A report from this past spring mentioned that New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson and quarterback Aaron Rodgers “never saw eye-to-eye” as the club limped to a 5-12 record last season.
It appears that the relationship became more strained after the Jets acquired receiver Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders in October 2024.
“Adams was their most targeted player over his 11 games with the team — 25 more than Garrett Wilson over that span,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini wrote about the Jets for a piece published Wednesday. “Occasionally, Rodgers and Adams were heard talking between plays, with Rodgers soliciting input from Adams on what routes he wanted to run.”
According to Cimini, the Rodgers-Adams bond “frustrated people” within the Jets.
Adams delivered a fiery locker-room speech shortly after the Jets suffered what he referred to as an “unacceptable” 37-15 loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers in his Gang Green debut. He later suggested he “could have had a bigger impact and maybe changed some things — just the morale of the team, getting guys used to winning and that different type of culture, just kind of shifting that a little bit earlier” had he joined the Jets before September 2024.
Adams and Rodgers were first teammates with the Green Bay Packers from 2014-21, but adding Adams couldn’t save what proved to be a lost campaign for the Jets. Rodgers dealt with multiple physical setbacks last season before he went 2-2 over his final four starts for the Jets. He recorded eight touchdown passes and three interceptions over those contests.
Before Rodgers signed a team-friendly contract to join the Steelers in June, he ripped first-year Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and new Jets general manager Darren Mougey for making him travel across the country “on his own dime” to be told during a Feb. 6 meeting that he was out of a job. Glenn’s handling of that situation seemingly sent a positive message in the eyes of at least some of his current players.
“I respected it,” one player told ESPN about how the Jets parted ways with Rodgers in February. “It was like cutting off the head of the snake right away and setting the tone, saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to do it my way.'”
It remains to be seen if Rodgers will truly have revenge on his mind when he and the Steelers open the 2025 season with a matchup at none other than the Jets this coming Sunday afternoon.
