Jets have different version of what happened with Aaron Rodgers, per report

Along with shedding light on his future plans, Aaron Rodgers‘ recent appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” included him taking a blowtorch to the Jets while offering very specific details about his breakup with the team.  

Among other things, Rodgers told McAfee that the Jets had him fly cross country “on my own dime” only to be told that he was being released 20 seconds into the meeting. Rodgers was clearly miffed by that and said that that the Jets should have just called to say that they were releasing him. The Jets, however, have a different viewpoint of that part of Rodgers’ story, according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. 

“What I was told at the time was that Aaron had indicated to them, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be on that side of the country in this week,’ and they said, ‘Great, come into the building,'” Pelissero told NFL Media colleague Rich Eisen. “And there had been ongoing dialogue up until that about just a variety of different things because they don’t, as Aaron said, he and Aaron Glenn really don’t know each other.

“Aaron clearly, from his perspective, went in there thinking, we’re gonna have a conversation about the future. The Jets very quickly informed him they were going in another direction.” 

Rodgers clearly wasn’t happy with how the whole thing went down. He told McAfee that he was expected to have a lengthy meeting with the Jets, but instead he was out of the building less than 20 minutes after Glenn allegedly told him 20 seconds into the meeting that the team was moving on from him. 

When asked why, Rodgers was allegedly told by Glenn that he didn’t want to say something in a meeting and have the rest of the team immediately look back at him. That allegedly turned into both Rodgers and Glenn taking turns telling the other, “You don’t know me.” 

“What I thought was gonna be a couple-hour meeting turned into like a 15-minute meeting,” Rodgers told McAfee, “and I walked out of there … I don’t want any part of that. It was already a debacle.”

Clearly, Rodgers and the Jets weren’t on the same page that day, and it’s also clear that there are still some hard feelings on Rodgers’ end. Rodgers also didn’t appear to be happy with the reports that had stated that he had “begged” the Jets to keep him (Pelissero also confirmed that that wasn’t the case). 

After months of staying quiet, Rodgers decided to tell his truth about what happened during his final moments with the Jets. And while he had every right to share his side of the story while clarifying some mis-informed reports, his interview with McAfee in some ways may have justified New York’s decision to start over at quarterback. 

“Aaron is on a national TV show talking about a private conversation,” Pelissero said, “that kind of is evidence of part of why the Jets just didn’t think this was gonna be a workable situation.” 

Furthermore, Rodgers’ willingness to divulge private information from that day might be why some fan bases are possibly leery of Rodgers joining their team this off-season, despite Rodgers’ bonafides as a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.