NFL Network's Brian Baldinger Reflects on Aaron Rodgers Decision, Discusses the Next Steps for Jets (2/13)

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Baldy's so great to see again, my friend. You're looking good. You brought the guns out to the pod today.

Yep, thank you. Well, suns out. Guns are out right now.

I mean it's vacation season the eight, so I'm ready to enjoy it for a little bit.

So Super Bowl Sunday, Baldy. Jay Glazer broke it first, I believe. He said that Aaron Rodgers flew back to New Jersey last week to meet with the Jets, and at that point, the Jets informed him they were gonna move on at quarterback.

Your thoughts when you heard that news.

I think it's the right move. I mean, Aaron was here for two years. It created a great buzz. Obviously, the first year was a massive disappointment, and in the large part last year.

Was a massive disappointment.

He was expected to raise the level of play around him to get the Jets to the playoffs, and they fell way short. And I just think when you bring in a new coach, you bring in a new general manager.

Like you should start fresh. And Darren Moge was a new GM.

They cut their cord last year with Russell Wilson, and he was a big He was supposed to be their.

Aaron Rodgers and he wasn't.

And Sean Payton's like, let's just cut her losses, let's go with the rookie, Let's start fresh. And I feel like that's what the Jets should do right now. I think the Aaron Rodgers era is should be over. I'm not surprised they said that. I don't think Aaron's shocked or even disappointed at this point, Like he knows what he was brought here to do and he wasn't able to deliver, and that wasn't all his fault obviously, but still, you know, nothing changed with Aaron, So I think they

Like make the.

Change top fluck for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets.

Following that trade in April twenty twenty three, right, Baldy, there was all the hype, the excitement, Hard Knox was here in florm Park and then Monday night football Week one against the Buffalo Bills, four snaps in achilles tendon tear.

Look, I mean that it's gonna be part of Jets folklore. Like I'll never forget the buzz that preseason. Woody Johnson out there saying about like everybody wanted to come to training camp. Everybody wanted to come to florm Park and see Aaron throwing to Garrett Wilson, you know, you know, alll Is Art whatever. But it just it never materialized. And it was a shock at what we all witnessed that night, Like nobody could have foreseen that he'd never

They couldn't score from the one.

It sort of epitomized the frustration that every Jet failed last year. That was a winnable game. Defense played great, Denver didn't score touchdown. The Jets couldn't put Denver away.

That thing.

Yeah, it's interesting looking back at it because Rogers historically, this was one of the better passing seasons of franchise history. Passes for nearly three nine hundred yards, He's twenty eight touchdown passes, his eleven interceptions, and you have to give him a lot of credit for working his way back. He's forty one years old, coming off a devastating injury, and he was able to put up those numbers.

So I thought it was gritty. Also going back.

To the twenty twenty three season Baldy, where he just worked his way in order to get back out of the practice field. He was trying to do something that nobody had ever done it before.

No, I mean, look, the commitment was there. The commitment on his part was there, Like nobody can fault Aaron Rodgers for not being committed. But there were games that the Jets could have easily won. The Minnesota Viking game, in London. That was a winnable game. He ate he had to make a play down the stretch. Gilmore's beat, You got to make the throw. I mean, Seattle is a winnable game, a lot of there's a lot of winnable games.

The stats are good, but ERINBLD. I mean, if Aaron's.

Being honest, and I think you can look at the mirror and be honest, like you were opportunities to win a lot of these games, to get them into December for real, meaningful games rather than.

Playing the string out like they did.

So look, I mean, you can't fault anybody from from Woody to Joe Douglas to Phil Savage. You can't fault anybody front office players Aaron.

For not being committed. The commitment was there, it didn't work out.

But I also think this is a young man's game, and you know, the Super Bowl showed you that the way to win.

And I'm in Philadelphia, EA, so I see this firsthand.

But when you draft Nolan Smith and Jalen Carter, you know, and you go sign Saquan and Zach Bond, and you developed and you draft Cooper Dezine and Quinnon Mitchell, you draft and develop, and then you spend your money wisely on key components. There's a formula out there to turn any franchise around very quickly. Remember the Eagles collapsed last year. It was an ugly collapse and they just didn't sit.

So following that Vikings game, you mentioned the Broncos game. The Jets entered that ballgame at Life a rainy Sunday afternoon. They were two to one. They had played a complete game against the New England Patriots. They lose to the Broncos. Then they go over and play in London in Week five against the Vikings, a team who had a terrific

And you mentioned it before.

Phil Savage finishes the year as an interim GM and then Baldy. In totality, the Jets lost six games in the fourth quarter in which they held leads, and they were three and seven in one possession games.

