Tag: Aaron Rodgers

Former Alabama OT JC Latham visiting with the New York Jets

All signs indicate that former Alabama OT JC Latham will be a top 10 draft pick after he visits with his fourth team selecting in the top ten

All signs indicate that former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive tackle JC Latham will be a top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft as he is meeting with the New York Jets this week. Not only are the Jets in dire need of an OT to protect star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but the Jets are the fourth team picking in the top ten that has visited with Latham alongside the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans.

Rodgers will be 40 years old entering the start of next season as well as coming off of a major Achilles tear so his athleticism will be quickly fading. As a result, the Jets are going to have to do a much better job providing him with protection, and to their credit, they have so far by adding Tyron Smith and John Simpson. However, the youth and upside of Latham will be way too much to pass up on for a team that has to keep some of an eye on the future.

There is no guarantee that any player is going to pan out in the NFL, but people around the league would be pretty shocked if Latham doesn’t become a solid starter in this league. Latham was the No. 5 overall recruit out of high school and saw action in 14 games as a true freshman at Alabama so the bright lights of New York won’t even be a thought for him.

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Aaron Rodgers arrives for start of Jets’ offseason program

Aaron Rodgers and the Jets are back in Florham Park.

The Jets are back in Florham Park as the team begins their offseason program Monday. One notable name among those back in action: quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers is seven months removed from his Achilles surgery. He pushed to play at the end of the season before the Jets were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 15. The team still activated Rodgers from injured reserve to allow him to continue rehabbing and practicing.

Rodgers is healthier and ready to lead the Jets in what is a pressure-packed season, one that will determine the futures of various people in the building, not the least of whom are head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas.

As of Monday, all 32 teams are back at their training facilities. This first phase of the program is strength and conditioning. The Jets’ first OTAs are set for May 20, and their mandatory minicamp is June 11-13.

Robert Saleh: ‘When we win football games all the narratives will change’

“We’ve got to win football games and when we win football games all the narratives will change.”

Jets head coach Robert Saleh knows all the noise outside the organization and about the organization. There was a lot of hype surrounding the team following their acquisition of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. That hype included an appearance on HBO’s “Hard Knocks”, which felt more like it should have been titled “Aaron Rodgers and Friends”

All that hype quickly evaporated when Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles just four plays into his Jets’ debut against the Buffalo Bills. As more injuries piled up and the offense majorly struggled, the Jets limped to another 7-10 finish on the season.

Saleh knows his team has to start winning football games, rather than just winning the offseason and only then will the talk about the team change.

“When you lose, you’re a loser,” Saleh said, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “I suck, [GM Joe Douglas] sucks, we all suck. It goes with the territory, but the best thing we can do is put our heads down and … go to work. All the feel-good stuff for the offseason doesn’t matter. We’ve got to win football games, and when we win football games all the narratives will change.”

The very lesst of goals this season for the Jets is to secure their first winning season since 2015 when they finished 10-6. A bigger goal is ending a 13-season postseason drought. An even bigger goal would be to win their first division title since 2002. Ultimately, the Jets want to be in New Orleans next February for Super Bowl LIX.

The Jets have done all they can in recent weeks to build an offense that can lessen the pressure on their defense and allow Aaron Rodgers to thrive in New York. The Jets added Tyron Smith, John Simpson and Morgan Moses on the offensive line and signed former Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams to pair with Garrett Wilson.

Understandably, the narrative surrounding the Jets is something along the lines of “We’ll believe it when we see it.” The Jets have put themselves in a position to make people believes in them, but we’ve also been down this road before. Results have to happen now.

The Jets have doomed themselves to hoping Aaron Rodgers can still win them a Super Bowl

Well, this Aaron Rodgers thing had better work out for the Jets.

Every single move the New York Jets have made this offseason and will continue to make until the start of the 2024 season are because of Aaron Rodgers.

The quarterback has turned into the NFL’s true enigma, a Hall of Fame talent with a Super Bowl ring and the most self-destructive arrogance of anybody in his football generation.

He’s turned into the league’s most proud purveyor of conspiratorial hogwash, operating with the same intellectual curiosity of a naughty five-year-old that tries to flush a bunch of batteries down the commode to “see what happens.”

Rodgers going to turn 41 before the regular season ends, he’s coming off a torn Achilles that earned controversy during its rehabilitation process and there was a minute there where we all thought he might be anti-vax danger Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Vice President candidate.

He’s also the Jets’ biggest problem and grand hope for a Super Bowl, and he’s the one sparking an offseason that’s got the Jets running away from disaster like Indiana Jones from that giant boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Tuesday’s reported signing of wide receiver Mike Williams, an electric player when healthy but nearing 30 that played a full season since 2021. Williams projects to be an explosive addition to the New York offense, but he’s still a projection of success instead of a guarantee.

Marquee left tackle addition Tyron Smith, 33, is one of the game’s elite talents when he’s healthy, but he’s not played a full season since 2015. In 2020, he played in two games. In 2021, he played in 11. In 2022, he played in four. Last season’s 13-game stint was his best since 2019. The Jets are projecting him to be a wonderful solution at left tackle, but again, projecting.

Newly acquired right tackle Morgan Moses just turned 33. He’s been very durable throughout his career, but he’s a 10-year veteran and a short-term solution on the offensive line. Adding guard John Simpson represents a youthful move since he’s only 26, but he’s got his own injury concerns.

When the Jets inevitably draft in 2024, it won’t be for long-term team-building. It’ll be because they’ve got to maximize the two years left on the massive deal they signed Rodgers to last year to be their grand championship hope. They’re chasing rainbows that cascade from the glory days in Titletown on a guy who will be older than some of the NFL’s head coaches in December and is coming off an Achilles injury.

The problem with the Jets does go back to the ill-fated decision to draft Zach Wilson in 2021 and the immediate need to patch over that draft miss with an aging version of the most controversial players in NFL history with a hope that he’ll somehow recapture a momentum that’s likely passed him by.

With coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas both basically tied to Rodgers’ success to determine their own futures in New York, the Jets are forced to push all the chips in on a plan that might be doomed from the start.

Banking on injury-prone players like Smith, Williams and Simpson to stay healthy for half a season on the NFL’s dreaded turf monster of the Meadowlands, led by a quarterback that just tore his Achilles on it, feels like a bit of a risky proposition. However, it’s where the Jets are stuck for now.

New York fans are some of the long-suffering of the league, and it’s not fair for them that they’re having to put so much hope on an NFL plan that has as much chance of success as a pocket full of hundreds at the craps table in Vegas. It’s a giant risk that could basically go in any direction, one that comes with the aura of prestige but reeks of desperation and comes with a very stark expiration date. It’s pushing all the chips in on yesterday’s promise.

The Jets are going to eventually have to reckon with the Wilson miss and the very tenuous Rodgers gamble by actually rebuilding the offense and making good with a championship-level defense. Sadly, that defense might take lumps eventually in order to get the offense in shape for the long haul.

If New York somehow manages to win a Super Bowl out of this, then it’ll all be for naught. This plan will eventually go kaboom, but at least they’d get a title out of it. However, it feels more likely that this is all fated to leave the Jets right where they started: without an answer at quarterback and a pressing need to finally find long-term solutions for the franchise’s problems.

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5 potential landing spots for Odell Beckham Jr. after he pens goodbye letter to Ravens

We’re looking at 5 potential landing spots for Odell Beckham Jr. after his release from the Baltimore Ravens

The Odell Beckham Jr. era is over in Baltimore after the Ravens decided to release the veteran wide receiver with a Post June 1 designation.

Beckham confirmed the move with a goodbye on his Instagram account.

https://instagram.com/obj/p/C4olbKLPu29/?hl=en

“Swea on everything I appreciate the Flock more than yall could EVER imagine. Did everything I could wit the opportunities I had. Wish I got to do it big for yall. Thank you for the Vibez! To the City of Baltimore I f— wit yall forever FRRRR. And most importantly to my brothers over there this sh-t a lifetime sentence, I love yall! BiggestTruzzz”

The revision will allow Baltimore to spread the dead money out over 2024 and 2025, as opposed to it all hitting in 2024.

Beckham had 64 targets during his lone season in Baltimore, logging 35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns.

With the move now complete, we’re looking at potential landing spots for the talented pass catcher.

Aaron Rodgers out of running as Robert Kennedy Jr. reportedly going in different VP direction

We can put those Vice President Aaron Rodgers thoughts to rest.

The Jets won’t have to worry about their quarterback spending time on the campaign trail while trying to play football.

According to Mediaite, independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. is going with California-based attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan (no relation to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan) as his running mate for vice president.

From Mediaite: “Aaron Rodgers, the outspoken NFL quarterback who Kennedy had been considering as his VP pick, is out of the running, a source close to the campaign said. The prospect of his selection prompted concerns among donors to the campaign.”

The website www.kennedyshanahan.com was registered on March 13.

Rodgers and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura were reported by the New York Times as being on the shortlist to be Kennedy’s running mate this electio, but Kennedy will go with the person who was behind Kennedy’s Super Bowl commercial in Shanahan.

While a campaign during football season would have interesting, to say the least, deep down the Jets have to feel relieved about not having any extra distractions in what is one of their most important seasons in years.

Former Cowboys star LT Tyron Smith signs with the Jets

A top offensive tackle option is off the board for Washington.

After 13 seasons in Dallas, left tackle Tyron Smith is leaving the Cowboys. On Friday, Smith agreed to a one-year deal with the New York Jets to protect potential future vice presidential candidate Aaron Rodgers.

The Washington Commanders desperately need help at offensive tackle, perhaps needing two starters for 2024. One of those starters is expected to come via the 2024 NFL draft. However, many believed Smith would be an ideal candidate to play left tackle for Washington in 2024, specifically with his ties to new Commanders coach Dan Quinn.

