Cameras Capture Aaron Rodgers’ Dismissive Behavior Toward Jets Offensive Coordinator

Aaron Rodgers’ first full game as the starting quarterback of the New York Jets is one he’d like to forget.

The same could be said for Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who was also Rodgers’ OC from 2019 to 2021 when they two were with the Green Bay Packers.

New York’s offense struggled to get anything going outside of a 12-play, 70-yard touchdown drive midway through the first quarter of Monday’s 32-19 season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and the Jets finished with just 266 yards of total offense and 21 minutes and 20 seconds of possession time.

But perhaps the worst part of the Jets’ underwhelming performance was what cameras picked up on the sidelines. Near the end of the first quarter, Hackett can be seen trying to explain something to Rodgers, who’s turned facing the opposite direction tuning out whatever Hackett was saying.

The two already have a tumultuous relationship. There were several instances during training camp last season that Rodgers would disagree with Hackett’s play call and change it at the line of scrimmage.

Hackett is already believed to be on thin ice given how bad the 2023 season was for the Jets offensively (the team ranked 31st in total yards, 30th in passing, 23rd in rushing and 29th in scoring.)

It was reported in May that New York tried to hire someone to work above Hackett and essentially run the offense for him, then in July reports leaked that the Jets tried to “woo” former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to replace Hackett as NY’s play-caller before he ultimately accepted the OC position with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If Rodgers is, indeed, already tuning Hackett out, look for passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Todd Downing to potentially take over play-calling duties.

Downing has experience calling plays having spent two seasons as the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022, and he also called plays for the Jets offense during two-minute drills at minicamp this summer.