Memo to New York Jets: Avoid Green Bay Quarterbacks
Despite championship and MVP pedigrees, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre bombed in the Big Apple
(From l., Joe Douglas, Aaron Rodgers and Robert Saleh at Rodgers’ Jets introductory presser. All three are no longer employed by the franchise)
Now that it’s official and the New York Jets have severed ties with Aaron Rodgers, maybe owner Woody Johnson has learned his lesson: former Green Bay Packers Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks don’t mix well with Gotham.
Rodgers, 41, who won a championship ring and four MVP awards in Green Bay, was a colossal bust with the Jets during his two* seasons, the football equivalent of Thelma and Louise sailing over the cliff. Rodgers really played only one season as a Jet since he lasted all of four snaps in 2023, the result of the torn Achilles he suffered during his Gang Green debut.
This past season wasn’t much better. Rodgers returned and the club shouldered Super Bowl expectations from the get go, but the Jets were instead… the same old Jets. As Bill Parcells famously said, “You are what your record says you are,” and in the Jets’ case, a 5-12 record needed no further explanation.
Not quite the investment Johnson and the Jets envisioned when Rodgers was feted at his 2023 press conference. The event was held at the Jets’ Florham Park, N.J. complex and befitted a head of state.
“This is a happy day,” Johnson said then.
Rodgers, flanked by then head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas on the dais (those two got canned during the regular season last fall), seemed to say all the right things, including paying homage to the greatest Jet of all, Joseph William Namath.
“I’m excited about the new adventure in New York,” said Rodgers. “I noticed walking in this morning that that Super Bowl III trophy is looking a little lonely.”
Broadway Joe, Jets Nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
If you’re keeping score at home, it’s 56 years and counting since the Jets’ lone Super Bowl appearance and Namath-guaranteed title.
Johnson, of course, tried this whole Green Bay quarterback import experiment before, and it ended with no playoffs either… plus an embarrassing scandal to boot.
Brett Favre arrived via a trade in August 2008 and a similar scene played out in the form of a buzz-worthy press conference, only this one was held at Cleveland Browns Stadium, where the Jets were playing in a preseason game against the Browns.
“We’ve got Brett Favre as a new member of the Jets,” Johnson gushed, after he had helped Favre hold up his No. 4 jersey. Johnson dispensed a few words of gratitude toward discarded QB Chad Pennington, and then turned the mic over to GM Mike Tannenbaum and Favre.
“I’m a member of the Jets. I’m excited about the opportunity,” Favre said during the introductory presser. Hmmm… sound familiar?
Favre won his first game as a Jet, but the team finished 9-7 (and 1-1 against a Tom Brady-less Patriots team) in 2008. Jets fans bemoaned another lost season. Favre later “retired” only to come out of the rocking chair to play two more seasons with Minnesota.
By then, a cringeworthy scandal had emerged that centered on Favre’s Jets tenure.
Jenn Sterger, who had been hired by the Jets as a game day hostess that same 2008 season, accused the married Favre of sending her lewd text messages and leaving her inappropriate voicemails. Her claims only came to light after Deadspin published a report about Sterger, even though she had requested that her conversations with the Deadspin editor remain confidential.
In the fallout, Favre was investigated by the NFL and ultimately fined a paltry $50,000 for his failure to cooperate with the league investigation. Sterger has described her post-Jets arc as a years-long ordeal.
When I interviewed her for a 2021 Forbes story, she said she has sought therapy and has struggled professionally in her post-Jets arc, and that she had often contemplated giving up her sports journalism career altogether.
“Men will never understand the power dynamic that exists, the comments and rude things that happen all the time, and how we’re just expected to take it so we can belong to the boys’ club,” Sterger said in the interview. “That’s honestly the only way this is ever going to change, if there’s leadership from the top. I truly know what it feels to be blackballed. I can speak up about the injustices of women.”
Despite Rodgers no longer being a Jet, he is still making headlines. The New York Post’s back page for February 15 screamed, “Down in the Dumped” and the subhead suggested that Rodgers wasn’t ready for a Jets divorce.
Remember, this was the guy who hit the New York scene like he was a Gotham legend already – there he was at a Taylor Swift concert; there he was courtside at a Knicks’ playoff game; Rodgers was a regular on the “Pat McAfee Show” (and getting paid handsomely, too). During one such appearance on the latter, Rodgers took aim at Jimmy Kimmel, alleging that the late night host’s name was tied to a list of people associated with the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, who’s really hoping that doesn’t come out," said Rodgers, a reference to unsealed court documents related to Epstein. Rodgers said he would "definitely be popping some sort of bottle" if such a list became public.
Jets fans should count their blessings that Rodgers is in the rearview mirror, and that a new front office regime is in place.
It was only a couple months ago that ESPN reporter Dan Graziano had a pitch-perfect take on Rodgers after the regular season ended.
[https://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/1870123594166022206]
“The Jets are in bigger trouble than I thought," said Graziano. "Because Aaron Rodgers is a con artist. He is a narcissist. He is self-absorbed to the absolute maximum. And if he has fooled you again, that's on you. If the Jets go back to Aaron Rodgers (in 2025), they deserve what they get and it will not be good. They know this. They've lived it for the last two years.”
Maybe Johnson took those criticisms and others to heart. When the Rodgers divorce was official, Johnson issued a statement, as did new head coach Aaron Glenn and new GM Darren Mougey. Out with the old, and in with TBD QB.
Just don’t look to Green Bay.
Hey, too late for Joe Willie to come out of retirement?
I understand Ken O’Brien and Browning Nagle would listen to a reasonable offer, too.