Tuesday can’t come soon enough.
That’s when Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers will speak with Pat McAfee and AJ Hawk, barring a change in Rodgers’ position. regular schedule. With Rodgers not appearing on Tuesday, when the Jets fired GM Joe Douglas, there will be a lot to discuss when Rodgers next discusses all things Jets.
Until then, the pot will be stirred by unnamed sources. And with Jets sources leaking nuggets like owner Woody Johnson suggesting he bench Rodgers and a growing sense that the Jets don’t and won’t want Rodgers back next year, Rodgers (or someone close to him) is pushing back. Word came out on Saturday that while Rodgers wants to play in 2025, he does not want to play for the Jets.
At the bottom of an article by NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport is another tidbit intended to increase the perception of Rodgers’ remaining abilities.
The proposed story is that he is not struggling because he has lost his high-end skills. He’s struggling because he’s hurt more than anyone realizes.
“As for Rodgers, he’s been beat up this seasonbattling hamstring, knee and ankle injuries while occasionally appearing on the injury report,” Rapoport wrote. “How injured is he? It’s unclear. . . . One source explained that Rodgers has resisted having scans as he did not want to reveal the extent of his injuries for fear of having to come off the pitch. He has insisted that he will continue playing.”
Rapoport notes that Rodgers suffered a hamstring injury in Week 4 against the Broncos. (Coincidentally or not, that’s the game that prompted the meeting in which Johnson suggested that Rodgers’ hamstring — and the rest of him — be sent to the sideline.) The current story is that his hamstring injury was thought to be “a particularly was a major injury’; however, Rodgers did not appear in the week 5 report with a hamstring problem. (The hamstring was finally revealed before week 8.)
This leak seems designed to give the impression that Rodgers still has it, despite all evidence to the contrary. Additionally, the report could lay the groundwork for Rodgers to tap out sometime between now and Week 18, citing his cocktail of chronic injuries.
And now us play the waiting game until Tuesday with McAfee and Hawk and Wednesday with the New York media. Will Rodgers downplay the situation? Or will he unload like he did with the Packers in July 2021?
Our guess is the former. Rodgers needs to sign a new team next year. Publicly berating his current employer could cause potential employers to shy away from ultimately becoming the target of his ire.