Immediately upon being hired as the New York Jets' head coach coach, former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn made it clear he intended to deal with the biggest elephant in the room as soon as possible.
Jay Glazer of FOX Sports passed along what Glenn told him about that on the day of the NFC Championship Game.
"I plan to go meet with Aaron Rodgers & will definitely come up with a decision much sooner than later. I don’t wanna drag this out", Glenn told Glazer.
It's no surprise Glenn did not want to drag things out with Rodgers. The Jets' new regime needed clarity, and beyond that Rodgers would know where things stood as he considered his own future. If his history in Detroit was any indication, Glenn was not going to sugarcoat anything. It was also basically a lock the Jets were going to let the four-time MVP go.
Aaron Glenn handled Aaron Rodgers just as everyone expected
Rodgers emerged from the rock he's been under to join "The Pat McAfee Show" on Thursday. He was asked about his exit meeting with the Jets.
"The confusing thing and the strange thing was, ‘When I went out there — I meet with the coach, we start talking, he runs out of the room.’ I’m like, ‘That’s kinda strange.’ Then he comes back with the GM", Rodgers said.
“So we sit down in the office, and I think we’re going to have this long conversation. I’ve flown across the country, and 20 seconds in, he goes—literally, I’m talking to the GM about something and he (Glenn) leans to the edge of his seat and goes, ‘So do you want to play football?’” Rodgers said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’ And he said, ‘We’re going in a different direction at quarterback.’ And I was kinda shocked. I’m not shocked because I didn’t think that was a possibility. Listen, of course, if they want to move on, that’s totally fine. But shocked because I just flew across the country. You could’ve told me this on the phone.”
The part of Rodgers' appearance with McAfee regarding the Jets starts at about the 10:45 mark of the video below, with some NSFW language.
Rodgers isn't necessarily wrong to think Glenn and Jets' general manager Darren Mougey could have told him they were moving on over the phone, as he lamented having flown cross-country "on his own dime" as if he's in poverty. But if they had done it over the phone, he would have instead complained they didn't do it face-to-face. It was a no-win situation from the Jets' end.
Rodgers later said he thought Glenn would solicit his input about the Jets, separate from the decision to move on from him, as he said there wasn't an "ample amount of respect" in the meeting and Glenn seemingly (to him) went a bit "rogue."
"Why would you not pick my brain?” Rodgers said. “I’m there to talk to you about the team, about things that I think can get better and things that are good and players that have leadership possibilities and anything. I’ve been in the league 20 years. Any type of conversation. There was none.”
Rodgers expected to have a lengthy meeting with Glenn and Mougey, beyond any plan the Jets clearly had to go another direction at quarterback this offseason. He couldn't have been more wrong.
A lot of players respect Glenn's no-nonsense approach, and the list of former pupils he had in Detroit who would say they do is long. Rodgers expected he'd be handled differently because of who he is and what he thinks he can offer, but Glenn had exactly zero regard for that.
Anyone who has followed or been associated with the Lions in recent years, as a member of the organization right down to fans, media members, etc., knew how Glenn would probably handle Rodgers.
"A.G." did not disappoint.
