The New York Jets are challenging Aaron Rodgers’ version of events regarding the meeting where he was informed he would no longer be with the team.
During Thursday’s appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers claimed he “flew across country on my own dime” only to be told 20 seconds into a meeting with new head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey that the organization was moving on from him.
“So we sit down in the office, and I think we’re going to have this long conversation,” Rodgers told McAfee. “I’ve flown across country and 20 seconds in [Glenn] goes — I mean literally I’m talking to the GM about something — and he leans to the edge of his seat, and he goes, ‘So, you want to play football?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’ He says, ‘We’re going in a different direction at quarterback.’ And I was kind of shocked, not shocked because I didn’t think that was a possibility, if they want to move on that’s totally fine. But shocked because I just flew across country, you could’ve told me this on the phone.”
In the interview, Rodgers said Glenn wanted to discuss how to communicate the news of his departure.
“I said verbatim, ‘I don’t give a s*** about the message,’” Rodgers stated. “And I said, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘I don’t want to be up in front of the room saying something and have guys looking back at you.’”
Rodgers continued: “And I said, ‘What does that even mean? Are you assuming I would be in the back of the room during a team meeting undermining what you’re saying?’ I said, ‘You don’t know me.’ And he said, ‘You don’t know me.’ And then I said, ‘Exactly, which is why I flew across the country to have a face-to-face meeting with you to talk about my experience with the Jets and to hear your vision for the team.’”
“What I thought was going to be a couple hour meeting turned into like a 15-minute meeting and I walked out of there,” Rodgers added. “That was a strange meeting for sure. There was no me pleading, ‘Please have me on the team.’ I don’t want any part of that. It was already a debacle in some cases.”
However, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero offers a different perspective on the situation.
“What I was told at the time was that Aaron had indicated to them, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be on that side of the country in this week,’ and they said, ‘Great, come into the building,’” Pelissero told “The Rich Eisen Show.” “And there had been ongoing dialogue up until that about just a variety of different things because they don’t, as Aaron said, Aaron Glenn and him really don’t know each other.
“Aaron clearly, from his perspective, went in there thinking, ‘We’re gonna have a conversation about the future.’ The Jets very quickly informed him they were going in another direction.”
Pelissero suggested that Rodgers’ interview with McAfee demonstrated to the Jets why moving on was necessary.
“Part of what Rodgers pushed back at and what he said Aaron Glenn said to him as well, you know, you’re sitting in the back of the room and guys are looking at you while I’m talking,” Pelissero told Eisen. “And Aaron is on a national TV show talking about a private conversation, that kind of is evidence of part of why the Jets just didn’t think this would be a workable situation. They wanted to start fresh in this entire thing.”
The Jets acquired Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers during the 2023 offseason, viewing him as the missing piece to their Super Bowl aspirations. Instead, the partnership became problematic. Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into the 2023 regular season opener on “Monday Night Football.” He returned in 2024 but led the Jets to a disappointing 5-12 record while head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas were fired during the season.
The Jets currently hold the No. 7 pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, while Rodgers has yet to commit to playing football next season.
Leave a Reply