There's Absolutely No Way Aaron Rodgers Didn't Play a Role in Saleh Firing from NYJ

It has been quite the last day or so for the New York Jets.

Just hours after the shocking news broke that head coach Robert Saleh was being fired, wild reports started emerging from all across the league media sphere. But the most eye-opening of all was from Jonathan Jones of CBS, who reported that Saleh was considering firing offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett the exact same day that he himself was let go.

Things took an even more interesting turn when both owner Woody Johnson and quarterback Aaron Rodgers confirmed that they had a conversation on Monday night before the Tuesday morning firing. Both parties, however, denied that the conversation had anything to do with the decision to fire Saleh. During his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, Rodgers said the call with Johnson was simply his owner checking up on him after Rodgers suffered an injury in Sunday's loss in London.

While that's not a crazy prospect, how can Johnson and Rodgers expect everyone to believe that Rodgers had nothing to do with the decision and was completely blindsided like everyone else? For one, it's Hackett's and Rodgers' offense that has been struggling. Saleh of course is more of a defensive minded coach from his background with San Francisco, and the defense has still been playing at an elite level through the team's 2-3 start.

While the team would probably never admit it, the only reason Hackett was brought in off what was one of the worst head coaching tenures in the history of the league in Denver was because of his close relationship with Rodgers while the team was courting him. Hackett was the offensive coordinator for Green Bay for three seasons from 2019-2021, two of which ended in an MVP award for the quarterback.

Rodgers knew that the dismissal of Hackett was imminent after back-to-back losses in which the offense struggled mightily. How could he not have? The writing was on the wall. Rather than let Hackett get fired and have to work with a new offensive coordinator, Rodgers stepped in and told Johnson that before Saleh makes a move on Hackett, he must make a move on Saleh.

Johnson would have obliged in this scenario for a couple of reasons. For one, he was not the one who hired Saleh, therefore he has no attachment to the now former coach. Johnson's brother Christopher was running the team at time time of Saleh's hiring while Woody was serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration.

But more important than Johnson's lack of connection to Saleh is the fact that the team has hitched its wagon to Rodgers in a fashion that has become almost embarrassing at this point. Rodgers got the offensive coordinator he wanted, Rodgers got the washed up veterans he wanted from Green Bay in Randall Cobb and Allen Lazard, Rodgers has had this team tailor-made to his desires.

And now, Rodgers got the coaching change he wanted. What other choice did the team have? They have given into Rodgers too far already, and now they have no other choice but to let him essentially play general manager and owner. When Rodgers' latest maneuver doesn't work out, who will be left in his wake this time?

Or maybe the organization which has been so unserious for so long will finally decide that the Aaron Rodgers era has been nothing but trouble.

Time will tell.