The New York Jets entered the 2024 NFL season with the expectation that they would compete for a Super Bowl this year. Aaron Rodgers was healthy after tearing his Achilles in 2023, they added some key free agents like Tyron Smith, and the defense was believed to be among the best in the league.
Now, however, they are 3-7 and contending for a top ten pick in the 2025 NFL Draft instead of for a Super Bowl title.
A great deal has happened since the start of the season, and very little of it has been positive. Head coach Robert Saleh was fired after the Jets’ 2-3 start and replaced by defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Davante Adams was acquired in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders and Mike Williams was sent to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Even Haasan Reddick ended his holdout.
But none of it mattered as New York has continued to spiral, and one former Jets quarterback believes Rodgers is to blame.
Former New York Jets Quarterback Boomer Esiason Says Aaron Rodgers Has Sucked the Life Out of the Building
Speaking on his radio show in New York City, former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason, who has been highly critical of Rodgers for months, stated, “It’s like Aaron Rodgers has completely sucked the air out of the building.”
“It’s like Aaron Rodgers has completely sucked the air out of the building,” – @7BOOMERESIASON. pic.twitter.com/uKC0xFCFNC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 11, 2024
“I think so many guys are deferring to who he is in their mind,” Esiason continued. “In their minds, and in my mind, he is a first ballot Hall of Fame player. One of the great quarterbacks, when he was in his prime, that we have ever seen.
“Very few people throw the ball like him, and I used to say that Dan Marino, Joe Namath, and Aaron Rodgers all threw the ball significantly different than everyone else. Like we’ve never seen anything like it, and I will go to my grave believing that those three players were that special when they were throwing the ball.
“But since he has come here, over the last two years, every player on this team has deferred everything to him. And the reason I say that is because Russell Wilson said something about Mike Williams yesterday, and it was being reported during the game that when Mike Williams showed up to Pittsburgh, he had a big smile on his face.
“And he was so happy, like he was so unincumbered.”
Esiason goes on to say that Wilson praising Williams should give everyone a pretty good idea of what is going on in the Jets’ locker room.
In other words, the players are just following Rodgers’ lead on who is valued and who is not.
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