Aaron Rodgers defends Zach Wilson, Nathaniel Hackett amid Jets criticism

Star quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles early in the first game of the 2023 season. Since then, former first round pick Zach Wilson and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett have struggled to get the offense to play at a good enough level to compete.

As the Jets fall further back in the standings behind poor offensive play, criticism has grown for Wilson and Hackett. That’s criticism that Rodgers has seen and took the time to punch back against during his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.

“Yeah, yeah, I see it,” Rodgers said. “I won MVP twice in the same offense, so I’m a believer. I’m a believer in the offense.”

Aaron Rodgers, of course, played for Nathaniel Hackett in Green Bay. There, as quarterback and offensive coordinator the pair found tons of success, including that pair of MVPs.

A longtime Doug Marrone assistant prior to coaching Rodgers in Green Bay, Hackett coached Blake Bortles in Jacksonville and EJ Manuel in Buffalo. He parlayed his time in Green Bay with the Denver Broncos head job, which he was fired from before the end of his first season.

“There are a lot of positions, you have to play better. But, yeah, it’s easy right now to throw it at the usual suspects, Zach and Nathaniel, but there’s a lot of positions that need to play better.”

To this point in the season, the New York Jets are 30th in average points scored per game, with 16.0 points per game this season. Only the Giants and Patriots are worse.

Rodgers does know that there are issues with the Jets offense. However, he also sees that it comes down to players failing to make plays. Once the team starts doing that, the offense should open up.

“There’s a lot of geniuses out there with ideas about how to fix the whole thing, but in actuality, it’s very simple,” Rodgers said. “If you watch the film, you can see where the issues lie and there are plays to be made. There are opportunities that are out there and we’re just not getting it done.”

Aaron Rodgers on potential return

Aaron Rodgers made it clear, he wants to play this season. However, with the Jets struggling and potentially out of the playoff hunt, many think Rodgers shouldn’t come back.

Despite that, Rodgers still wants to return this season.

“As far as what I talked to Melissa Stark about, I never said anything definitive. She talked about having a conversation with my amazing doctor. She talked to my doctor about if it would be insane to try and come back in, you know, three months. And he responded about the fact that when you bring together a specific type of surgery with a specific patient with this specific amount of stubbornness and desire to get back on the field and obviously playing quarterback, then there’s a possibility,” Rodgers said.

“But nothing’s changed as far as my timeline. It’s we got to be in the mix, and I gotta be healthy and I definitely still want to come back.”