The Season with Peter Schreeger is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, everybody, Welcome to the Season with Peter Schreger. We are officially in the NFL off season as we record this podcast. I am outside in a rental house on a porch recording this podcast, which is beautiful considering the modern technologies that we have. Aaron, you seem to be remote as well. My producer, Aaron Wang Kaufman erin, where are you? Are you in Brooklyn?
Yeah?
I actually just got back to Brooklyn late this weekend. Where were you pal was in Mexico for a wedding.
Okay, nice.
We've got an amazing show up ahead and we are excited to get started with it real quick.
Though.
When I say that, everyone promoter away like I mean that.
Sean McVay was texting me from New York City, where I'm not right now, and he's like, are you out do you want to get dinner? Said no where He's Oh, I'm going to Europe for the next couple of days with my wife. They're expecting a child.
It's a baby moon.
I'm like, all right, congratulations, enjoy texted away with a couple GMS to see if they'd come on the podcast.
Multiple gms are in Rome right now, Italy.
Literally, I think like the OTAs ended and these NFL folks just all boarded flights to Europe and that's where they are.
I'm excited that our guests that we're going to have on today is in Denver, Colorado.
He is not in Paris, France, or in uh, you name it, in Europe. But it seems like everyone in the NFL is take the foot off the pedal this week. Even our show Good Morning Football, it's on hiatus. So my focus and my attention actually is geared onto the NBA Draft lottery.
And I'll be real quick with it.
I think this when Ba Yama and I don't know, am I pronouncing it right? Wemby is what I've been calling him, is a real sensation.
I got a chance. It's really cool. NFL network has.
Us talking football, football, football, and there used to be an edict like the second you guys start talking about any other sport on air, we lose viewers. It almost as if if we end up talking about Wimbledon, we're gonna lose viewers. To someone saying oh, I forgot Wimbledon's on. I'm gonna go put on Wimbledon. Or hey, if we start talking about the NBA playoffs, people are say, well, I'll turn to ESPN for NBA playoffs.
Sooc, I guess I get that.
Wemby broke the mold though, when he had the three pointer and he missed it and then he followed it up and then dunked it in like one straight motion. I had to come on the show the next day and just say I've been watching the YouTube clip fifty times in a row.
Me saying that.
Attracted the attention of some folks over at NBA dot Com and the NBA channel, which I thought was pretty cool. So then the NBA guys got in touch with me and said, hey, we do this thing where we simulcast all of Wemby's games. Would you want to be a guest announcer on one of his games in like the EuroLeague.
Or in Paris or whatever it was.
I'm like, hell, yeah, I do. I watched him. He was unbelievable, and I'm on the call and I'm like, his body type reminds me of Durant, but he also has like Stacy Augman to him, and that might be before we were Tom Aaron.
He was like a plastic man, but completely flexible guy.
And then I listened to Brian Windhorst on Bill Simmons' podcast, Who Wendy Has Had at Wendy and Wendy. That sounds like a good show they had. He's had a chance
to get to know the kid a little bit. With the Paris France was obviously over there and he covered him and he met his youth coach and was spent time with him, and he's like he also is really self aware, cool, stylish, one hundred percent like in touch with who he is and what is at stake, not in like the big sense, but more like this is just a sport and I'm gonna do my best and
my life won't be defined by that. I thought that was pretty cool stuff and insight and that his game is incredib and then his wingspan might be eight feet and I don't know. He's going to go first overall in the draft this week. If you're listening, this is being recorded on Wednesday morning. He's going to go to the Spurs and that's a sure thing, and that's great, But I also just am excited to watch him play, and I feel like the NBA can use some positive headlines.
They can use another guy that's gonna be, you know, in the finals eventually and be the one that we're talking about. I feel like I really enjoyed the Miami heat story. I loved watching djokch. I don't know, I feel like NBA can use another star.
It's going to be a busy time.
And just from an NFL standpoint, anytime that I can look at another sport and say, Okay, that guy, that guy's got star potential, I'm intrigued. And someone put on a tweet to me they said, who does who would you compare him to in the NFL? And it's so bland and so boring. There's so many ways you could poke this a holes in this but like just his whole this guy could be a freak show like we've
never seen before. And then he also seems to be a great kid, grounded and you know, has good what seems to be morals, ethics, and just wants to be the best he could possibly be as a person. Also, I'm gonna say, Mahomes, it's so lame and it's so stock.
But when Mahomes came in.
The league, it was like, all right, this guy throws no look past his he does freakish things. He's breaking all these records in his second year. Like there's no way that this kid could also be an amazing person in the community and all this stuff, and he has been, and he only gets better and he's motivated by the right things. Aaron, I am not in New York City right now. You are this whimby going on the subway.
They have video of him going to the Yankee game yesterday and it's he's jumping subway turnstiles like people are chasing good and it's he's having fun. And then he's on the subway and I just feel like he held a baseball. They showed it his hand like absolutely swallows it.
I don't know.
I know he's going to San Antonio, which may as well be the thirty eighth market in the country. I don't know where they are like market wise, but I just feel like this guy's going to be a star, and his story's cool, and I don't know, I'm excited to see what he's got to he's gonna bring to the table.
Yeah, And I mean it is kind of and you'd think maybe it would be a bit of a down or just knowing it's so everyone knows he's going number one. There's no mystery there. But it's still we can't get enough of him. He's so exciting. You know the Windhorse conversation with Bill where he talked about not only does he have like he can shoot the three and then follow up his own shot, he can defend inside and
defend outside. I mean like his he probably will have more of an impact on defense right away potent, you know, like in his rookie year.
But you know, I was watching that game and I'm calling it and it's on NBA dot Com or NBA TV, and it was fun.
I really loved it.
Like I got into it, and I'm like, you know what, Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason would beat the crap out of.
This guy and they would just take him in the low posts.
