Aaron Rodgers, Steelers
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers going through some drills at mandatory minicamp.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had the chance to stick it to his old team, the New York Jets, during his media availability.
A media member asked Rodgers, with the way things unfolded last year, what do you feel like is different about this organization, about you physically, mentally, that will lead to more success here?
“I’m not going to take any shots at my previous organization, if that’s what you’re trying to get me to do,” Rodgers stated on Tuesday, June 10.
During Rodgers’ previous answer, he described the last couple of years as “tough” after getting “hurt and rehabbing for a year to get back” with the Jets after blowing out his Achilles in Week 1 of 2023.
“I mean, I’m 41, so the body feels different than it did at 25. I feel better, I felt good last year, and I worked really hard,” Rodgers added.
Rodgers Has Seemingly Calmed Down Since Jets Exit Meeting
During a face-to-face meeting on February 6, the new Jets regime of head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey informed Rodgers) they were moving in a new direction at QB.
For the first time in Rodgers’ 20-year NFL career, he became a free agent.
In April, Rodgers joined “The Pat McAfee Show” to share some details about his tense meeting with the Jets.
“I think we are going to have this long conversation. I’ve flown across the country, and 20 seconds in, he goes and he leans to the edge of his seat and says, ‘So, you want to play football?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’ And he was like, ‘We’re going in a different direction at quarterback.’ … I was kind of shocked. Not shocked because I didn’t think it was a possibility, but shocked because I just flew across the country and you could’ve told me this over the phone,” Rodgers told McAfee via Brian Costello of the New York Post.
Rodgers called the Jets a “debacle” and said coach Glenn didn’t show “ample respect” during their meeting.
Rodgers’ former teammate on the Jets, Davante Adams, told NFL Insider Mike Silver during an interview for The Athletic that Rodgers felt “disrespected.”
He got broken up with for the first time in his professional career. It didn’t feel good, and Rodgers shared his displeasure with how it all worked out. Rodgers, to his credit, has seemingly gotten over the breakup months later and refused to continue to pile on.
This Rodgers Jets-Steelers Storyline Won’t Be Going Away Anytime Soon
The NFL schedule makers knew what they were doing. They scheduled the Steelers to travel to New York to play the Jets in the season opener.
There was always going to be one revenge angle with Justin Fields facing off with the team that benched him. However, the league had its sights set on an even juicier revenge angle.
The schedule makers had to submit their final schedule to the league well before Rodgers ended up inking his Steelers contract in June.
Had they known that Rodgers would inevitably sign with Pittsburgh, the NFL’s senior director of broadcasting, Blake Jones, told me that game would have been placed in prime time in Week 1.
There are another three months until we get to the season opener. Both teams have bad blood with each other in playoff history. Rodgers and Fields are both miffed with how things played out with their previous teams in 2024. Get your popcorn ready.