Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers insists that he didn’t get former Jets coach Robert Saleh fired. But this isn’t about what he did. It’s what he didn’t do.
Rodgers didn’t keep Saleh from getting fired. Rodgers, by all appearances, didn’t even try. He didn’t seem to be particularly upset by the situation when discussing the situation with Pat McAfee and A.J. Hawk on Wednesday.
Rodgers accurately emphasized the human aspect, in the aftermath of the firing. But there was nothing Rodgers said during the interview that indicated disagreement with the decision — or with the apparent fact that Rodgers had no input on it.
“I don’t think anybody inside this building player-wise or anything thought that [Rodgers] had anything to do with that,” tight end Tyler Conklin said Wednesday, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “I honestly, truly believe that. I mean, Aaron probably took this harder than almost anybody.”
Being upset about the emotional aspect of the development is different from being upset about the football side of things, however.
So the narrative that’s been offered is that Rodgers wasn’t involved in the decision because he didn’t know the decision was coming. Given his past (and well documented, by his own words) frustrations with the Packers’ failure to seek or accept his input, wouldn’t Rodgers expect at a minimum a head’s up?
The circumstantial evidence supports a reasonable conclusion that Rodgers mobilized once he learned that offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was about to be demoted. Even if that didn’t happen, it seems plausible given the relationship between Rodgers and Hackett. Rodgers presumably would be very unhappy if Hackett was neutered and/or terminated. Rodgers presumably would try to keep it from happening. At a minimum, Rodgers would like to know it’s coming, if only to have a chance to give his input on whether it should.
If Rodgers truly didn’t know the Saleh firing was coming, the failure to give Rodgers notice and/or to seek his input doesn’t seem to bother him, at all. Of all the things we collectively know about Rodgers, the failure to give him notice and/or to seek his input would seem to bother him.
The fact that he’s seemingly not bothered means one of two things. One, he actually did have input and his input was reflected in the decision. Two, the decision that was made without his notice and input coincidentally meshes with what his input would have been.