You know, Chauncey bullups and and and Ben Wallace and the four Pistons would would not allow this guy to do what he pleases. But it's a different NBA now, And I actually, you know, everyone thought that like Durant was gonna get muscled around wasn't able to do what he did because of his his weight. Guess what, Durant's one of the greatest scorers of all time. All right, I got a segue for you. We talked about Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant was in a photograph with Aaron Rodgers and
they took a photo and Durant posted it. I guess on Monday. I don't know if I'm breaking news, but as we record this on Wednesday, I believe Rogers is set to speak at something called the Psychedelic Science Convention. It's in Denver. It's the leaders in thought when it comes to psychedelic sciences. I don't want to speak out of turn. I'm not criticizing by any means. I just don't know that field well enough. But over three hundred exhibitors,
a thousand guests. My dear friend Melissa Etheridge, who has become a pal through Good Morning Football and her love of the Chiefs, She's gonna be speaking at this event. I also saw that Rick Perry the old was he governor of Texas?
Is that what he was?
Yeah?
I think so.
He's going to be speaking at the event. But Aaron Rodgers is going to be speaking. I believe, I'm I believe it's with Aubrey Marcus, who he's done a long form podcast with. But Rogers is in attendance, and look, he's continuing to expand his horizons. And he's always said, judge me all you want. Just be curious, like I'm curious. That's it, Like you can judge what you want. I'm curious about this stuff, and that's what I'm into. So
I'm not passing judgment. But the Rogers is a great segue because we're going to talk Rogers with our next guest. We haven't recorded it yet. We're gonna get him live in about two minutes. But Nathaniel Hackett has been through the ups and downs of the NFL W and it comes to being a coach. He also is one of these Aaron Rodgers whisperers where he's one of the guys that Rogers just loves being coached by and loves being in the room with. He is now the offensive courter
of the New York Jets. There are high expectations, but he also went through a tumultuous twenty twenty two season, and we'll see how much he wants to talk about that and where he is as far as this post Broncos experience, which I can't imagine was easy for anyone, whether or not you think.
He deserved to be fired or not.
The fifteen game season and then to be let go before the season's over is something that has to be something that sits with you. And now he's a chance to redeem himself. So Nathaniel Hackett, Jets offensive coordinator, will be joining us after this.
So excited for our guests today.
I've been pals with him for a while and I think he's one of the greatest offensive mines in this league right now. He was with the Denver Broncos as the head coach last year. He is with the New York Jets as the offensive coordinator this year. He has finally taking a little break. It has been I would say, a pedal of a medal since he took the job with the Jets as the OC and now they are on break. Let's welcome in Nathaniel Hackett to the season
with Peter Schreger. Nathaniel Hackett, good morning, my friend, Good morning.
Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
I think our first interaction goes back to when you were with the Bills or the Jaguars, and you and I were talking about like Will Ferrell movies at like a production meeting, and I'm like, I think I like this guy. I don't know this guy, but I think we have something in common. And then here we are about ten years later, and you and I are talking to you're the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets,
which is basically my team in my backyard. I guess I would ask, how has it been with the Jets since you had signed back on to be the offensive coordinator?
And it's nuts to be with Aaron And here we go again.
I mean, it's crazy, you know, it's as you are in this profession this long. It's amazing how things end up working out. And to be with the New York Jets, to be back with Aaron, I mean, he's unbelievable. I mean, a guy that I love so much, an organization that means so much to me and my family. I mean my dad who coached a long time. He was the offensive coordinator the New York Jet. So I think that's something that means a lot to me. To be able to go to a place that he's been so I
love it. I mean, let's go New Jersey, New York, all of it.
I'm I'm gonna come back to the Jets. Second, I want to do a parallel here. Tell me if I'm wrong. All right, So your father was a legendary coach. Paul Hackett still is a legendary mind. Went from college ranks, then was in the NFL and he was the OC the for the Ken City Chiefs when Joe Montana was there. But before that he was with Montana with the Niners when they won the Super Bowl in eighty four. And then he's reunited with Montana when Montana's traded to the
Chiefs and he was the OC there in Montana. Which is rave about your pops, And was this great relationship between Hackett and Montana Hackett in Montana. You and Rogers kind of have this similar path right now where you guys had this great success when you were his offensive coordinator in Green Bay. You break up for a year and then now you're reunited again and it's like Hackett and Rogers Hackett Rodgers.
Have you and your dad ever spoken about that?
And how there's something about the communicating with the great ones that maybe not everyone has a secret that you guys might.
I mean, we definitely talk about it a lot. I mean, my dad and Joe, we're obviously very close. I think that was one of the reasons why Joe went to Kansas City during that time. I think that anytime you get I mean any quarterback, any quarterback that is comfortable with the guy that's in his ear on game day, that is going through the game plan process, that knows that you got his back and you're trying to do everything you can to put him in the best position possible.
That that's always appealing to any guy. And it is unique, like kind of the whole thing. I remember I had gotten a text when when the Aaron trade had gone through that a lot of people were drawing those parallels, and you know, I was just kind of laughing, and I mean, it is crazy. Again, it's crazy how this game works. I mean, it's why we all love the NFL so much, why we love this game so much, is when you get things like this happening. I mean, who would have thought that I would have been at
the New York Jets, let alone Aaron. I mean, in this just a short period of time. I mean, anything can happen. That's why it's a great game.
You talk about your influence that your father has on you. Obviously, what was it like growing up as a coach's son. Obviously you're traveling, you're going to new places, you're making new friends. But for you to decide to go into this profession as well, you must have truly not idolized. But maybe you looked at it as hey, that's a step and that's a path, and I want to embody what my father did as well.
Yeah, I mean, growing up as a kid in this game is crazy, and I'm glad that I'm there for my kids as you go through this process because there's a lot of ups and a lot of downs. And again that's why this game is so great because of those ups and downs. But grown up in this one of the coolest things about myself was being able to grow up in a locker room my dad right out
the gate. I mean, I remember when we were at University of hit and Curtis Martin, Alex van Pelt, all these guys were Cardo McDonald, I mean, so many great players. My dad threw me in the locker room and made me work in the equipment room.
Is that right?
Washing? Oh yeah, maybe wash clothes, pick up clothes, fulld towels. I mean he wanted me so just being around the guys and then going to Kansas City, I mean I was there the whole time, and I mean I've got some front Darren Kerns who took me under his wing. Alan Wright, who's the head equipment guy now City Chiefs. Yeah, I mean he's there, Mike Davidson who still works there.
