On Sunday morning, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that new Jets coach Aaron Glenn is “open to” the idea of keeping quarterback Aaron Rodgers for what would be a third season with the Jets.
On Sunday afternoon, Jay Glazer of Fox added a twist regarding the timing for a resolution.
Glazer spoke directly to Glenn. On the Commanders-Eagles pregame show, Glazer had this to say regarding his conversation with Glenn: “He said, ‘I plan to go meet with Aaron Rodgers and we’ll definitely come up with a decision much sooner than later. I don’t wanna drag this out.’”
That means Glenn will be flying to California (presumably) to sit with Rodgers and hash things out.
As surmised last night, “open to” keeping Rodgers is a far cry from wanting to keep him. As also surmised, the Parcells disciple might have specific conditions to attach to running it back with Rodgers.
One question is whether it will be Glenn and only Glenn, or whether it will be the same kind of multi-person persuasion party (led by owner Woody Johnson toting a jar of honey) that went to California to get Rodgers to agree to be traded to the Jets.
The looming sit-down plays out in the aftermath of Rodgers making a series of comments suggesting that he’s needling Woody. From complaints about leaks to jokes about Woody’s teenage son(s) having influence over personnel to commentary about teams that support the coach and G.M. — and those that don’t — it’s fair to develop the impression that Rodgers wants the Jets to make the first move. And that he wants the Jets to move toward severing ties.
On one hand, Rodgers can still play. On the other, the trade for Rodgers was the catalyst for the eventual demise of Glenn’s predecessor, Robert Saleh, and former G.M. Joe Douglas.
Will the Jets, who are starting fresh off the field, want a fresh start on the field? Will they want to pair Rodgers with a young quarterback who’d be groomed to take over for Rodgers?
And what if things go sideways and the new regime wants to get the young quarterback on the field?
Our guess is that the Jets will choose to move on.
But dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. And it would dysfunctional to keep a quarterback who has contributed to the dysfunction of the past two years, from wanting his friends and former teammates on the roster to hovering over a run for the postseason that was cobbled together while he rehabbed his torn Achilles to his habit for supplementing his midweek press conference with weekly spots on Pat McAfee that periodically veered toward the relitigation of conspiracy theories.
Glenn should want to move on. Rodgers seemingly does. Glenn’s goal could be to make a first move that will put Rodgers in checkmate for a second move that forces him to choose to be the one who walks away, depriving him of the chance to paint himself as a victim as he looks for another new team with which he can put together a final season that will go better than his two years with the Jets.
However it goes, Glenn wants it to go quickly.
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