FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Nathaniel Hackett walked into the Jets’ team auditorium and sat in one of the first seats he could find, in the front row, and had a moment to himself. He looked up at the stage in front of him, lined with shrubbery, a lectern and a table with three microphones. Above, there was a projector, playing highlights from Aaron Rodgers’ career, some of his best throws from a long tenure with the Packers.
Hackett shook his head, and laughed. Moments later, Rodgers walked into the room, flanked by coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas, as “Something Just Like This” by Coldplay and the Chainsmokers played over the speakers.
The chorus: I want something just like this.
The Jets had dreams of Rodgers doing for them what he did for the Packers. They wanted to matter, for the first time in forever. That’s what Rodgers wants, too. When he walked through the main lobby of the Jets facility for the first time Wednesday, two days after the Packers agreed to trade him, he noticed a shiny object sitting alone in a trophy case, from Super Bowl III. That was the last time the Jets won it all, in 1969. They’ve spent most of the last 54 years struggling to meet that standard, to reach relevance.
Wednesday was the first step back in that direction. The Jets dreamed big — and their dreams came true.
“That Super Bowl III trophy is looking a little lonely,” Rodgers, sporting a Jets polo, said with a smile.
When his news conference ended, Rodgers held up a Jets jersey, No. 8, his name on the back.
Yes, this is real.
It’s really happening. pic.twitter.com/2039yvIg9N
— New York Jets (@nyjets) April 26, 2023
“I love daydreaming, and night dreaming, too,” Rodgers said to a scrum of reporters after his news conference. “It’s fun to take your mind to that spot. That’s why I’m here. I’m not here to be a stopgap and have a mediocre season. I want the whole thing. There’s a few iconic franchises in the league, a lot of great franchises, but just a few iconic ones. And this is one of them. It’s because of the players, (like) Joe Willie Namath. … It’s time for this team to be back where it needs to be and that’s competing for championships.”
Rodgers is a spiritual person. He believes in following the wind where it blows. He lets the universe tell him what to do, where to go, how to be. He went on a four-day darkness retreat earlier this year, shut off from the world, 90 percent certain he’d come out wanting to retire after 18 years with the Packers. When he did, and felt Green Bay didn’t want him anymore, his mind wandered. What would it be like to wear another uniform? The Jets had hired Hackett, his close friend and a former Packers coach, as offensive coordinator, which appealed to him. Then Saleh, Hackett, Douglas and owner Woody Johnson flew to California to meet with Rodgers. They spoke for five hours, and then Rodgers found clarity.
This is what he wanted — the New York Jets. Imagine that.
“Everything fell in place and it was the Jets, and only the Jets, for me,” Rodgers said. “At that point, I felt like this was where I was supposed to be. I really try to listen to the signs and synchronicities that the universe puts in our face every day and this was the direction everything was pointing. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but this is exciting that this is actually a reality now.”
what a day pic.twitter.com/NLNo8Fm0Ql
— New York Jets (@nyjets) April 26, 2023
In between, there was a negotiation, one that dragged out longer than either side — Packers or Jets — anticipated, a trade not getting completed until more than a month after Rodgers publicly declared his intention to play for the Jets. Nobody on either side — Rodgers or the Jets — ever wavered on the plan to get him. It was never not going to happen.
“It was obvious … where we were going and what we had to do, and we accomplished that,” Johnson said.
Saleh said he never feared it would fall apart, even as rumors about the 49ers getting involved started to swirl. When Rodgers walked through the Jets’ doors for the first time, Saleh dapped him up, smiling like he’d just won the lottery.
“Seeing him walk through the building, for me, it was like: Damn, he’s here,” Saleh said, and later pointed out how far the Jets have come since he was hired in January 2021.
“If anyone would have asked if Aaron Rodgers could be your quarterback two years ago, I would’ve laughed in their face,” Saleh said. “We’ve come a long way. Now what we do with that is on us.”
Rodgers quickly made himself comfortable, popping into a meeting and “walking around barefoot,” Saleh said. Rodgers intends to stick around and participate in voluntary offseason workouts in the coming days and weeks, the surest sign that he’s committed to his new team.
Maybe not just for this year, either, like many have speculated. The door is ajar for more.
“I think so, I really do,” Rodgers said. “They definitely gave up some picks for me to be here, so this isn’t a one-and-done in my mind. This is a commitment. But it just starts with this season. I want to be present and not talk about future things.”
Rodgers confirmed he’ll be restructuring his contract to make it more team-friendly, too, which should impact the cap both in 2023 and 2024 — another sign that he might stick around.
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The offense is being built in his image — a true collaboration between Rodgers and Hackett. Rodgers called Hackett “one of my favorite offensive minds I’ve ever been around.” And Hackett said, “We’re already close and we talk football all the time … there’s so much about the game we love, and we see it through the same lens.”
Rodgers will have his fingerprints all over the Jets’ new offense, what they do and how they operate. He passionately defended Zach Wilson and plans to take him under his wing. He’ll make sure the wide receivers and tight ends and running backs know what they’re doing. Rodgers, he insists, is not just here to cash a paycheck and retire.
“He’s a player and he’s also really a coach,” Johnson said. “He knows exactly what he wants.”
Rodgers is all-in.
“I want to put my stamp on the offense, the locker room and let guys know what the expectations are going to be,” Rodgers said. “It’s time for all of us to set the proper expectations about this team. Like I said last year after we played (the Jets): They’re not the ‘same old Jets.’
“This is a team that has a legitimate opportunity to do something special this year. So let’s manifest our words with the desire of our heart and potential that we see in each other. I’m going to start doing that this week. I believe we’ve got something special here and now we just all have to believe it. That’s the first step in achieving your goals — you have to first deeply believe in what you’re doing and believe in the possibility.”
The possibilities. That’s what has Rodgers most excited about this opportunity, his first in the NFL outside of Wisconsin. He grew up in a small town in Northern California and lived in Green Bay for 18 years, wondering what life would look like living in a big city. He recalled moving to Berkeley, Calif., for college in 2003, living in a dirty fraternity house. Even then, he had a feeling of “a new chapter, of a new adventure,” he said. “There was this like deep sigh that you take when all is right in the world, the adventure and journey is so unknown and mysterious. That’s the beauty in life, because you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”
After he arrived at his hotel in New Jersey on Tuesday night, he unpacked his clothes, laid down and tried to sleep, distracted “thinking about how special this new opportunity is, just to enjoy it.”
If Rodgers could bottle what he was feeling, he would. Before he walked out of the news conference room, he paraphrased a line from “The Office,” his favorite show.
I wish they told you that you were in the good old days before you actually left them.
“There’s a lot of wisdom to that and to enjoy how special this moment is today,” Rodgers said, “and how this journey is going to be.”
The Jets feel it, too.
(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)