You're naming equipment guys from the Chiefs. Those are the guys that had an impact on you.
I love this though.
I mean, and that's the thing, like, I mean, when you're in the locker room with those guys, I mean I remember when Marcus Allen because it was Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Kim Wand or Derrek Thomas, those guys. I mean I'm picking up their laundry and Washington clothes and getting to know him, see him interaction and just just being able to be part of that was so amazing.
And I think that's something that my dad did great for me, is let me be part of the team, because I mean, in the end, that's why we love this game so much, and that's why people get so addicted to it in this profession because being a part of team, I mean, there's nothing like it. And you know, it was a very small part for me because I
wasn't even there full time. It was primarily the summers, but just that little interaction, you know, you could see how beautiful this whole thing is and just see how the guys all are together all the time. And so that was kind of the best thing growing up as a kid. Now, I never thought I was going to be a coach, I really do know.
I mean, because I was gonna say.
You start, you start thinking, okay, do anything, and you might resent the fact that you lived in California, Kansas City, New Jersey, like you were bouncing around.
There was a lot of moving. I mean, it's it's we always say, you either get a better job or you lose your job in a small, small amount of time on this profession, and I mean it's it was one of those things that just kind of kind of happened. I mean, I didn't go to college in the mindset of doing that. I think that it kind of came down to a couple of things. As I got out of college and ended up getting very lucky and working hard, and a couple of people took a shot on me and here I am. Now.
Yeah, and I think with the universal thing on you is that you're a great communicator and that you speak to these young men as equals, but you also teach it in part and you have a different vision on things that came from your days in Buffalo coaching EJ. Manuel and Kyle Orton and Jeff Toole, but then primarily to me, those Jacksonville years with Blake Bortles.
Just a couple of years. But you guys got to.
The AFC Championship game and we're a couple of plays short of beating the Patriots and playing in the Super Bowl with a really young team. And the universal thing was Maroon's the coach. It's great Hackett really connecting with these players on offense, a really young offense. You want to take us through just that ride that I mean, the winning Pitchsburgh is still one of the greatest upsets and yet you guys went to to toe with them, put up forty plus points in Pittsburgh.
Yeah, that was That was one of the coolest games I had ever been a part of, especially when you look at the game before we played the Buffalo Bills, and really it wasn't a great offensive output by either team. I think we won like ten to seven or something like that. And then to be able to go to, you know, a place like Pittsburgh that I have so much respect for growing up there as a kid, and just the Steelers in general are such an amazing franchise.
And you know, I think we ended up winning that game forty five to forty two. So I think just seeing the two different game plans and the two different executions was was was awesome. And yeah, you know, that team was very young, and it was very stacked on
defense and the offense. Were a lot of young guys, a lot of guys that hadn't I mean, Keelan cole was was a rookie free agent, and D D. Westbrook was a was a rookie, and Alan Alan Hearns was our was our all wily vet because we had lost Allan Robinson on I think it was the third play of the season, week one, and those guys Leonard Fournette was a rookie and Chris Ivory was there. I mean, it was a great Mercedes Lewis, who is one of my all time, all time, one of the greatest tight
ends that ever played this game. But I think the cool thing about it was those guys bonded together and everybody understood their role, and you know, you look at Blake and what he did. He transformed himself that year and we were just in a really efficient offense and it was great because as the year started it wasn't great. We were running the ball really well and the defense played great, and then Blake really started picking up steam.
Halfway through the season. I think he had like three hundred plus yards throwing like five games in a row or something like that, and we ended up finishing in the top ten and of the offense. A lot of people forget that, and I just love being part of that because there weren't a ton of superstars at the time, but the guys played together. And when you talk about the communication, I think, you know, we're teachers. As a coach,
you know, we're teachers. We're just like a kid going to high school and you have to find ways to inspire. You have to find ways to get them to be excited to learn all the different plays, whether it's a football play or biochemistry, whatever it is. That you're doing. And I really give so much credit to that whole
group that year in twenty seventeen. I mean, all those guys, they really body in on the things that we wanted to do and the philosophy that we had and run in the football and play play pass down the field and it was a thing. It was really a thing of beauty and we had a chance there. I mean, Blake had a great playoff run those three games and especially that Pittsburgh game. But it was a fun run there. You know.
Yeah, I mentioned guys and I almost say it in people at home, like what EJ. Manuel and Kyle or like, but you had to kind of work with what you had in both Buffalo and nothing against Blake Portals in Jacksonville, and then things implode in Jacksonville. Eventually get the job in Green Bay and then you walk into work with maybe the most truly physically gifted thrower of the football
and the history of the sport. What is your reaction the delta between what you've seen as a football coach to then getting to know Aaron Rodgers and seeing the things he does day to day.
Yeah, I mean you mentioned all those qbs and you know, I've been lucky to work with a lot of different guys, and every quarterback in this league is so uniquely different. I mean, every guy kind of ticks a little bit different. They all have different ways that they learned, different ways that they comprehend things. And having an opportunity to go
to Green Bay another amazing franchise. To be able to go in there and work with a guy like Aaron, I think the thing that appealed to me was his foundation of kind of what I had learned in my early early days with my father was something that we were able to communicate really well, the true West Coast Old School offense, because you know, Aaron was originally trained by Mike McCarthy, who, Mike McCarthy had been with my father, heck,
for I mean nine years. I mean yeah, I mean I had known Mike since I was nine years old. He worked through the ranks at the Pitt Panthers and then went to the KNCG. He was there with Joe Montana and all those guys. So I think that to have an opportunity to work with Aaron, and even more with Matt LeFlore, I meant Matt and I had known each other a long time. You know, obviously it's an
incredible offense that they have created over time. And to be able to learn that offense, to be able to work with a guy like Aaron who was trained from day one, you know, like the Joe Montanas had in the early days. It was just a really cool experience to be there and kind of correlate those two offenses and be with the guy. Again. When we talk about Aaron, I mean Aaron's uniqueness is how he sees the game. I mean, yes, he can throw the forward pass very
very efficiently. I mean he can put that ball anywhere he wants. I mean, heck, he practically invented his own gun footwork as we like to call it. And I mean watching him throw the ball is incredible. I mean in practice, you're wowed all the time. But I think the thing for me was how he sees the game.
