‘Rapport’ between Hackett and Rodgers Affords Jets Patience in Trade Talks
He had to have known they were coming.
New York Jets’ head coach Robert Saleh spoke to reporters on the first day of the National Football League Owners’ Meetings and the quarterback questions were unsurprisingly abundant.
Remaining tight-lipped, Saleh wouldn’t risk committing a “tampering” violation when asked about Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers by name.
"I got nothing on that one. He's still with another team, so I'm just not gonna talk about it," said Saleh.
Saleh’s response did not deter more Rodgers-related questions.
In terms of the reported ongoing trade negotiations between the Jets and the Packers for the rights to Rodgers, Saleh, expectedly, didn’t offer much information.
“It takes two to tango, so it’s just a process,” said the Jets’ third-year head coach. “We respect the process and whenever it gets done, it’ll get done.”
Saleh, who was the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator prior to landing with Gang Green in 2021, did not express worry over the perceived need to install a new starting quarterback as soon as possible.
Indirectly hinting at the existing relationship between Rodgers and Jets’ new offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, Saleh said the need for urgency is alleviated when “there’s great rapport with the coordinator."
Hackett spent three seasons (2019-21) as the offensive coordinator in Green Bay with Rodgers as the field general. En-route to the first of back-to-back NFL MVP awards (2020, 2021) with Hackett as the play caller, Rodgers set career highs in completion percentage (70.7) and touchdown passes (48) during the 2020 campaign.
In three seasons working with Hackett, Rodgers threw 111 touchdown passes to only 13 interceptions and the Packers averaged 13 regular season wins per year.
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