New Jets QB Aaron Rodgers Faces Stiff Test with Liberal New  Yorkers

Training Camp Begins Today

By Jon Friedman, July 20, 2023

Aaron Rodgers, the new quarterback for the beleaguered New York Jets franchise, is a sure-fire hall of famer. But will he win over the notoriously demanding New York sports fans in his new role as Gotham Savior?

He throws one of the loveliest spirals ever, has demonstrated a knack for delivering in the clutch and sports an admirably breezy self-confidence. When the Green Bay Packers, for whom he excelled from his rookie season of 2005 to 2022, got off to a bad start a few years ago, critics were freaking out. Rodgers reacted by telling the fans, “R-E-L-A-X!” And the Packers ended up making the playoffs that season, as usual.

But Aaron Rodgers is no feel-good Mr. Rogers.

And that is the rub, as Rodgers heads to his first training camp with the Jets, after helping to engineer his move from the Packers to a franchise last won a Super Bowl game on Jan. 12, 1969 – so long ago, in fact, that the term “Super Bowl” was not yet commonly used on the day the Jets won it all.

Rodgers, an aggressive anti-vax proponent, may find that he is a stranger in a strange land. New York City is notoriously liberal in its political views, including positions on embracing Covid-19 vaccinations.

If you had thought that there was a soap opera leading up to Rodgers’ clamorous exit from Green Bay – Where would he go? Could the oft-futile Jets pull off this dramatic move? – that was nothing compared to what may develop if the Jets open the season dismally.

The soap opera will get intense when “Hard Knocks,” the annual HBO documentary that traces an NFL team in training camp focuses on the Jets. That HBO selected the Jets – for the first time, by the way – is another sign of Rodgers’ charisma.

There is a saying that quarterbacks get too much of the credit and too much of the blame for a team’s record. Then, there is the succinct homily of Bill Parcells, the Super Bowl-winning coach of the New York Giants three decades ago: “You are what your record says you are.”

W-I-N

In other words, Rodgers had better win, starting with the Jets’ opening game against the formidable Buffalo Bills. The Bills also have a lot to prove, but that’s another story for another day.

Like all sports fans, Noo Yawkers love a winner. But heaven help the controversial figures who don’t deliver a championship. The fans and media quickly turn and don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.

The most glaring recent example is basketball star Kyrie Irving. The Brooklyn Nets hastily dealt him to Dallas after fans and journalists became disgusted by his antics. He was accused of espousing conspiracy theories. When he said the Earth was flat, people snickered at the absurdity of his position. When Irving then faced a backlash involving hints of antisemitism, the stakes were raised.

On the other hand, and with no hint of personal politics, Mark Messier led the Rangers to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title in 54 years. In 1977, Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the decisive game 6 of the World Series, which the Yankees won. Keith Hernandez led the Mets to the title in 1986.

The joke is that Messier, Jackson and Hernandez will never have to pay for a drink in an eternally grateful New York for the rest of their lives.

If Rodgers manages to work his magic and pushes the Jets to the sport’s promised land next February, he will join that pantheon.

But if the Jets get off to a sluggish start and fall well short of a title, Mr. Rodgers’ neighborhood will be a frightful place.

Jon Friedman wrote MarketWatch’s media column from 1999 to 2013 and has taught classes in journalism and other subjects at Stony Brook University. He has written three books and has been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Sunday Business Section, The New York Post, Esquire and Time. 

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