As if the New York Jets weren’t already a dumpster fire this year, The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini dropped a bombshell report on Tuesday night that showed even more signs of aggressive dysfunction.
According to Rosenblatt and Russini, Jets owner Woody Johnson actually wanted to bench quarterback Aaron Rodgers after the team’s Week 4 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Yes, you read that correctly. The Jets owner wanted to bench Rodgers four games into his comeback season from his 2023 Achilles injury.
If your jaw is on the floor, consider this is a franchise that has already fired its head coach (Robert Saleh) and general manager (Joe Douglas) this season. Here are Rosenblatt and Russini on the details on this reported fracas.
“According to those sources, the day after the Jets’ loss to the Denver Broncos on Sept. 29, there was a contentious meeting at the team facility,” the report read. “It included [Woody] Johnson, [Joe] Douglas, vice chairman Christopher Johnson, team president Hymie Elhai, and Ira Akselrad, an advisor to Johnson. It also included a group of coaches: then-head coach Robert Saleh, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, then-defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and special teams coordinator Brant Boyer among them.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, [Woody] 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.”
Welp! As if the Jets 3-8 season wasn’t bad enough, here’s this brand-new controversy. We’re sure Rodgers will take this report well.