The New York Jets decided to part ways with Aaron Rodgers, but Mike Francesa believes they also decided to embarrass the quarterback on his way out.
After a tumultuous two-year marriage, the Jets-Rodgers divorce seemed inevitable. It became official last week, when the Jets publicly announced they informed Rodgers of their plans to move in a different direction. They made the announcement by thanking Rodgers for all the good times they shared together, whatever those were. But according to Francesa, the break-up seemed like an attempt at embarrassing the 41-year-old quarterback.
“I almost got the idea that, yes, they parted ways with him, but they wanted to embarrass him too, if they could,” Francesa said. “The problem is, how much can you embarrass a guy who is going to Canton on roller-skates?”
Prior to the Jets making the break-up official, they reportedly gave Rodgers a list of demands to meet if they mutually chose to run it back next season, which included attending all mandatory practices and ditching his weekly appearances on The Pat McAfee Show.
“Would he have agreed to all the things they supposedly hammered at him and made sure that got leaked to hammer at him to try and get their pound of flesh and embarrass him?” Francesa asked. “Except, when you’re the Jets and you have been bums and been as bad as any organization can be for so long, you can’t embarrass a quarterback of his ilk. There’s no way! He’s in a different place! He’s untouchable in the world of football compared to you!”
“Do I know if Rodgers would have cut out McAfee for the year? I don’t know,” Francesa admitted. “I don’t know if he could have digested some of the rules they wanted to give him. But they clearly didn’t want him, so they were shoving those rules down his throat anyway because they didn’t want him.
“But not wanting him was cutting your nose off to spite your face…You can’t find someone who has what Aaron Rodgers has. And he still wanted to play! It was a dumb, dumb, dumb decision. They won’t be any good next year!”
The Jets probably are not going to be any good next year without Rodgers. Recent history dictates they wouldn’t have been any good next year with Rodgers either. And even if they did manage to go 9-8 or 10-7 with him next season so he can retire on a more positive note, how does it benefit Aaron Glenn and new general manager Darren Mougey to start their rebuild in year two of their tenure?
After investing draft picks and money in Rodgers, the Jets followed his orders by giving him the players and coaches he demanded to help make his transition from Green Bay as comfortable as possible. For two years, they watched Rodgers produce headlines off the field without being able to produce on it. If reportedly asking him to skip a season of The Pat McAfee Show was their way of embarrassing him on the way out, Francesa may have been the only person who noticed.
