New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers may have told the world that he had nothing to do with the firing of team head coach Robert Saleh, but Stephen A. Smith isn’t having any of it.
On Tuesday, Saleh was suddenly and unceremoniously sacked by Jets owner Woody Johnson.
The following day, Rodgers went on The Pat McAfee Show to deny that he was the reason for Saleh’s firing – calling him a ‘damn good coach’.
On the ‘ridiculous’ allegations that he instigated the firing, Rodgers fumed: ‘I resent any of those accusations, and they’re patently false.
‘It’s interesting the amount of power people think I have, which I don’t.’
Aaron Rodgers has claimed he was completely unaware of the Jets’ plans to fire Robert Saleh
ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith called that assertion from Rodgers ‘nonsense’
But Smith is not convinced that Rodgers’ hands were completely clean – and he called out the quarterback on Thursday’s episode of ESPN’s ‘First Take’.
‘If you’re Aaron Rodgers, you didn’t go into the office and say, ‘I want him fired.’ You didn’t go into the office and say, ‘I want him out.’ That may be true,’ Smith said.
‘But don’t act like you are completely oblivious to what was going on, what the tenor of the situation was like, how things were eroding before our very eyes and that the owner wouldn’t take notice of all of these things.’
Rodgers said he had a discussion with Johnson the night before Saleh was fired – but denied that the coach’s job came up in their conversation.
Smith appeared to reference that conversation when he added: ‘Somehow, someway, when y’all got on the phone with one another, y’all were talking about the chocolate chip cookies and the milk you were drinking. Just stop that nonsense.
‘It’s amazing how it’s so difficult for folks to just simply tell the truth. It’s not like we’re completely oblivious and not cognizant of what the hell is going on.
Saleh was fired from his job after going 20-36 as head coach of the New York Jets
‘And when Aaron Rodgers tried to give that impression, that’s when I think the believability factor went out the window.’
Rodgers has a reputation for quarrelling with coaches – notably former Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who now is in charge in Dallas.
Back in 2021, meanwhile, Rodgers told reporters that he was ‘immunized’ against Covid-19, only for it to later emerge that he had never received the vaccine.
Saleh was fired Tuesday morning, midway through his fourth season with the Jets. New York are 2-3 after consecutive losses, but could take over first place in the division with a win Monday night over the Buffalo Bills.
