New York Jets owner Woody Johnson made a stunning suggestion about the future of Aaron Rodgers’ role with the team in recent weeks, according to a report.
Johnson is said to have had an increasingly heavy hand in the running of the franchise in the weeks leading up to the firing of general manager Joe Douglas.
Douglas was sent packing Tuesday just one month after head coach Robert Saleh was also axed amid yet another miserable season.
But the trouble had long been brewing the Jets’ backroom with Johnson, the former ambassador to the United Kingdom, said to be piling on the pressure and even trying to take hold of the reins himself, according to The Athletic.
In fact, the embattled franchise was in such disarray that Johnson summoned then-head coach Robert Saleh, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, then-defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and special teams coordinator Brant Boyer into a ‘contentious meeting’ after Week 4 to explain themselves.
It was at this emergency summit, which took place the day after New York’s 10-9 home loss to the Denver Broncos on September 29, that Johnson made an absurd suggestion about quarterback Rodgers.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson (R) reportedly wanted to bench Aaron Rodgers (L)
The owner proposed that the four-time MVP, who the Jets had acquired in a blockbuster trade from the Packers just a year earlier, should be benched in favor of backup Tyrod Taylor.
Johnson was seemingly unimpressed with Rodgers’ performances on the field, believing they were 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 Athletic reports.
‘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.’
Although Johnson was talked out of the suggestion that day, no one was able to stop him from pulling the trigger just one week later when he fired head coach Saleh without reportedly consulting his general manager.
And it was Douglas who was next in the firing line, being given his marching orders Tuesday midway through his sixth season with the franchise.
Douglas was the man responsible for engineering the Rodgers trade last season . In total, the Jets received Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers’ first-round pick in 2023 (selecting linebacker Will McDonald IV), and their fifth-round pick in 2023.
In exchange, the Packers received the Jets’ 2023 first-round pick (used to take pass rusher Lukas Van Ness), their 2023 second-round pick (used to take tight end Luke Musgrave), and their 2023 sixth-round pick (used on kicker Anders Carlson).
GM Joe Douglas was fired in the same season the Jets let go of head coach Robert Saleh (left)
The Packers also got a conditional second-round pick in 2024 that they moved to the New Orleans Saints in a swap of second-rounders (the Saints drafted cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry, the Packers took linebacker Edgerrin Cooper).
Rodgers got injured four snaps into the 2023 season and so far in 2024 has not lived up to the expectations placed on him by Jets fans – even after Jets management bent over backwards trying to appease the Super Bowl winner by acquiring wide receivers he had previously worked with.
Now, with Douglas out of the door, Rodgers’ fate in New York is said to be in doubt.
According to multiple reports, Rodgers’ tenure with the Jets could be set to come to an end after just two seasons.
An inside source told ESPN’s Rich Cimini that it’s highly unlikely that Jets owner Woody Johnson will bring the former Super Bowl winner back in 2025.
‘The Jets have dropped seven of their past eight games in what was supposed to be a win-now season under Rodgers, whose future is cloudy,’ wrote Cimini following Douglas’s firing Tuesday.
‘One source said he’d be ‘shocked’ if Johnson brings Rodgers back in 2025.’
Rodgers’ fate is in doubt with reports suggesting the the Jets are prepared to move on
The insider added that Rodgers’s $23.5 million cap charge in 2025 is not guaranteed.
Another report from SNY claimed that the Jets’ players had already ‘checked out’ with many ‘just ready for it [the season] to be over’ before also suggesting that Rodgers is not expected to be suiting up at MetLife again next season.
‘There are seven weeks left in this season. It will give the Jets a jumpstart on another rebuild. They’re looking for a new general manager. They will be looking for a new coach,’ SNY’s Connor J Hughes reported.
‘Sources told SNY that the team prefers to move on from Aaron Rodgers, too. Those are the easy decisions, though. How to fill those voids poses a much greater challenge.’