Yeah, and you know, and meanwhile, you know, Kansas City's in the Super Bowl and they were undefeated in one possession games. They didn't lose a game one possession Like these games come down to the fourth quarter. Heah, and that's where your quarterback had Like Super Bowls different, but that's where your star players, including your quarterback, has.

To step up.

If you look at the Eagles run, I mean, they narrowly beat the Rams, but their star players stepped up in that game. Jalen Carter punched the ball out of Kyron Williams hands. Jalen Carter sack Matt Stafford when he's going in to throw a dagger against the Eagles to win the game in the final minute. Your star players and your quarterback have to step up in those big moments in the fourth quarter. That's why you pay the stars the money they do. They've got to change the game.

Well.

The overall for this franchise was the right move at that time to make the trade for Aaron Rodgers. But now here we are two years later, you think it's the right move for the organization to move on.

I do.

I do think it's time to move on. I think you have to constantly look. Everybody makes mistakes, and I'm not saying Aaron was a mistake, but everybody has to move on from a quarterback, and different teams do it different lea. You know last year Denver drafted bow Knicks. It's the first time that they that Chem Payton has been coaching his league where he had to develop a rookie quarterback, like he never had to do that before.

He got Drew Brees four years into his career.

You know, he had a lot of veter quarterbacks as an assistant coach, you know, in New York and in Philadelphia.

But everybody has to find their guy.

Everybody has to find their quarterback, whether it's a draft pick, whether it's Detroit getting his second actor's Jared Goff. Even the Philadelphia Eagles, you know, in twenty twenty had Carson Wentz and they just gave him a big fat contract and they drafted Jalen Hurts with the fifty third pick in the second round.

And people question whether Jalen.

Could ever play quarterback in this league, he's just a running back.

Well, he's a Super Bowl MVP winning quarterback right now.

They developed Jalen and they got the right coach, and they got the line, and they.

Got the talent around him, and they never stopped building around him.

You've got to identify that, however you do, and you got to you gotta get him, and you have to develop them, and you have to surround him with the league.

Talent, Baldy, you know it better than anybody being stationed where you're you're at. You basically you know you're inside all thirty two teams, but that's your backyard.

Philadelphia.

Hurts, as you mentioned, not a first round pick, so he was anomaly in the playoffs this season.

The only other guy I think who was a non first.

Round pick who made the postseason was Russell Wilson, a third round pick back in the day, but Pittsburgh actually picked him up in free agency of course, prior to the twenty twenty four season. But going back to Hurts, he started out his third on the depth chart, wasn't he behind Nate Sudfell.

Yeah, yeah, No.

He came in, came in, worked his way up. Carson was the franchise quarterback, whether you want to believe the reports that Carson felt threatened. But Jalen, I mean, Jalen never stopped working. I know Jalen pretty good. Like you know, he never stopped working in his game. He listens to all the noise, he uses everything is fuel the way a lot of athletes do. But he's been in the player like he started in twenty twenty one, He's been in the playoffs every single year. He's been to two

He delivered.

He delivered an MVP performance. They picked the right guy, but that was the fifty third pick. He wasn't supposed to be the starter. But you know what, competition is a good thing. You could never have enough. You never have enough competition, but you can never have enough talent on your team. Youve got to continually add to it. And that's what Philadelphias shown the whole league.

You mentioned it before.

How about official will that Denver experience be for Denver? For Darren Mugi excuse me, who was working with George Payton there with the Broncos when they took a number of swings at the quarterback position and then specifically with Russell Wilson, they said, hey, it's not working out. We're going to eat that money. And now they go and draft their guy in bo Nicks.

Not just that but they made the playoffs with Bo Knicks and all you did. I mean, I tracked bow Knicks from week one where he literally could not complete a pass to a wide receiver the first two weeks of the season, and he thought, what did they get?

Now.

I think he was the fourth or the fifth quarterback drafted last year. But Atlanta feels good about you know, Michael Pennix Junior. I think Washington struck gold. I think Caleb is to find a good home with his Duke coach.

Like you got.

You got to draft these guys wherever you draft him, and you got to give him every chance to develop, and you've got to get good coaches around him to do it with. And so that's when the Jets are out, whether it's I believe they should sign a free agent quarterback and they should draft the quarterback, you know, and get the best possible prospect they can, regardless of how

All Right, I'm glad you just brought that up.

So let's speak a little bit about twenty twenty five options.

Tyrod Taylor is currently on the roster.

