Steelers Now
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn continues to be mum on the Aaron Rodgers’ storyline for Sunday’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s not relevant to right now,” Glenn said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.
Rodgers returns to MetLife Stadium on Sunday after a nasty breakup with the Jets organization.
Rodgers is not afraid to speak his mind, especially when someone crosses him. That was the case with the Jets this offseason when they released the four-time NFL MVP. How the Jets handled the whole situation did not sit well with Rodgers.
Rodgers has criticized Glenn and the Jets organization for having him fly cross country on his “own dime” to hear the news that he was no longer wanted.
“I think we’re gonna have this long conversation,” Rodgers said. “I’ve flown across the country. Twenty seconds in … I’m talking to the GM about something and [Glenn] leans to the edge of his seat and goes, ‘So, do you want to play football?’
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’
“Then he says, ‘We’re going in a different direction at quarterback.’”
According to former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth, who is a close friend of Rodgers, the four-time NFL MVP went on a long-winded rant about how dysfunctional the Jets’ organization was during his two-year tenure.
“Aaron and I had a conversation about when he was with the Jets was how abysmal their running game was and how schematically it made no sense,” Schlereth said on The Stinkin Truth Podcast. “I started the conversation, and then Aaron went on for about a 25-minute diatribe on just their run game.”
Glenn said everything with Rodgers is in the past, and he’s not worried or focused on that.
“That’s been gone, so I’m not going to answer questions about guys that aren’t here and what I saw,” Glenn said Tuesday. “Right now, I’m looking at what our guys can do.”
Glenn watched every offensive play from the Jets’ 2024 season, which featured Rodgers as the QB for the majority of the snaps.
“Just like I said, I’m not going to sit there and answer questions on what I saw back then,” Glenn told reporters.
One unnamed Jets player said he respected Glenn’s decision to part ways with Rodgers.
“I respected it,” one Jets player told ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “It was like cutting off the head of the snake right away and setting the tone, saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to do it my way.'”
Jets quarterback Justin Fields is also blocking out the outside noise heading into Sunday’s game against his former team.
“There’s no storyline for me,” Fields said matter-of-factly, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “It’s ball for me, so I’ll let you guys kind of handle the storylines, the news lines and stuff like that. In the locker room, we just keep it straight ball.”
When asked about his mentality going into Sunday’s opener, Fields said, “Cool, calm, collected.”
Fields reiterated that he has no hard feeling toward...
