Aaron Glenn Was Right to Abruptly Cut Jets Ties With Aaron Rodgers

After a failed two-year experiment, the New York Jets abruptly cut ties with Aaron Rodgers this offseason.

Rodgers spoke on this decision for the very first time on Thursday, April 17, during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

One of the anecdotes Rodgers shared from his meeting with head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey reveals exactly why Glenn made the right decision to move on.

Glenn told Rodgers that they wanted to go in a new direction at quarterback. Rodgers responded, “Why?” Glenn responded, “I don’t want to be up in front of the room saying something and have guys looking back at you.”

Rodgers responded, “What does that even mean? Are you assuming that 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.”

Glenn responded, “You don’t know me.” Rodgers says, “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. 20 seconds in. What I thought was going to be a couple hour meeting turned into like a 15-minute meeting, and I walked out of there. Yeah, that was a strange meeting for sure.”

Glenn Is Trying to Establish a New Era With the Jets

Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks of this generation. He is a four-time NFL MVP, a Super Bowl champion, and a Super Bowl MVP. That sort of resume commands respect around the league and in the locker room.

He has instant credibility wherever he goes.

Glenn’s messaging from day one is that no player is above the team. Rodgers, over the last two years, has clearly been above the team.

Every move the past regime made was to cater to Rodgers to make it a more comfortable experience and to go all in to try and win. I don’t fault the Jets for doing this, they had no other choice after swinging and badly missing on Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

Rodgers has been around the game for 20 years. Glenn has an impressive resume of his own, but he has never been a head coach before. There is a chance this is the first and last time he will ever get that opportunity.

If Glenn decided to bring Rodgers back and he eventually didn’t buy what the coach was selling, that could destroy the very foundation that Glenn is trying to build.

Was Glenn going to bet his first and maybe only NFL HC job on a 41-year-old QB jiving with his plan and process? Glenn decided no thanks, and it’s hard to blame him.

This offseason when reports leaked that the Jets were moving on from Rodgers – players on the team were pissed. Quinnen Williams in a since-deleted post openly questioned the decision and wondered if this would be another rebuilding year for him.

If Glenn fails as a head coach, he wants it to be because of his own mistakes, not because of a mercurial aging QB.

Rodgers Details Conversation With Jets

“That wasn’t a good conversation,” Rodgers told McAfee between him and the Jets. “I figured that when I flew across country on my own dime that there was going to be a conversation. The confusing thing to me and the strange thing was when I went out there, I met with the coach [Aaron Glenn], we started talking, [and] then he ran out of the room. I’m like that is kind of strange. Then he comes back with the GM [Darren Mougey], so we sit down in the office, and I think we are going to have this long conversation, I’ve flown across the country. 20 seconds, literally I’m talking to the GM about something, and he leans to the edge of his sheet and goes ‘so do you want to play football?’ I was like, yeah, I’m interested. Then he said, ‘We are going a different direction at quarterback.’ I was kind of shocked. Not shocked because I didn’t think it was a possibility – listen, of course, if they want to move on, that is totally fine, but shocked because I just flew across the country, and you could have told me this over the phone.”

If the Jets had coldly cut Rodgers over the phone, they would have been roasted online. How disrespectful that they couldn’t even say this to his face. Now we get the opposite. Why would you fly him over there just to dump him? Unbelievable.

You can’t please everyone. I respect that the Jets wanted to tell him to his face. Could they have had a more open conversation with him? Maybe, but Glenn is a no-nonsense guy and decided to rip the band-aid off and move on.

When you are an NFL head coach, you have to have conviction in your decisions, and he clearly did here with Rodgers.

You can also understand Rodgers’ side. For the first time in his professional life, he got fired. It isn’t pretty, and Rodgers was clearly hurt by that decision.

Here is the other thing: Rodgers didn’t give a straight answer. Glenn asked him if he wanted to keep playing football. Rodgers gave a vintage, cute answer that isn’t black or white: “I’m interested.”

Rodgers revealed that several people in his “closer inner circle” are battling some very serious stuff in his personal life, and that is commanding his attention. In other words, retirement is still a distinct possibility, and he has no timeline on when or if he will return to the game.

Even if the Jets wanted to bring him back, that would have been a difficult thing to balance this offseason. Gang Green would be in limbo with Rodgers, and they wouldn’t have a clear answer at QB1.

The Jets’ moving on from Rodgers was an unpopular decision. However, just because it was unpopular among some players and fans doesn’t mean it was the wrong decision.