I mean, how he's out there and operating, and I mean truly he's out there having fun with the guys playing ball and listening to so many different things and messing with the opposing defense and the opposing defensive coordinators, and how he sees coverages, how we see I mean it's it's crazy, like I don't think he I mean, I know everybody knows that he's really smart, and you know, he's a really good thrower of the football, but I mean just his knowledge and understanding of defenses and the
game is unbelievable. I think that's what always sets those guys so far apart. And when you look at some of the greats, I mean just talking with some of them throughout my time, I mean their true understanding of the game of football and how it fits. And I mean it's like another coach out there. I mean, that's all we study, and I think those guys do that.
Also, La Floor told a great story to me when I did my podcast with Sean McVay.
We did Flying Coach.
Ll Floor tell the story of his first year with him, and there's about four seconds on the play clock and Lafleur's look at the play clock, leaning the play clock, and it's his first year and he calls the time out and Rogers comes and just tears into it, says, don't you ever I had a da da da da da da da And before it's like I didn't know it.
He goes, don't you ever ever do that? Because I'm doing it on purpose.
I'm gonna bring it down with the shot clock with one second because I know there's a man coming in motion and I know we have it, but I don't want to give it away. And I'm like, it's the stuff like that, Like when was the first time you, as the OC working with him, saw something in Rogers where he did something and you were just holy, I've never seen anything like that before.
There was a time in practice we had run a play that had my dad always taught me these plays. He would say, Okay, all these plays have the number one, the number two, the number three, and we put little numbers on all these these past drawings, and then they've got these other ones that have just like an alert on it. And my dad would always tell me, hey, that's a Joe montanay. Once you're that experience, once you know defense as well enough, okay, you can think about
that one. And I remember, we're in practice and we have a play that has you know, very basic one, two, three, and Aaron drops back, looks right, and this is just in practice, looks right, comes back over and throws the alert on the backside for an amazing touchdown. I forget who he threw it to, but it was actually Luke Getsy and we're in the room and we're like looking at each other and we're like, how what was he doing?
And Aaron just kind of gives you one of those like little smirks like yeah, yeah, and so gets you and I go back and we look and like I want to say, it was like a week earlier when
we had run that play versus our defense. He noticed that they had pushed everybody over and so there was a one on one matchup on the backside to a corner route, and he had remembered that just from practice, like how he was watching practice And I'm like, oh my goodness, I can't believe he remembered from that practice clip so far earlier that he could go all the way back there and that would end he got the exact same coverage, hurt all the same things, and then
attacked that kind So it's like everybody's live. I mean, I was just I was like, Wow, I've never gone to that guy and that play and well, hey, I guess you've seen it, but just for him to be able to remember that had happened was pretty impressive. And I was like Okay, this is this is pretty cool.
Yeah.
You know you mentioned your your father several times already. You said something in one of your Jets interviews, whether it would be on the press conference or it was during a podcast with their gentleman Eric Allen, who does it over there for them? Your father never called a play out of the shotgun in twenty years of coaching.
Never. And now we look at these.
Offenses and they're so interchangeable and there's so much different stuff. How would you define your off are you west coast?
Are you wide zone? Like?
What would you describe the Nathaniel Hacket offense? Now as we entered twenty twenty three with Rogers at at your mercy with whatever you want to do with them.
Yeah, my dad and I we fight a lot about that. It's why don't you under center more? Why don't you under centered? How do you see the defense? Kind to have your eyes up all the time. But I think that to in today's game, you know, everybody has to make adjustments. And I think a big part of what the reason why we all go to the gun is
because of all the intricate defenses we see. I mean, there are guys in the old days they all didn't stand in all the gaps across the board and then drop out and run and you know, be able to athletically still cover people from standing, almost like a defensive lineman. And so I would say, you know, the West Coast offense is something people throw around quite a bit, and for me, we are very much West Coast, and the West Coast is defined for me how you train the quarterback,
how you teach the quarterback and train the quarterback. But I think there's still a huge component of what I was able to learn from Matt Lafleur. He is somebody that I just respect so much, and I mean, he's a dear friend of mine and I love the things he does. So the wide zone is kind of the starting point in the run game with the play pass and the keepers based off of that. But when you look at the quick game to drop back that world that's more of a West Coast world, kind of like
what Aaron grew up. So it's a mesh between those two with the wide zone the play passes off of it, and the pure quick game and drop back West Coast world.
Now, Matt was a head coach in an offensive mind. You were the offensive coordinator. Now you enter this deal with Salo where I'm assuming he's like, here are the keys, Like I'm not, you go do your offensive like whatever you want to do. Does Aaron have the green light to audible out of whatever he wants? Can Aaron kind of is Aaron out there basically with you co calling these plays? Like what's the dynamic now that there's no head coach who's going to say, actually, no, let's run this.
You know that there's aspects of every play. And I think that for us, you always want to be in a good play. I mean, there's so many unique defenses that you face. And that's another argument that I have with my father all the time. He's like, I you should just call this play and run well, Dad, people play their coverage is a lot different than the old days. And so I think for me, I think as long as we understand the intention of the play and what
we're trying to accomplish within it. And I think that's what's so great about having Aaron is, Hey, you're calling this play for this reason. This is what you're trying to You want to throw this ball way down the field. But if you don't get that advantageous look from the defense. Well,
we don't want to waste that play. So I think whether it's built into the play call, whether it's built into an audible package, however we want we always want to be sure that we're being efficient and always have the ability to stretch the ball down the field. So I think there's going to be from freedom with Aaron and Aaron as we moved forward in the Green Bay system,
there was definitely more freedom as we went. We're going to just continue that because I think you got to take advantage of a guy like Aaron that is so smart and understands it. So trying to build this thing for him and build it so that when he sees certain things, he can do all kinds of stuff and put us in the best position possible.
Why you and him get along so not that he doesn't get along with everyone, but he's a he's a different kind of cat. And yet you and him like, gosh, it's like you guys love each other. I mean I could see it in the press conference from him from you, but also yah haang. And you go back to all the stuff the Gold Zone, all the stuff in Green Bay. You connected with him in a way that. I don't think we've seen him connect with many coaches before. I'm not asking for the secret sauce, but what was it
that you guys kind of clicked on? And how come the two of you or so tight both off the field.
