He’s done it. Aaron Rodgers has gotten every significant decision-maker involved in the trade that sent him to the New York Jets fired.
First, it was head Robert Saleh, who was fired a little over a month ago, only to resurface as an analyst with the Green Bay Packers — Rodgers’ former team. That same week, Rodgers’ former offensive coordinator in Green Bay, Nathaniel Hackett, was stripped of his play-calling duties for the Jets.
The writing was on the wall that this marriage wasn’t working out. Despite sending the Packers several high draft picks, Rodgers’ Jets had only posted a 3-8 record in his first real season with New York. No, we’re not going to count a start in 2023 when Rodgers threw all of one pass before blowing out his Achilles toward his win-loss record.
Shockingly, the Jets would have to make a pretty incredible turnaround just to match the success that they had under backup quarterback Zach Wilson last season, when the 2023 Jets finished with a 7-10 record. Going 4-2 down the stretch feels a little out of reach for New York this year, even after trading for receiver Davante Adams — Rodgers’ former Packers teammate — mid-season.
That’s probably why the Jets finally pulled the trigger and fired general manager Joe Douglas on Tuesday. Douglas was going into the last season of his contract, and with how things were going, it was obvious that he wouldn’t be getting an extension. Now, the Jets have a headstart going into the hiring cycle. They might need to make use of this window, too, as club owner Woody Johnson previously served under Donald Trump as the United States’ Ambassador to the United Kingdom. With Trump back in office, the Jets owner could easily have bigger issues on hand starting in January, which is when teams generally make their front-office changes at the leadership level.
After somehow keeping his job for six seasons, despite never once posting even a .500 year, Douglas ends his run in New York with a 30-64 record. He never won a Super Bowl. He never won a division. He never even made the playoffs.
He did land his big fish in Rodgers, though, and allowed us to debate over “leverage” for an entire offseason.
