The cast of "Get Up" couldn't believe that ex-Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum suggested the team should make a play for Russell Wilson as their backup QB. The cast of “Get Up” couldn’t believe that ex-Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum suggested the team should make a play for Russell Wilson as their backup QB.
ESPNNFLBy Sam Neumann on

It’s no secret that finding a competent backup quarterback is now a non-negotiable priority for the New York Jets this offseason.

The Jets’ 2023 season took a devastating turn in Week 1 when Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. Forced to rely on Zach Wilson, their championship aspirations quickly faded, resulting in a familiar 7-10 finish.

While veterans like Jacoby Brissett, Ryan Tannehill, or Gardner Minshew seem like logical targets, former general manager Mike Tannenbaum threw a curveball with a genuinely out-of-the-box suggestion. And Tannenbaum’s prediction certainly sent his fellow colleagues on Get Up for a ride, as Dan Graziano got up and nearly walked off set while Bart Scott checked to see what his former GM’s coffee cup was filled with.

On Monday, Tannebaum said that he thinks Rusell Wilson would be a fit with the Jets.

“Pay him $1 million and let him resurrect his career,” began Tannebuam. “I actually have experience with this. Vinny Testaverde got cut by the Baltimore Ravens. We signed him in June and went to the (AFC) Championship Game that year. So, if you’re Russell Wilson — where else is he gonna go? He has to resurrect his career, so if you have to sit for a year, why not sit behind one of the greatest of all time and be a free agent again?

“Guys, where is he gonna go? He is 36 years old. No one’s gonna hand him a starting job. He’s gonna have to be a backup somewhere.”

Wilson will almost certainly be released or traded by the Denver Broncos in the coming week, but few, if any — besides Tannebaum — believe that to be a viable option. Brian Custer, filling in for resident New York Jets superfan Mike Greenberg, said that Florham Park would be like Real Husbands of Hollywood with Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson in the same facility together.

It wasn’t just the Get Up panel that reacted to Tannenbaum’s comments in that manner.

Tannenbaum also suggested that the Jets swap Zach Wilson for Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy. While that’s relevant to New York’s backup quarterback discussion, that’s neither here nor there when neither Wilson is likely to play for their current teams ever again.

The part missing from this discussion is that Aaron Rodgers is New York’s de facto general manager, and his handpicked offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, was Russell Wilson’s head coach in Denver. Wilson struggled mightily in Hackett’s system, enduring the worst season of his career and leading Sean Payton to lament it one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL, before dumping the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback himself.

On the surface, it sounds like a viable idea, and Wilson is a quarterback who has led his team to a Super Bowl behind a vaunted defense before. At the same time, there’s just no way a room that includes Rodgers and Wilson would be anything other than a disaster of epic proportions.

Tannebaum has already been ripped for suggesting that the New York Giants swap Daniel Jones for Deshaun Watson, so this commentary seems relatively benign, all things considered, and par for the course.

The best part here, though, was undoubtedly the reactions from Graziano and Scott as Get Up went with a different look during the holiday weekend.

[Awful Announcing]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann