Jets head coach Robert Saleh refused to admit that Aaron Rodgers had a wish list. Even though he obviously had one.
The New York Jets have been hard at work assembling a new offense this offseason which includes veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers and… all of Rodgers’ friends.
Ever since Rodgers was first rumored to join the Jets, reports surfaced about Rodgers wanting his friends to join him in New York: Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Odell Beckham Jr., and Marcedes Lewis, as reported by ESPN’s Dianna Russini.
Roughly one month later, two of those wideouts are now Jets. Coincidence? We think not.
But Jets head coach Robert Saleh recently debunked the idea that Rodgers provided New York with an alleged wish list, calling the whole thing a “silly narrative.”
Saleh also noted that it was “common practice” for NFL teams to surround new members with familiar faces, and even said he himself gave the Jets a wish list when he first arrived.
So why the disdain toward these lists?
Jets’ Robert Saleh downplays idea of Aaron Rodgers’ wish list
In Saleh’s defense, he has some good points. Take a look at the Philadelphia Eagles, who have been busy building a defensive squad studded by former Georgia Bulldogs: Nakobe Dean, Jordan Davis, Kelee Ringo, Nolan Smith, and of course, Jalen Carter.
Taking prospects from the same college and taking players from the same team isn’t all that different. New York obviously wants Rodgers to feel comfortable in his first season with the team, and maintaining team chemistry is as important as the talent itself. After all, this could be Rodgers’ only season in New York. They have to get this right.
Rodgers will get to throw passes to Lazard and Cobb, teammates who he has played with for five years or more, while also building chemistry with Garrett Wilson and other young Jets receivers.
It’s an ideal situation for the Packers legend, and it’s an ideal situation for the Jets, too. The negative stigma that surrounds these “wish lists” likely stems from the idea that a team is trying too hard to please a single player, bending over backward to acquiesce to his demands.
One needs only to look at Tom Brady’s time in New England to see that top quarterbacks have always had a say in their teams’ offseason decisions, and the situation with Rodgers on the New York Jets is no different.