If you need further proof on who’s calling the shots for the New York Jets just look at the award they just gave quarterback Aaron Rodgers despite him playing just four downs this past season. Rodgers, who tore his Achilles and was lost for the season in the team’s season-opening win over the Buffalo Bills, has definitely kept a high profile despite not being on the field.
On Friday the team announced that the former four-time league MVP has been awarded the Dennis Byrd Award. That award recognizes the team’s “most inspirational player.” The team believes Rodgers has been inspirational because he’s stayed around the team as he rehabs from his injury. He’s also reportedly been very helpful to backup Zach Wilson and others.
Rodgers somehow even got back on the practice field this season as the team even opened his 21-day window to possibly return, which was never a reality.
Should Rodgers Have Won Award?
Being named the recipient of this award is a pretty big deal when you consider what it represents. Byrd was paralyzed making a tackle in 1992. While Byrd was never able to play football again, he was able to walk again after multiple surgeries to repair his fifth cervical vertebrae. That in itself is definitely inspiration, and Byrd embodied that.
None of us are in the Jets facilities or around the team daily, but it’s kind of awkward to hear Rodgers and the word inspirational being mentioned in the same sentence.
It seems like another sign that Rodgers is running the Jets and having plenty of say-so in what goes on behind the scenes.
Rodgers Has Been In The News For The Wrong Reasons
This week in typical Rodgers fashion, the one-time Super Bowl champion signal-caller inexplicably took a shot at late night television host Jimmy Kimmel.
During his weekly Tuesday spot on “The Pat McAfee Show” Rodgers mentioned that Kimmel was a part of child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s entourage. The comment seemingly caught McAfee and his other members of the show completely off guard.
Kimmel quickly responded with a threat to involve his lawyers if Rodgers continued. In an effort to clean things up Mike Foss, who’s ESPN’s VP of digital production, released this statement on the serious matter. Foss called it “a dumb and factually inaccurate joke.”
“It never should have happened,” Foss said in his statement. “We all realized that in the moment.”
Foss also mentioned that there’s no plan to remove Rodgers from his Tuesday spot. In fact, it sounds like he’s here to stay.
“The show will continue to evolve,” Foss told Front Office Sports. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron’s role evolves with it.”
