During the offseason, the Jets signed Nathaniel Hackett (Offensive Coordinator), Billy Turner (OL), Allen Lazard (WR) and Randall Cobb (WR). Their common point? All are former Packers players. It did not take more for the hypothesis of a signing of Aaron Rodgers to emerge conditioned on the contribution of familiar faces. This Friday at a press conference, relayed by PFT, Robert Saleh wanted to make things clear.
“I’ll try to be as respectful as possible with this so-called wish list. It’s a myth. And I’m telling you this because there are 32 teams in the NFL, and it’s common when there are coaching changes that they surround themselves with familiar faces. »
As proof, Saleh cites his own recruits when he arrived in the Big Apple, known to the San Francisco side when he was defensive coordinator.
“I had a wish list: Solomon Thomas (DE), Marcell Harris (LB), DJ Reed (CB), Kwon Alexander (LB). These are guys I had worked with, who knew our way of working, the game plan we wanted to put in place, and who could come and play immediately. In attack we had also recovered Laken Tomlinson (OG) or Tevin Coleman (RB) and other guys who knew the system (note: the offensive coordinator of the Jets at the time, Mike LaFleur, also came from San Francisco). »
A practice far from being unique to the situation of Rodgers, therefore, for the coach of the Jets.
“Shit, even Brady when he goes to Tampa, they give him Antonio Brown and the Gronk. It’s very common for new faces to want to rub shoulders with faces they know. And everything is unfairly attributed to the quarterback, when it’s not just him. »
For Robert Saleh, it is above all the coaches, and in the first place the offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who are responsible for these arrivals.
“Hackett had his say. He loves Lazard, he loves Randall, he took Billy Turner with him when he went to Denver and he wanted him here in New York. So this whole thing with a few people trying to attribute these signings to the quarterback, I think is tiring. »
The presence of former Packers alongside Rodgers is therefore perhaps purely coincidental. By recruiting the coordinator with whom A-Rod was MVP, Robert Saleh still may hope to find a Jets attack as dashing as that of the Wisconsin team could be.
