If Aaron Rodgers is looking for a former New York Jets quarterback ally in the media, he doesn’t have one in Boomer Esiason. He might have one in Ryan Fitzpatrick, but when it comes to the former NFL on CBS analyst and current WFAN host, Esiason has spoken freely and candidly about Rodgers’ shortcomings in the Big Apple.
This is the same Esiason who claimed that Rodgers didn’t respect now-former head coach Robert Saleh, who was fired by the Jets after a 2-3 start to the season. And the ex-NFL quarterback also took great issue with Rodgers throwing Mike Williams under the bus after a game-losing interception.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
There’s also a lack of air at One Jets Drive, which Esiason has firmly pinned on the soon-to-be 41-year-old.
“I hate to say, it’s like Aaron Rodgers has completely sucked the air out of the building,” Esiason said. “And I think so many guys are deferring to in their minds. In their minds, 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 still thinking that those three players were that special when they were throwing the ball. And how they looked at throwing the ball was just so natural and amazing.”
“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
The arm talent is undeniably still present, but Rodgers now appears as a shadow of his former self.
At 40, a year removed from a torn Achilles, his body is showing the wear and tear of age and injury. Yet, these physical setbacks shouldn’t excuse his inability to trust his reads. He looks like a different player game to game.
The Jets didn’t need Rodgers to be at his MVP level — just marginally better than Zach Wilson. But instead, they’ve watched nearly every aspect of their team, aside from perhaps Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall, regress around him. Rodgers himself has followed suit, unable to elevate the Jets and allowing the organization with the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports to consume him.
He’s also plenty culpable.
“Since he’s come here over the last two years, every player on this team, I feel like, has deferred everything to him,” said Esiason. “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 showed up with such a big smile — and he was so happy. Like, he was so unencumbered by playing for the Jets, with the Jets, for Aaron Rodgers, that he makes the game-winning touchdown catch over his left shoulder in an amazing sequence of events.
“Because the reason he’s on the field is because the guy that would’ve been out there on the field gets hurt on the previous play — and that’s the only reason he’s out there. And Russell Wilson has the confidence to throw him the football, and it was a game-winning touchdown pass. And what Russell was talking about, Mike Williams, basically, gives you a real perspective of what’s going on in that locker room over there for the Jets.”
And it’s not good.
