Looks like Sean Payton got the last laugh.
More than a year after Payton criticized the hype surrounding the Jets and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett in comments to Jarrett Bell of The United States todaya Jets loss to Payton’s Broncos sparked a report, released the same day as general manager Joe Douglas was fired, that Johnson was ready to end the Aaron Rodgers experiment.
As first reported per TheAthletic.com and confirmed by PFT, Johnson suggested benching Rodgers after the Week 4 loss to Denver.
Although Johnson was talked out of it, the disclosure becomes the first shot in the cold war regarding Rodgers’ future with the team. Recently, we speculated that while Rodgers has said he wants to play next year, there’s no guarantee the Jets will want him back. It seemed that, even before this development, this was not the case.
It’s now fair to wonder, based on his reaction to the leak regarding Johnson’s idea of benching him, whether Rodgers will want to continue playing for the team in 2024.
Last year, Rodgers called out leaks in the Jets organization, after reports surfaced that quarterback Zach Wilson was reluctant to play after being benched and that the team wanted to cut him.
“I think it’s basically bullshitand I think that has no place in a winning organization,” Rodgers said of the leaks.
That’s what he said about a leak that didn’t concern him. What will he say about a leak that puts Rodgers in the crosshairs?
He won’t have a press conference this week because the Jets are on a bye. He has an instantly available platform with Pat McAfee, and the next question is whether Rodgers will tune in tomorrow and address both Douglas’ firing and the news that Johnson wanted to bench him.
Even if Rodgers struggled, it’s a stupid idea. In a Week 3 win over the Jets, Rodgers was starting to look like his old self, after several months of barely playing. To think Johnson was willing to make such an astonishing move after the very next game shows how impulsive and short-sighted he can be.
This time, Johnson got the wrong Navy. Rodgers won’t accept it. What will Johnson do when Rodgers fights back? Demand that he return the pot of honey from the queen’s garden? Cut it?
Rodgers would surely appreciate that, now that he knows the boss wanted to put his ass on the bench.
So basically, get your popcorn ready. Even though the Jets’ season has been bad, things could get better soon.
That said, don’t be surprised if the Jets try to clean up aisle 8 by suggesting Johnson was joking. And, as Dolphins owner Stephen Ross supposedly joked that he once told coach Brian Flores to pay him $100,000 for every game he lost, we’ll have a hard time finding the punchline.
