The New York Jets and quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a dramatic 2023 season. They finished the season with a 7-10 record and in third place in the AFC East. Rodgers got hurt in Week 1 on the fourth play of the game for the New York Jets against the Buffalo Bills and he tore his Achilles.
Aaron Rodgers was carted off the field and he was out for the season. Everything avalanched for the Jets from that moment on during the season. They had Super Bowl expectations this past season and it failed.
Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini of The Athletic spoke to many different sources this season about what went wrong with the Jets organization and Aaron Rodgers. One of the Jets coaches told The Athletic about how this past season went by saying to them:
“It’s just such a f—ing mess. Something has to change.”
There seemed to be many times this season when there were a lot of headlines surrounding Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets and it was very dramatic. Want to know who wasn’t dramatic? The Green Bay Packers and quarterback Jordan Love. The only drama that surrounded Green Bay this season was whether or not Love was the guy to replace Rodgers and fans wanting defensive coordinator Joe Barry fired.
The Packers were able to develop their own wide receivers this year like Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and other valuable rookies and second-year players. As for the Jets this past offseason, they signed former Packers players like Randall Cobb and Allen Lazard. Those were players Aaron Rodgers loved playing with in Green Bay.
Throughout the course of the season, there were rumors being floated around that the Jets would eventually land left tackle David Bahktiari via trade, but it never happened because he suffered a season-ending injury in Green Bay anyway.
Apparently, Aaron Rodgers Had a Lot of Say In Personnel With the New York Jets
Rodgers had a lot of say in the personnel decisions this past season for the Jets. According to one AFC general manager, they told the Athletic:
“Rodgers isn’t the assistant GM. Joe Douglas is the assistant GM.”
This isn’t a surprise at all because this would happen quite often in Green Bay before Rodgers was traded to the Jets last offseason. The only drama the Green Bay Packers will have to worry about this offseason is finding a new defensive coordinator and figuring out what contract to give quarterback Jordan Love.
Nathaniel Hackett was the Jets’ offensive coordinator this past season. They had one of the worst offenses in the NFL.
In The Athletic, Rosenblatt and Russini wrote about the relationship between Hackett and Rodgers by saying:
“Over the summer, Rodgers collaborated with Hackett to construct the offense — Saleh, as usual, was hands-off on that side of the ball. 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. “That’s what Aaron wants” was a common refrain from Hackett as he told coaches what plays he wanted to run during camp. Often, Rodgers would hear Hackett’s play call and want something else, so the entire offense would reset.”
This does not surprise anyone by any means. Rodgers would always audible what the play is and he checked out of the play a lot when he was in Green Bay. This was supposed to be the season where Zach Wilson redshirted behind Rodgers and it didn’t turn out to be the case.
Wilson started and then he was benched by head coach Robert Saleh or got hurt. The Jets messed around with him and that didn’t bode well for his confidence. They also started at one point Tim Boyle this past season.
New York was a mess. Want to know who grew up and was patient with what their coaches had for them this season? Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers. Love always followed the script and game plan head coach Matt LaFleur had for him week in and week out,
That is why his development went so well this past season in Green Bay. Love and the Packers are going to be drama-free for the most part entering the 2024 NFL regular season. As for the New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers, they will have Super Bowl or bust expectations and head coach Robert Saleh will be on the flaming hot seat.
