Jets Fans Wondering If Aaron Glenn's Praise Was Jab at Aaron Rodgers

The New York Jets hit the reset button after the 2024 season, filling the vacancies left by head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas with Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey, respectively.

Their first order of business was figuring out who would be under center in 2025. Aaron Rodgers missed virtually all of his first season in New York and wasn’t much better in 2024, giving the Jets ample on-field reasons to move on.

They took it, meeting with Rodgers in person to tell him that he would soon be a free agent. Rodgers didn’t appreciate his send-off but understood their process nonetheless.

New York replaced him with Justin Fields, who looked the part for six games with the Pittsburgh Steelers before Russell Wilson reclaimed the starting job and kept it through the Wild Card Round, where the Baltimore Ravens ended their season.

Glenn didn’t offer much to reporters when he was asked about Rodgers’ distaste for their exit interview. He did, however, praise Fields at practice on Wednesday, and his compliments have been taken by some as shots at the unnamed quarterback.

Glenn’s comments about Fields have Jets fans eyeing Rodgers, wondering if they have to be on high alert for a response.

“Yes, he has a quiet voice, but that quiet voice doesn’t mean that people don’t hear him. People see the way that he works, that speaks more than what you say. I like that about him because he is himself. He is authentic, and he isn’t going to change for nobody. I’d rather have that than somebody who is fake,” Glenn said.

“I take to [Fields] because he is authentic and he is himself. There is one thing that players can pick out, and that is someone who is fake. There is nothing about him that is fake. So I love everything about the player [and] I love everything about the way he carries himself.”

Rodgers’ performance was an important part of New York’s decision to pivot away from the passer. His presence, though, was paramount. The Jets are trying to change the culture in East Rutherford. Rodgers is the culture. It was clear that the two could not coexist, even if it meant a risky proposition at the sport’s most important position.

Fields is also at a different point in his career. Rodgers will be fighting off Father Time, having accomplished so much in two decades of quarterbacking. But Fields is running out of time, too. If he fails in New York, his time as a starting quarterback will almost certainly be over. He’s fighting for his chance to accomplish something in the NFL, and that desperation has lent itself to focus, according to Glenn.

“I’m going to use a [Bill] Parcells deal now, he [Fields] is not trying to be the celebrity quarterback,” Glenn said. “He is just trying to be himself, and whatever comes with that, it comes with it. He is not trying to impress anybody. He is going out there and busting his [expletive] trying to be the best quarterback he can be for this team, and everybody sees that and I like that.”

Rodgers, through two months of free agency, remains unsigned. Between Pat McAfee and Joe Rogan, he very much is a celebrity quarterback.

Glenn didn’t directly call out Rodgers. But by saying what he could about Fields, he said what he couldn’t about Rodgers. That’s as big of a reason for the current quarterback situation as any.

Jets Fans Wondering If Aaron Glenn’s Praise Was Jab at Aaron Rodgers first appeared on Athlon Sports on May 23, 2025

Jets Fans Wondering If Aaron Glenn’s Praise Was Jab at Aaron Rodgers

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