It was late September 2024, and the New York Jets had just face-planted at home. A 10–9 loss to the Denver Broncos. Rain-soaked, ugly, and frustrating. Most fans left MetLife Stadium thinking about the missed field goal or the stagnant offense, but behind closed doors, something much more radical was brewing. Woody Johnson reportedly wanted to bench Aaron Rodgers.
Yeah, you read that right. The hand-picked, four-time MVP savior. The guy the franchise bent over backward to acquire.
According to a bombshell report from The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Zack Rosenblatt, the Jets owner didn't just suggest a change; he pushed for it in a room full of the team's top brass. This wasn't some casual "what if" over coffee. It was a contentious, all-hands-on-deck meeting the day after the Denver debacle.
The Meeting That Almost Changed Everything
Imagine being Robert Saleh or Joe Douglas. You’ve tied your entire career trajectory to number 12. Then, the man who signs the checks walks in and says it’s time for Tyrod Taylor.
According to insiders, Johnson was convinced that Rodgers’ play was actively holding the team back. He wasn’t entirely wrong about the struggle—Rodgers was sacked five times by Denver and looked every bit of 40 years old in the rain. But benching a future Hall of Famer four games into his first full season?
It felt like a fever dream to the people in the room.
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One coach reportedly asked if the owner was even serious. They had to talk him off the ledge. The argument from the football side was simple: you can’t bench Aaron Rodgers in Week 4 without losing the locker room entirely. It would be an admission that the entire "all-in" era was a mistake before the leaves even turned brown.
Why Woody Was Fed Up
Woody Johnson isn't exactly known for his patience. He had just spent years watching his team wander the quarterback desert, and he viewed the 2024 roster as the most talented group he’d ever assembled. In his mind, this was a Super Bowl window.
- The Stats: Rodgers finished that Broncos game with 225 yards, zero touchdowns, and zero picks.
- The Eye Test: He looked immobile. The "cadence" wasn't drawing offsides; it was causing his own linemen to false start.
- The Pressure: Johnson was feeling the heat of another losing season looming, despite the massive investment.
Honestly, the meddling didn't stop at the suggestion to bench Rodgers. The report painted a picture of an owner deeply involved in the minutiae—from nixing a Bryce Huff extension to allegedly pushing for the Davante Adams trade. It's a classic case of an owner trying to play General Manager from the luxury suite.
The Fallout: Nine Days Later
If you want to know how much that meeting poisoned the well, look at the timeline. Nine days after Johnson suggested benching Rodgers, he fired Robert Saleh.
It was a move that shocked the NFL. The Jets were 2–3. They were headed to London. Usually, you don't fire a coach that early unless something is fundamentally broken in the relationship between the owner and the sidelines. While Johnson claimed Rodgers had no input in the firing, the "bench him" meeting proves the owner was already in a "burn it down" headspace.
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The irony? Benching Rodgers might have actually been the "easier" move than firing the coach, at least in terms of team continuity. Instead, Johnson kept the struggling quarterback and tossed the guy trying to manage him.
Was Woody Right?
This is the part that makes Jets fans lose sleep. Since that reported meeting, the Jets didn't exactly take flight. They continued to slide, eventually firing Joe Douglas too.
Rodgers’ numbers stayed pedestrian by his standards. His passer rating hovered in the high 80s—a career low. The mobility never fully came back. While the coaches were right that benching him would have been a PR disaster, Johnson’s instinct that the Rodgers experiment wasn't working was, in hindsight, somewhat prophetic.
The Reality of "Owner Meddling"
In the NFL, there’s a thin line between a "passionate owner" and a "meddler."
When you hear about Woody Johnson reportedly wanting to bench Aaron Rodgers, it falls squarely into the latter. Successful franchises usually have a clear hierarchy: owners provide the resources, GMs pick the players, and coaches blow the whistles. When an owner starts suggesting QB changes in Week 4, that hierarchy is dead.
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It creates a culture of fear. If the coaches know the owner is ready to pull the plug on the franchise cornerstone, they start coaching not to lose rather than coaching to win.
What This Means for 2026 and Beyond
The Jets are now in a full-scale rebuild—again. The report of Johnson’s desire to bench Rodgers was basically the starting gun for the end of this era.
- Reputation Damage: Elite GM candidates and "A-list" head coaches look at these reports. They see an owner who suggests benching Hall of Famers on a whim. That makes the Jets job a lot less attractive.
- Rodgers' Future: It’s hard to imagine a world where Rodgers returns to a team where the owner wanted him gone in September. The bridge isn't just burned; it's been vaporized.
- The Tyrod Factor: We’ll never know if Tyrod Taylor could have saved the season. He’s a professional "floor raiser," but he’s not a miracle worker.
The lesson here is basically that star power can't mask a dysfunctional structure. You can trade for all the Davante Adamses and Aaron Rodgerses in the world, but if the guy at the top is panicking after a Week 4 loss, the foundation is always going to be shaky.
If you’re a Jets fan, the path forward is clear: hope for a "football-first" hire who is given the autonomy to actually run the team. The days of the owner picking the QB—or trying to un-pick him—need to stay in 2024.
Practical Next Steps for Fans and Observers:
- Monitor the New Front Office: Look for a GM who demands total control over the 53-man roster as a condition of their contract. This is the only way to check an owner's impulse to meddle.
- Watch the 2026 Draft Capital: The Rodgers era cost the Jets significant picks. The recovery will depend on hitting on mid-round selections to fill the depth gaps created by the "all-in" push.
- Assess the "Star" Strategy: Evaluate if the team shifts away from "big name" older vets in favor of building through younger, high-upside talent—a sign that the organization has learned its lesson.