Aaron Rodgers criticizes Jets exit on 'Pat McAfee Show' in first comments since release

Antwan Staley, New York Daily News on Apr 17, 2025

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — Since the Jets released him last month after two seasons, Aaron Rodgers had remained silent.

But that changed on Thursday during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

In his first public comments since his Gang Green exit, Rodgers had some damning comments about the Jets organization and his meeting with new coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey in February.

“I figured when I flew across country on my own dime, it was going to be a conversation,” Rodgers said. “The confusing thing to me, and the strange thing, was when I meet with the coach, we start talking [and then] he runs out of the room. Then he comes back with the GM, and we sit down in the office, and I think we are going to have this long conversation, and 20 seconds in, literally I’m talking to the GM about something and he leans to the edge of his sheet and says ‘So, do you want to play football?’ I was like, ‘yeah, I’m interested’ and he says we are going in a different direction at quarterback.

“I was kind of shocked. Now I’m not shocked because I didn’t think that was a possibility, if they want to move on, that’s totally fine, but shocked because I just flew across country and you could have told me this on the phone.”

Rodgers then said the Jets wanted to know how he wanted to be released from the team and the messaging that would accompany it.

“I don’t give a s–t about the messaging,” Rodgers said. “Why?”

Rodgers then claimed that Glenn insinuated he would “undermine” the culture that he and Mougey were trying to build with the Jets.

“I don’t want to be up in the room saying something and guys looking back at you,” Rodgers said that Glenn expressed to him during the meeting. “And I said, ‘What does that even mean? Are you assuming I would be in the back of the room in a team meeting, undermining what you are saying?’

“I said, ‘You don’t know me’ and he said, ‘You don’t know me.’ It was a very strange meeting, for sure.”

“There was no me pleading, ‘Please have me on the team.’ I don’t want to be a part of that,” Rodgers added. “It was already a debacle in some cases. That whole situation was crazy. That was a little rogue by the head coach.”

Glenn and Mougey have both been tight-lipped about the decision to move on from Rodgers. At the NFL scouting combine in February, Mougey said, “the best thing moving forward for the Jets was to go in a different direction at quarterback." The Jets signed Justin Fields to a two-year contract two days before Rodgers was officially released.

Glenn didn’t want to talk about Rodgers and said it was “disrespect” that the media continued to ask questions about Rodgers.

“It kind of pisses me off and some of the other players that that’s what we all talk about,” Glenn said. “You have Quinnen Williams, you have Quincy Williams, you have AVT [Alijah Vera-Tucker], you have Joe Tippmann, all those guys need to be respected as far as winning games also.”

The Jets officially released Rodgers on March 12, but news about the team moving on came out ahead of Super Bowl LIX. When they traded for Rodgers two years ago, the Jets had expectations of winning a second Super Bowl.

However, Rodgers tore his Achilles during the 2023 season opener and the Jets finished 7-10. Rodgers returned and played all 17 games during the 2024 season, but the Jets finished 5-12. Coach Robert Saleh (October) and general manager Joe Douglas (November) were both fired.

Rodgers, 41, passed for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, but his play was inconsistent throughout the year. He finished 25th in QBR (48) and 30th in completion percentage (63%).

Rodgers, a four-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl XLV champion, is still contemplating his football future and is still deciding whether he wants to return for a 21st season. He has discussed joining the Steelers.

Despite his experience with the Jets, Rodgers is happy about the relationships he formed during his two seasons.

“Christopher Johnson called me and he is a fantastic guy,” Rodgers said. “Everybody that has met Christopher Johnson has said the same thing. He’s a phenomenal dude, he’s about the right stuff.

“There’s a lot of great dudes there, great players there, great humans. But there’s obviously some things that need to get fixed over there.”