It’s unknown if Washington was even in on Smith. The offensive tackle depth in free agency was already thin, and with the eight-time Pro Bowler now off the market, the Commanders may run it back with Andrew Wylie at right tackle and start a rookie at left tackle.

Smith, 33, hasn’t played a full season since 2015. While he’s an elite player, there are health concerns, having missed a combined 34 games over the past four seasons.

One year ago today, Aaron Rodgers declared intention to play for Jets

One year ago today, Aaron Rodgers declared his intention to play for Jets

March 15, 2023. The day it effectively all began. The day Aaron Rodgers joined his pal Pat McAfee to share his intention to play for the New York Jets for the 2023 season.

“…I’ve made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention is to play for the New York Jets,” Rodgers said one year ago today. Rodgers had recently returned from his darkness retreat, a time in which he said he was “90 percent retired” before beginning the retreat.

About a month later, on April 24, the Jets and Packers finally came to terms on an agreement that would send the four-time NFL MVP to New York. The teams swapped picks in the first round — the Packers selected Iowa edge Lukas Van Ness at No. 13, the Jets selected Iowa State edge Will McDonald at No. 15 — and the Packers also received picks 42 and 207 in 2023 while the Jets received No. 170.

The Jets also sent a conditional second-round pick in 2024 to the Packers. Since Rodgers did not play 65 percent of the offensive snaps, the pick remains a second-round pick instead of a first-round pick. That ended up being pick No. 41.

Needless to say, it has been a roller coaster since Rodgers arrived in New York. Thighs started out fine as Rodgers was participating in offseason workouts, something he hadn’t done in years in Green Bay. But then Week 1 happened.

Four plays into the regular season, Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles against the Buffalo Bills. The Jets never recovered from losing Rodgers and finished with another 7-10 season. All the while, Rodgers would continue to appear on McAfee’s show and acted as a de facto coach, being on the headsets during games.

While Rodgers tried to make a comeback late in the season, the Jets were eliminated from playoff contention after their Week 15 loss to the Miami Dolphins, ending any chance of Rodgers playing again in 2023.

He’ll play again in 2024, but this offseason has been anything but quiet. The most recent controversy surrounding Rodgers is his reported false conspiracy theories surrounding the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. On top of that, Rodgers may be balancing both playing quarterback and campaigning as Robert Kennedy Jr’s running mate this election season.

Needless to say, it’s been an eventful year since Aaron Rodgers wanted to come to New York.

CNN: Aaron Rodgers has shared false Sandy Hook conspiracy theories

A CNN report says Aaron Rodgers shared false conspiracy stories about the Sandy Hook mass shooting

Aaron Rodgers’ name has popped up as a possible vice-presidential candidate for Robert Kennedy Jr. this week.

On Wednesday, CNN reported the New York Jets quarterback shared false Sandy Hook conspiracy theories with at least two people in the past.

Sandy Hook was the tragic shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012 that saw 20 children and 6 adults shot to death.

Per CNN.com:

(Pamela) Brown was covering the Kentucky Derby for CNN in 2013 when she was introduced to Rodgers, then with the Green Bay Packers, at a post-Derby party. Hearing that she was a journalist with CNN, Rodgers immediately began attacking the news media for covering up important stories. Rodgers brought up the tragic killing of 20 children and 6 adults by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School, claiming it was actually a government inside job and the media was intentionally ignoring it.

..,  Brown recalls Rodgers asking her if she thought it was off that there were men in black in the woods by the school, falsely claiming those men were government operatives. Brown found the encounter disturbing.

Rodgers was one of two people mentioned as possible candidates for VP on Kennedy’s ticket, the other being Jesse Ventura, former wrestler and one-time Governor of Minnesota.

On Wednesday, Kennedy’s team revealed he would announce his VP candidate on March 26 in Oakland, CA.

Rodgers was born in Chico, CA, and attended high school in Northern California.

Jets agree to terms with Giants QB Tyrod Taylor

The New York Jets have agreed to terms with former New York Giants quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

The New York Jets agreed to terms with former New York Giants quarterback Tyrod Taylor late on Monday night.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero was the first to report the news.

Taylor will backup Aaron Rodgers for the Jets next season and he provides Gang Green with a serviceable No. 2 quarterback.

With Daniel Jones’ injury history as he works back from a torn ACL, Big Blue is likely to look for a more durable backup as Taylor has also been injury-prone throughout his career.

Time will tell if general manager Joe Schoen is comfortable with Tommy Devito as the backup or if the Giants elect to bring in a veteran.

Whoever ends up being the Giants’ No. 2 quarterback may start the season if Jones isn’t ready to go come Week 1.

Of course, there is also a chance that a rookie quarterback will be on the roster by the time the 2024 NFL draft is over.

The Giants, of course, signed Taylor before the 2022 season and he barely played during that season. However, with Jones dealing with injuries, Taylor proved he could still play in the league and clearly the Jets saw value in having him back up Rodgers.

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