winning cures all ills of a locker room. However, the current situation is one that a New York Jets source claimed is “just such a f***ing mess” and that “Something has to change.”