It was never an ultimatum. And Aaron Rodgers was never going to remain with the New York Jets whether he appeared with Pat McAfee or not.
Taking the podium at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, newly-minted Jets general manager Darren Mougey addressed the elephant in the room: Rodgers. He wanted to get that out of the way first as he and head coach Aaron Glenn move in a different direction, which doesn’t include a 41-year-old future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Rodgers wanted his time in New York to end. But reports on how they got there has been conflicting at best. Russini herself said that in conversations about Rodgers’ future in the NFL, whether that be in New York or potentially elsewhere, the Jets made it clear that they no longer wanted the embattled quarterback to do his The Pat McAfee Show appearances as part of a return to the franchise.
“They had a conversation with him of, ‘If you were to stay here, here’s how we would want it to be,” Russini said. “This, to me, is Aaron Glenn getting control back.”
But according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, it wasn’t that simple. Instead of blaming Russini, he took aim at aggregators for framing it as an ultimatum. Rapoport said it was more like the Jets outlining their expectations for Aaron Rodgers if he remained at One Jets Drive.
We now know that isn’t the case.
But rather than hear it from sources close to the team, Mougey wanted those in Indianapolis to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
“I’m not here to confirm or deny any rumors that happened during that process,” Mougey said. “I will say this: there was never an ultimatum or rules of engagement for Aaron to potentially join the Jets again — that never happened. [Aaron Glenn] and I had a lot of dialogue, a lot of conversations, a lot of good thoughts, and just felt at the end of the day, it was the best thing for the Jets moving forward.”
Darren Mougey says Aaron Rodgers was never given an ultimatum or rules of engagement by the team
Mougey gives respect to Rodgers and adds “that was the decision we made, look forward to moving past that and into the next process with free agency and the draft” pic.twitter.com/yVQquVYK6n
— Jets Videos (@snyjets) February 25, 2025
Rodgers’ time in New York was always destined to come to a close.
While the narrative surrounding his departure has been muddled with conflicting reports, Mougey’s message on Tuesday laid out that there were no ultimatums, just a mutual understanding that the Jets are looking forward, and they’ll do so without the 41-year-old quarterback.
