Aaron Rodgers is clearly still in the Honeymoon phase of joining the Jets, but his latest take will infuriate Packers fans and annoy everyone else.
Not that any comments from Aaron Rodgers have been easy to digest over the past two years, but the shiny new quarterback for the New York Jets has been piling on the niceties in the Big Apple since the trade became official last week prior to the NFL Draft. And it’s hard not to feel like he’s giving immense newlywed vibes with his new team.
His latest instance of this, however, might be the one that will annoy fans the most — particularly those formerly faithful to the quarterback in Green Bay.
During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Rodgers was singing the praises of his new weapons. Second-year wideout Garrett Wilson, who the Jets used a first-round pick on a year ago, came up and the new Jets quarterback comapred him to a former Packers teammate: Davante Adams.
“The explosiveness in and out of breaks is pretty similar,” Rodgers said in comparing the year two receiver to the now-Raiders pass-catcher.
Aaron Rodgers compares Jets WR Garrett Wilson to Davante Adams
Let’s be very clear. Garrett Wilson is extremely talented and is going to have a great NFL career, especially with Rodgers now coming into the building and elevating the Jets quarterback play substantially. Having said that, anyone making this type of comparison — Rodgers or otherwise — needs to pump the damn brakes.
Adams is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL in the past decade. Despite not being a physical freak, his route-running and breaks set him apart as a nightmare for defenders in coverage. Yes, he took a step back in Las Vegas after last offseason’s trade, but so much of that can be attributed to quarterback play and the general dysfunction of the offense, not on the wide receiver.
Comparing Wilson to him at this point — especially considering that Aaron Rodgers has been working with him for a number of days that you only need one hand to count — is just disingenuous. Maybe Wilson gets to the point of one of the most nuanced receivers in the NFL this century, but there is virtually no chance he’s at that level just yet.
Again, everything Wilson showed as a rookie is deserving of praise and he could very likely be a star in his own right now that a Zach Wilson isn’t making the term quarterback have to be loosely used. But Rodgers, particularly in the context of all of the other things he’s said leading up to and since the trade to the Jets, is just coming off as overly saccharine. And it’s hard not to be a little irked by that, especially before any of this new-look team has fully taken shape or taken the field.
