New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has suggested fans shouldn’t expect Aaron Rodgers to perform like a Most Valuable Player during his first few games with his new club.
“Potential is one of those fancy words that we haven’t done anything yet,” Hackett explained, per Antwan Staley of the New York Daily News. “Right now, we have some very good pieces, some very good people and players on the field. There has to be cohesion, there has to be a mesh.”
Hackett previously served as Rodgers’ offensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers from 2019 through the 2021 season and accepted the Jets gig this past winter before the club secured the services of the future Hall of Famer. While Rodgers earned MVP honors for the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, Staley mentioned that Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur was the team’s primary offensive play-caller over that time. Hackett is expected to handle those duties with the Jets.
Rodgers seems to be enjoying offseason life in the Big Apple and has already begun working with young stars such as 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson and 2022 Defensive Rookie of the Year Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner. Hackett reminded everyone Rodgers will need adequate time to build chemistry with new teammates in a different environment.
“Aaron runs things on the field very uniquely, so there are a lot of things the guys are going to have to learn and get used to,” Hackett remarked. “Where that goes, I’m not sure. But I know there’s going to be some growing pains, there’s going to be some bumps. It is just about us getting on the field, everybody getting comfortable with each other and we will see where it goes.”
If nothing else, Wilson and his fellow New York targets seemingly will have to learn numerous hand signals used by Rodgers during games, gestures which allegedly confused some younger Green Bay players as recently as this past fall.
Then again, Tom Brady only needed a few months during his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before everyone involved figured things out en route to winning the Super Bowl.