I mean, it was just something that happened naturally. I think that we have a lot of things in common. I mean, there's a lot of things we'd love to do across the board, off the field. I mean, we're big, we love movies, a lot of the same kind of movies. We're both close in age, so I think that a lot of the things that we talk about where there is a lot of correlation. I mean, heck, got coached at Stanford against him when he was playing a cat.
Right, that's good.
Yeah, we were both young guys, and so I think that, you know, I mean there's just a lot of things that we have in common.
And random movie that you and Rogers would mesh on that like it's not an obvious one. It's not Step Brothers, it's not you know, it's like give me a random deep cup, n.
B.
That was that was a good one. That that was a very unique movie back then. I mean, gosh, we've got so I mean, we got so many just from how we quote him and how we talk about them. And that's part of all the things. Starsky and Hutch You gotta love Starsky.
But Ben Stiller ones, Oh yeah, I.
Mean there's a lot of I mean Will Ferrell, I mean anything that Will Ferrell's in, I mean, we love I mean, he's absolutely fantastic. But we actually had a big movie the other day. Todd Downing is on our staff, a dear friend of mine, somebody I was with when I was at Buffalo, and we had a little barbecue and we had this long conversation with my good friend that works with us also at the New York just John Vieira, and we were going through this whole process
of movies. And here we are. It's it's John Todd, me and Aaron talking about these MOVI movies. And we've got Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle Straveler. We're all sitting completely over their head, right, I mean, they're like, what movies are those? Well?
I love that? Do you understand?
We could talk about the West Coast Mesh and all that. All this is the stuff a little bit, So what movies were?
What what wormhole were we going on?
Oh you should have seen the list that we built for their summer You know how there used to be a summer reading.
Programs, summer movie.
We created a summer movie list.
That's it was.
I mean it was. I mean, so it started off as like a one pager and then there were a couple of movies that were put put on there that I was a little bit upset about it. The list no, and so we ended up setting up by genres I mean mafia movies too. I mean there were so many things that they hadn't seen that we were like, okay to get on the same page.
You're playing in New Jersey. That is a that is a sector of movie you need to have. You need to know go downas you need to know Donnie Brosco.
You need to know, Oh, just the Godfathers. Let's go Godfathers and Scarface and and you look at some of these movies that like blew my mind. I mean it was funny because my son was there too, and my son saw it. So how mean my son's fifteen, I mean he had never seen Terminator. I mean they looked at me, they looked at me, and they're like, you know, Arnold Swarzenegger, what has he been in you know, because they look at him and he's the governor at California.
You forget, these guys are so young. They're like, oh my gosh, we need a major education. I mean, Shasha and Redemption, you know. I mean, there were so many different things that we were like, Okay, we got to make sure we get all these things down. And the guys had seen a couple of them, but I mean there had to have been I mean, we kind of went a little overboard, but we figured it can last longer than the summer. You know, it's a long season traveling.
Yeah, this could be a lifelong like this is a Bible, this is great, this is oh yeah.
Oh we went through We went through them all from Bruce Willis Diehards to yeah, and then I mean, I mean it was a great list. I'm mnna have to send it to you.
The list was like to share that and we'll share with our listeners. And I'm laughing.
So I'm picturing you got these coaches and you've got like Zach Wilson, who's twenty, who Chris Streveler, who's been all.
Over the world playing football.
You know, you've got this great room, and then there's Rogers kind of calm in the corner, like just probably throwing out titles.
What about this one? What about this one?
I'll tell you if you could see our quarterback meetings, I mean when Aaron and I started talking and because again, the fun thing about our room right now is you've got a lot of You've got guys that want to learn that, that are striving to become better. And the cool thing about having Aaron in there is he was there for a lot of the origination, the first protections, the first uh, why these concepts were named what they were named, so the conversation and I know kind of
the history of all that stuff. So when we start talking about where these things come, it's great because you get an in depth knowledge of the system and what you're trying to accomplish. But there's always that history, whether it's movies and then you jump to football and then great football player, you know, just all those things. You know, it's great to have that background history because I think
that's what makes people closer to an offense. You know, if they think that a play is called you know apples, it's well, why is it apples? Where did that stem?
Let me tell you the story.
It actually its you know, And so I think those are the fun conversations to have because it starts meaning something, meaning more to you. So when you do go out on the field, you can see where it just comes alive and you believe in it more because of where that thing came from.
Donovan Knight, Bam Knight, was on our Good Morning Football morning show and he told a story about he was in a running backs room and it was him and it was Carter and it was Breee and the lights were down and there's going through some concept and I don't know who the running backs coaches these days, I apologize, probably a best friend of you or something like that.
And he's going, Taylor, there you go. So he's going through it and he's the.
Other thing and it's dark, and all of a sudden, a voice from the back of the room, Mike just says, like, actually consider this, And it was Rogers, like sitting in the back of the running backs room, just like watching and listening and like, maybe I'm wrong on the story, but that's what I the gist of it.
How much of an advantage is to have another voice who speaks your language and can almost be a coach that is now engaged and fully in on it. I feel like you guys have this.
You know, we can talk about the offensive line play, whether they're going to keep them up, all all we want, but the fact that he's with these young guys teaching them the offense is if he's a coach and they listen to him like they do, that's got to be a huge advantage.
Oh that's awesome. I mean coaches either. Joe Dumar said something that that I thought was really cool from the old Detroit Pistons. He said, coaching led teams are very good teams, but the great teams are player led teams. And so I think that's such a powerful thing when you have a player being able to communicate those things and have those conversations. And I think that's something that
Aaron has been really enjoying. You know, just hit all the communication he's had, whether he's sitting in the room and we're an whole offense together and we're talking about certain plays or certain things, and he when he chimes in, I mean, that goes so far, not just because it's Aaron Rodgers, but because it's another player, it's a guy that's you know, in there running it instead of just always hearing it from a coach and a coach talking
to you. It's about the players interacting and learning because in the end, they're the ones that are on on the field. They're the ones that have to be able to operate. You can call any play you want, and if it's executed, you know perfectly, every single time, there's going to be some form of efficiency. The players are going to know how to react. And I think that when Aaron gives you all those answers and we're all speaking the same language, I think it's a very powerful thing.
