Getty Image
Early in 2024, Dianna Russini and Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic reported that New York Jets sources told them that the team is a “f—— mess” and that “something has to change.”
According to the report, the pair of reporters spoke to 30 sources that painted a picture of “excuse-making, a paranoid head coach, an ill-equipped offensive coordinator and an organizational tunnel vision on the quarterback that rubbed some teammates wrong.”
During a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, Russini stood by her reporting, saying that Jets fans who don’t believe it are “in denial.”
“I think Jets fans are in denial. They want to call people liars because they don’t want to believe that it’s that bad, that the culture is that awful,” Russini said.
“People want me to say ‘All right, we dramatized it, it’s not really that bad, Aaron’s great, he’s kumbaya with everybody.’ When the reality is it’s a mess in New York. It’s really bad.”
Russini’s reporting said that Jets players grew tired of the way head coach Robert Saleh “fawned” over him.
Furthermore, backup quarterback Zach Wilson “barely heard from him” following his Achilles tear despite Rodgers’ claims of how highly he thinks of Wilson.
There’s also the element of offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who players and coaches reportedly believed “struggled to adjust” following Rodgers’ injury and that he is “lacking in attention to detail.”
The relationship between the pair was also described as being “more frat brothers than player/coach,” which also added to frustrations after one coach said that Hackett had “little urgency… in trying to fix [the offense],” and that he’d “never seen a team watch less practice tape in training camp than the Jets did with Hackett.”
This is all underscored by the fact that Hackett was only hired and remained employed because of his relationship with Rodgers, who has yet to complete an official pass for the team since they handed him the keys to the franchise in April 2023 following their trade with the Green Bay Packers.
Despite the reported dysfunction surrounding the team, Rodgers recently said during an interview that he wants to play for another “2, 3, or 4 years.”
If the Jets fail to make the playoffs this year, however, the owner will likely fire both the general manager and the coach, meaning Rodgers — who will be 41 years old by the time next season ends — could also be at risk of losing his job.