The New York Jets have hit rock-bottom repeatedly this season, seemingly finding a new low every week. The Aaron Rodgers experiment has gone almost as poorly as humanly possible, and the team is once again a dysfunctional laughingstock.
Things are only about to get worse in the Jets facility. A new report by The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Zach Rosenblatt claims that owner Woody Johnson wanted Aaron Rodgers benched all the way back in September.
The Jets acquired Aaron Rodgers prior to the 2023 season in the hopes that the all-time great would be the missing piece for a franchise had a great defense and some interesting pieces on offense but had suffered from poor quarterback play. He lasted just a few snaps into his first year before tearing his Achilles, but this year was supposed to be different for the franchise.
It hasn’t been. The Jets are 3-8. Rodgers hasn’t been all that great, though he has hasn’t been bad, either. His 2,400 yards, 17 touchdowns and 17 interceptions are all fine. But, he’s not been very mobile, and clearly isn’t getting it done as a leader.
Rewind back to September. The Jets lost to the Broncos, `10-9, to fall to 2-2. The sky was not falling at this point, but there were warning signs that this team wasn’t going to be what people expected.
Owner Woody Johnson had seen enough. He wanted Aaron Rodgers benched, according to The Athletic. Here’s an excerpt.
The coaches had been called in to explain what happened with their units during the 10-9 home loss to the Broncos. During the meeting, Johnson suggested to the coaches that they bench Aaron Rodgers in favor of Tyrod Taylor because he felt Rodgers’ performance was holding the team back.
The coaches and Douglas, stunned at the suggestion, talked him out of it and convinced Johnson to stay the course and that benching Rodgers, with his pedigree, four games into the season would not sit well with the locker room. The coaches also felt it would embarrass Rodgers. The idea of benching the future Hall of Famer sounded so absurd that one coach asked whether the owner was serious — multiple sources from that meeting believed he was.
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That would’ve been a monster news story, and there’s no way Aaron Rodgers would’ve taken that well. That being said, they’re now 3-8, general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh have both been fired, and the season is lost. Maybe Woody Johnson had the right idea all along.