And that's what has really been fun during this offseason, and I'm excited after we get a nice break, I'm excited for it to continue throughout training camp.
Do you feel like he's not reinvigorated, but invigorated to be with new guys and so much youth on this team.
I mean, he's been great. I mean when I was Green Bay those three years, I mean I remember the first year we had a great time, then we hit COVID and that third year once he got it. I mean, the great thing about Aaron is when he's in the room, when he's in the facility, I mean he's all in. I mean he is, he's grinding, he's talking, he's communicating. I think that being here at the New York Jets, it is completely different for him, something he's never experienced before,
and I think that that kind of excites him. Just a totally new area, totally new experience. I think that, you know, and it's a challenge for any quarterback to come into a brand new place because there is so
much stimuli around you. And I think he's done a great job being able to kind of hyper focus and just set on those players when he has those opportunities and talk with a guy like Garrett Wilson, be around a guy like Alan Lizard who's already been around, and watching those two guys interact and interact with the group, with Randall Cobb, you know, all these guys. I mean, it's just fun to see the interaction. I think he enjoys that. He enjoys the team, and that's why Aaron's
still playing. He plays because of the locker room, because the guys that are in there. I mean, that's why he loves the game. That's why any guy can want to play as long as he can for the team.
Yourself, I mean, these last twelve months have been such a whirlwind. I can only imagine what you've been through, not just just your family and we're going, but also mental health wise, and your own ambition and your own, like you know, self worth and all this stuff when it's tied to the coaching profession. What have you learned over the last twelve months after the Denver experience then now landing back on your feet with the Jets.
But just what would you say?
Almost in the rear view, I know it's probably you're still going through it every day of just what the hell just happened?
But I would ask you, like, what is your big takeaway?
Because you talk about the highs and lows of coaching, I would assume that's viewed as a low, But in the long term, it's going to be a high for what you got out of it.
In the end, you got to win. I mean, that's what it's all about, whether you're a coach, whether you're a player. You got to win. And we didn't win enough, and so I have to look back and I think there's so many things that I learned over my time. I think it was a great, great experience on all
the different things. I mean, you never know what it's gonna be like until you're in that chair, and it was an honor to be in that chair, even though it was a limited time, and you could just continually take all the things that that you went through and the things that you can potentially do better, the things that you might not have done well enough. And as a coach, we question everything every second. We always want
to try to make ourselves better. And I think there's a lot of things I learned that are going to make me better. And I think everything happens for a reason. You know, I look at it and say, wow, to be able to have an opportunity to be at the New York Jets, to be back with Aaron, I think that's that's unbelievable. And so I think just everything happens
for a reason, and this happened for this reason. And here we are, and I mean, I'm so excited for this season, and my family is excited to get to New Jersey and you know, get going there.
I said the word invigorated for Aaron, but you sound invigorated. You sound like you've got this like pep in your step? Is there a chip on your shoulder? Does that not exist when you're a coach, because then you start coaching beyond what you want to do, you know, and then you start trying to do extra like but do you feel like you want to maybe show some folks a thing or two might have said, Hey, this, this is what I can do.
Also, I mean, in the end, I mean a coach, you know, we're teachers. You know, there's so many things that we can't control. You know, everybody looks at a coach and says, oh, this or that or this, and that's part of the profession, that's what we all signed up for. But in the end, my job is to put the guys in the best position possible and they have to go out there and execute. I mean, it's it's that simple. I mean, I can't catch it, I can't throw it, I can't tackle or block or anything
like that. I wish I could, but it wouldn't be pretty. So I think for me, you know, you have to continually learn and hold back those things that you know, in the end you just can't control. And I think that when you kind of let that go and understand that there are going to be some things that are going to happen that you never expected. There're gonna be some things that you know, you can call perfect play in a perfect situation, but you know, as coaches, we're
not the ones executing it. And so I think it's not about me. It isn't. The only thing I would say that it is about me is I just want to be the best version of myself. I remember Matt used to always say that that's that's the whole mindset is walking in that building, trying to do whatever you can to be the best version of yourself. Because if I can then portray that to those players, then they're gonna be able to get out on that field and they're going to be able to execute at a high level.
And that's all that I want. I just want to see Aaron play some of the best football he's ever played in his career. I think that that was something that was so fun to be a part of when we were at Green Bay. And I want to see him, you know, get to the you know, where he wants to be. I want him to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. I want to watch Garrett Wilson be great,
Alaen Lazar, Ronald Cobb. I mean, Bam, like you mentioned Michael bresee all those guys, our tight end group, all those guys, I want them to I just want them to have fun out there and play football together, and I want to watch them interact and all that. That's that's the environment that I like to create because I can control that. I can make sure that they're going out there and they're working together, kind of like you look back at that Jacksonville days, I mean that twenty seventeen.
I think that was some of the thing that I was most proud of, is watching those guys go out there and just play ball together. I mean, and I know they're not a lot of household names, but the one thing I know is that those guys played together. And if you get that, you're going to have an opportunity to be successful. And that's all I want to see happens, because it's not about me. There's only so many things a coach can control, regardless to what anybody wants to admit.
You know, you're in New Jersey now, and we went to the Nick game and it was like here's New York City all and it's grander and it's gloria what it could be, right, Like celebrities everywhere, the fans so hardcore, the garden rocking, and you just get a taste of it, like if the Jets win, how damn cool this can be?
Have you had any really cool interactions with fans or anything even being in Jersey and I know you're probably living at the facility, but like taste of it, of just what this can be if the Jets have success.
I mean, I would say going to that Nick game was pretty awesome. I mean New York City is I mean, it's, I agree, the greatest city in the world. I mean we're talking. I mean it's a place that my wife and I have gone to visit for years. You know, we love it. I mean lucky to be. I mean I had all my kids in New York, Syracuse and Buffalo, and so I mean we love New York. And I'll tell you New Jersey is unbelievably beautiful. I had no clue New Jersey was no.
