It was reported in Might that the New York Jets “made respectable makes an attempt this offseason to rent somebody who would, primarily, substitute” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett after hellos unit routinely didn’t impress with out quarterback Aaron Rodgers within the lineup.
Rodgers unsurprisingly backed Hackett heading into what might turn into career-altering years for the 2.
“I felt very protecting of him,” Rodgers lately mentioned about Hackett, as Gabriel Trevino of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com and Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Submit shared. “I feel fortunately loads of that’s within the rearview mirror for each of us, however it’s been a troublesome couple years, with among the stuff that [Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton] mentioned about him after which clearly the scrutiny with our offense struggling. I really feel like he took loads of it on the chin and wore it properly, however we’d like to indicate some issues this 12 months.”
Particularly, Payton ripped Hackett final summer season for being answerable for what “may need been one of many worst teaching jobs within the historical past of the NFL” when the present coordinator held Payton’s job in the course of the earlier season. Rodgers first had Hackett as an OC with the Inexperienced Bay Packers from 2019 by means of the 2021 marketing campaign, and the hope right now final 12 months was that the 2 would assist information the Jets to at the least a playoff berth.
As a substitute, Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles 4 offensive snaps into New York’s regular-season opener. The Jets offense by no means totally recovered from that setback, and ESPN stats present the unit ended Week 18 ranked thirty first within the league with a mean of 268.6 yards per sport.
Cannizzaro famous that Jets head coach Robert Saleh “interviewed some offensive coaches within the offseason so as to add to his workers” however did not rent anyone “as a result of these whom he interviewed have been looking for a coordinator title.” It is broadly assumed Rodgers’ presence resulted in Jets proprietor Woody Johnson operating it again with Hackett, Saleh and normal supervisor Joe Douglas for the reason that future Corridor of Famer turns 41 years previous this coming December and sure would not have welcomed a recent begin with a brand new teaching workers.
As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the 2024 Jets at -175 betting odds to make the playoffs. It is unknown how Johnson would react to the Jets being a one-and-done postseason workforce this coming January. Nonetheless, it appears a given he’ll blow issues up if what’s turn into the longest lively playoff drought within the 4 main North American sports activities leagues continues for one more 12 months.