You probably just think of the opening to Sopranos off the Highway. Then you're like, wait a second, there's actually green and there's some lovely value it's awesome.
Hey, there's a reason why they call it the Garden State. And I mean, I just think, I mean, it's it's been such a great experience there. I haven't had a lot of interaction with people. I've been, like you said, keeping my head down, just going to and from the house and then just trying to grind and work. But I mean, being in that Nick game, just being able to hop on the train and be able to go into the city is so so great. I'm going to
Broadway and I'm going to amazing restaurants. Is something that I'm just lucky to be part of. And but it's it's gonna be fun. I mean every place you go, I mean you always hear people say that, you know, if you win, you know, oh my god, it's going to be amazing and this and that. There's a lot of highs on a lot of lows. You're going to go through adversity no matter what. And so I think as a coach, you just got to kind of focus in on what your role is and get those guys
in good positions. And you know, I'm excited to get the Jets going.
All right, We're gonna do a.
Really quick rapid fire, because I know you got to get out of here, and you're doing us a favor on your off week doing this fire really rapid fire. These are fun questions and a little introspective and then we'll get out of here.
First.
One, I assume your father is your coaching mentor and a guy you look towards, but outside of your father, who is another person that you call for advice or someone that if you're in a buying coaching wise you like to bounce some thoughts off of.
I would say there's two. Alex van Pelt, who's the officer cordinerat at the Cleveland Browns, doing him my whole life. He was one of the guys that was at University of pitt and then uh and Mount Lafloor, Like Mount Lafloor is another guy that I that I talked to a bunch, and then Todd Downing would have been one, but he's on the staff, so so that doesn't really count. But uh, but no, definitely Alex. Alex is somebody that that means the world to me.
Kyle Orton, you guys brought him out of retirement off the chair in his house and he went and won a bunch of games.
For the Buffalo Bills.
For you guys, take us through that time and were you one of the guys trying to convince Orton to come out of retirement. I love that time in Buffalo Bill's football pre Josh Allen.
That was a great experience. I mean, Kyle is an awesome guy, and he definitely came right off the couch, and I mean just having him out there and uh and watching him spend the rock. I mean, he's got a he's got a canon and uh, it was pretty fun during that whole time. I remember we scored a touchdown to Lee Smith. Actually I think it was verse the Jets. I think it was. It was during that one that was like the first goal line posse he
had ever scored a touchdown on. And just being part of that, he had his longest run he scrambled for like ten yards and he was all fired up for that. I remember. I remember when when he ended up starting to play, he was like, hey, listen, man, we got to get over five hundred because he wanted this record to be over five hundred. I was like, I'm gonna
do everything to help you, man. I mean, but that was such a great experience because you know, being with a with again with an older guy, because you know, I'd just been working with EJ and Jeff and they were rookies and Dad Lewis and those guys worked so hard and were great. But playing at a young age in this game is very, very difficult. I don't think people understand the thing that how rigorous it is for these quarterbacks and to be able to get Kyle in there,
who knew so much. I mean, I remember the first game. We're playing the Detroit Lions at the Lions. Because that year was a weird year. We ended up playing at Detroit twice. We had a blizzard and the game got canceled, moved to Monday, and we actually played the Jets again in Detroit. But that first game versus the Lions, I remember Kyle because I had never caught plays for me
and only been there for about four weeks. And he throws a pick six and I want to say it was like the second or third series, and he I remember, he comes up on the sideline. He's like, oh, that guy went out of the way, okay, And I'm like, all right, great. You know, because as a code you don't know how, you know, should I get mad? And uh? And he ended up winning in a two minute drive through a big play to Sammy Watkins on the left side, and we ended up kicking a field goal to win
the game. I mean, it was it was really cool. It was a great experience working with Kyle. He he was awesome. I can't say enough good things about him.
I love that your favorite Aaron Rodgers in game pass.
You probably could chart every pass he threw as a packer, but you go back and the one that still gives you goose bumps.
Oh gosh, There's been a lot of really really cool throws.
Give me one.
You know. It's I would say, the very first game we have played. So you always hear those stories about Aaron seeing people sub or jump the ball, and I remember it's our first game. We're playing Thursday night. It was the opening game versus the Chicago Bears, and he were getting down in the red zone and you know, here we are as coaches. We got all our plans and the things that we want to we want to get done, and I'll be damned, we're about to try to call play and he jumps the ball and snaps
it and We're like, what the what's going on? And he runs around and I see the flag throw and I'm like, oh, this is great. And then he launches it up and Jimmy Graham goes up and catches it, catches the first touchdown that twenty nineteen season, and it was it was an incredible it was. It was a
great throw. But I think for me that that was the first time I saw him being able to attack the defense from that standpoint and be able to jump the ball in score touch and that was the only touchdown we scored that whole game.
Yeah, I remember smash Amos had a couple of picks in that game, right, yeah.
He did, and that that's what ended up stealing it for us. And I just remember looking like, gosh, why don't we just do that every time, just you know, jump the ball, run around at score touch And I was like, this, that's great. But that that was that was a really.
Because it was the cerebral part of it where it's like, wait's what I'm saying.
Yeah, yeah, I mean here we are trying to get our best play in the red zone aka gold zone for us, and we uh and he ends up jumping the ball in scorn of a touchdown anyways, and we're like, okay, yeah, this is this is pretty cool. I didn't know we were going to get this, and so I think that was a really cool one. But probably the craziest throw I ever saw him making. I still haven't decided whether or not he was thrown it out of bounds or whether he was just throwing it up. Was that same
year Kansas City Chiefs. It was funny because night in the back end zone of Jamal Williams, I mean, and it's funny because there was history to that one. Is that Matt and I were arguing when we were game planning on what personnel grouping to use, and Matt wanted to use a crazy one, and so we put all these guys out there and he's like, Ah, this is
gonna work. And I mean literally, he snaps the ball and everybody's coming after him and he's running around game and then launches it up and I mean it's a perfectly thrown ball to Jamal in the back of the back pylon to the right in uh in their ahead and Matt's like I told you. Oh, He's like, I told you it would work, and I'm like I'm like, are you kidding me?
He led you out?
Yeah, I mean I was like, come on, man. So those are the kind of the conversations that we always have during the games and stuff. But that was a pretty unbelievable throw. And he had another one that same game when he threw to Jake Kumero across the field. I mean he scrambles to the right and just dives it to him. Jake lays out and gets it. I mean, there's so many. I mean, that's the fun thing about Aaron. I mean, it might not be a perfect play that, but he's going to find a way to make it work.
The last one, you're going to be in New York quite a bit. I guess you're gonna have the opportunity to get to New York. The one person or I would say celebrity, non football person. It could be and it could be anyone. It could be government, can be anything. The one person you would love to get dinner with in New York City is who I.
Mean, if it's a jet fan, the one person that all my kids and for me, that like we that they were going crazy about. And I heard Adam Sandler is a is a.
Jeff fan the Sandman with you, we have to make this happen.
I mean I would have said Paul Rudd because I know you and you and Paul are close and you know, and man's my favorite guy. He's a Chiefs fan, bro, but he's a Chiefs fan. He's a chief fan. We went to rival high school. So it's like, but I mean Adam Sandler. I mean, come on, man, I mean Adam Sandler for me growing up. I mean when when he was really starting. I mean just his stand up you know, the goat that he was and is the album I mean the albums. I mean people don't even know about that.
I don't even know about told booth will oh gosh.
That that his the car song and you know, I mean he's I'm trying not to swear because the car song, yeah, that piece of yeah, that piece of car song. And when he's talking about the goat and he's so may you button? And then I mean just all of his movies, I mean are I mean that was during COVID we had an Adam Sandler like.
Just the family that was all you guys did to go deep on Sandler and did the kids appreciate the early Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore or are they more than new Netflix stuff?
No, they love them all. I mean the one he did with Jennifer Aniston. They love them all. You know that, they understand that. But it's funny going back to I mean, just showing them Happy Gilmore for the first time, Billy Madison for the first time, and my kids are like, what's up with the penguin?
I don't get the I don't either, Like I don't get it either.
That's the point, you know, I mean, but I mean going through that. I mean Adam Sandler, I think is one of the most legendary comedians ever. So I love them all. Right.
That's this is my goal, you know, forget my own career accolades, forget what I want to see happen for this podcast A Good Morning Football. My goal is to get the Sandman with Nathaniel Hackett at for dinner one day in New York.
We'll make this happen, my friend. It's it's a doable thing. There's gotta be a way. And he is a jetsman.
I've heard the Him and method Man are two guys that, like I know, are Jets fans that I like I'm like, this is pretty cool.
Okay, so you want Staten Island and method man and I believe I think Sandler's from New Hampshire.
But his dad was a j that's the story. Yeah, dad was a Jets fan.
Uh. Bro.
I can't thank you enough. This was on your vacation week.
I started off the podcast explaining how most people are away and you took some time to do this podcast with me and I've been wanting to do it for a while.
Nathaniel Hackett, thank you.
Man.
You're a great dude and I cannot wait to see what you do with this Jets offense and Aaron Rodgers this year.
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me and man, I love you. You know that, and hey, let's get it rolling.
I'm a huge Hacket fan and I always like Aaron as we listen to him talk and all stuff, Like he was quick and short with the Denver stuff and I get it. It's like he's not going to go into the what that was and how that went down because there's just no reason for him to rehash it. But like I root for redemption. I root for a guy to get a chance. And he was like, it's it's not a chip on the shoulder type thing.
But I don't know.
When you hear him talk how passionately he feels about his players and the game and coaching, like it's hard not to think that a piece of him wants to wants to just kick ass this year.
Yeah, And I mean he had a great a great attitude too, with like I'm gonna do everything I can to get these guys as ready as possible and then watch them like make the plays on the field.
And uh yeah, I thought he was great.
You know, when we talked to these coaches, sometimes they do give us incredible insights, and Hackett did in a lot of ways. But then there's also this part of them where it's like, at the end of the day, I'm like, talk about an Aaron Rodgers play. He's just geeking out on it also like us.
And I remember that.
Passed to Jimal Williams that he references in the back of the end zone. And it was on a Sunday night and it was the Packers versus the Chiefs and Mahomes was out, so Matt Moore was in and it was a good game and went back and forth. And then this past happens, and like.
Do you hear Hacket talk about it?
And it was one of those great stories where Lafloor is like, see, I told you I called it right mother.
Ever, no you didn't. He just nailed you out. It's just Rogers.
Gosh, it's got to be cool to coach a player with those talents. But also what he's stressed a lot in that interview, having it all upstairs too.
Yeah, Yeah, it's amazing hearing about the cerebral parts of Rogers's game, and that's something that ideally translates as he gets older.
Too.
It's not like he's gonna lose that. It's not like it's, you know, an arm strength thing or like his running ability. So yeah, got me, got me nervous about the Jets season some more.
Yeah, if you're a Bills fan in Dolphins fans and Patriots fans, you hear that and you're like, Eh, that's tough.
All right, We're gonna wrap right here. Aaron, You're awesome, Thanks for doing this. I know everyone's kind.
Of checked out in football world, but I thought Hackett was great. We're gonna have another one next week, hopefully the one next the week after that. July fourth, like, guys are around now. Hackett was filming this from like a farmhouse. They're around, They're not they're not locked into the facility. I mean, that was the saddest part. I'm like, so, what do you think of New Jersey And he's like, well, I haven't really gotten out much. I'm like, dude, I'm
like it out, like, oh, he's gonna enjoy it. But Aaron, thank you, Jason English from iHeart, thank you, Grace Fuse, who's wonderful with the editing on this stuff. And then the NFL Network folks, who gosh, guys, this went on YouTube last week, the Quasy one and it went bananas.
So it's gonna be on YouTube. We're hoping that we can do that as often as possible. There's videos.
So that's Jason Kleinman, that's Matt Schneider, that's Meredith Batton, that's David Juranka. Find folks over there at the NFL Network, guys, it's the season with Peter Schreger and some of our best stuff's gonna be in the off season because these coaches and gms are down to talk and go long and they don't have to be out on the field and coach in five minutes. So I hope you enjoyed this one with Nathaniel Hackett and Jets fans.
I think you guys got a good one. Till next week, Thanks for listening.
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