He's been a member, of course, of seven different organizations, sixty two percent passer over the course of his career ball the sixty eight career touchdown passes twenty nine interceptions, hasn't started more than six games in the season since twenty seventeen. Jordan Travis was a draft pick working his way back from that devastating ankle injury at Florida State in twenty two three. Adrian Martinez signed a futures deal here in January. Those are the three guys currently on the roster.

Look, I mean, Tyrod, you mentioned all the teams he's been on. I mean he was there with Josh Allen, he was in the Chargers with Justin Herbert, you know, and scheduled to start and got a puncture wound to the chest and Justin took over. They never look back. I mean, he's been in that seat where he's been the guy. Then you know a Baker Mayfield.

He was in.

Cleveland with Baker and Baker, you know, beat him out, you know by the fourth game, I think it was a Jets game when Baker came in. It took over on Thursday night. But you know, he's been in this role.

He knows his role.

But he's still is athletic, he still can win games for you. He can still put a gate play together. He's I think he's very capable of being a bridge quarterback right now.

But I wouldn't be comfortable with Jordan Travison.

And you know Adrian Martinez, An.

Adrian and Tyrod right now.

I mean I would look real hard at drafting a quarterback as high as I possibly could.

So we're gonna get back to the draft here in a second.

A former Jet quarterback Sam Donald broke out under Kevin O'Connell there.

Last year in Minnesota.

He could be a free agent Justin Fields, who of course started the season with the Steelers last year. He made those six starts before Russell Wilson took over. Maybe Russell Wilson is out there as well. Former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones could be out there in the market.

Now.

A lot of people are speculating that Kirk Cousins possibly could be released.

Yeah, I mean, I think it would be awkward to bring Sam Donald back, you know, to pay him, you know, elite money after you know his tenure here ended, you know, without fanfare.

I think it would be awkward.

But you have to you have to, like, honestly, Darren's got to really look at every option, and Aaron Glenn, they got to look at every single option carefully. All right, It's an important decision. So I mean, everybody is on the table. If Derek Carr gets released, you know, is he on the table? If Kellamore goes in there and said we want to start fresh, all these like.

You can't. You have to look at every prospect.

Nobody thought that Sam Donald could have done what he did this year. Nobody that watched them in Carolina or the Jets or even one game in San Francisco. Nobody could have predicted that he could have played that well, won that many games. But that's what you have to do, Like you have to take each guy, put them in a vacuum. And say, okay, if we put elite offensive line in front of him like they did in Minnesota, at least a very good line, and you an elite

Yeah, those guys were those guys both cast offs, right, Baker Mayfield and then Sam Donald, and they resurrect their careers.

Yes, and so, and you.

Know we started off this conversation we're talking about Jalen Hurts was the fifty third pick.

So I don't know if Riley.

Leonard could be that guy, you know, had a Notre Dame and if he's a third round pick, if he's got great athleticism, he's got shortcomings. They said that about Jayalen. I I remember doing a college game when Jalen was the starting quarterback at Alabama and.

They were playing Texas A and M.

They were both undefeated and I thought Jalen Hurts was nobody could catch him. He was an elite runner, but I never thought he was going to be an elite thrower. Well, he's become a very good passer. So you gotta really do your homework on these guys. Yes, you can go, and who knows, Like, who knows what that guy is gonna be? It's you can't sit here on February twelve and predict what the Jets should do at quarterback.

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No, you definitely can't. And you were boots on the ground in Mobile. I don't know how you do it all, brother, I can't keep up with you. But you were in Mobile, before you were in New Orleans, before you were in Los Angeles. And I know you're gonna be traveling again this weekend. But here are some names out there that people are talking about top prospects in two thousand and twenty five NFL Draft. I can't believe we're already saying

And we're gonna hear about him for the next three months, and we're gonna put them through elite scrutiny for the next three months lead up to the draft. I mean, whether it's the Combine, I'll be at the Combine at the end of February, whether it's the pro days, the workouts, really grinding the film and going through these guys, We're gonna get a much better composite on what these guys are. But at the end of the day, we're gonna fall in love with milrose athleticism and his arm strength.

But that happens to every single prospect. You know, we're gonna fall in love with some things, not love with some things.

But there's the game that's played in college is a completely different game than the NFL, and the maturity level, the commitment to the game, all those things get exposed if you're not elite at all those things once you get inside you know the building. You know, the Jets went through this with Wilson from BYU, Like he didn't have the commitment or the understanding of the game necessary to become a top prospect, and he kept falling into

And I'm not saying, Baldy, I wanted to ask you this.

With that being said, just because the Jets have the seventh overall selection and they need a quarterback doesn't necessarily mean if they stay there they should take a quarterback at seven.

Well, they should take.

I can't say that they should take a quarterback at seven if it's no matter what, just because there's a quarterback on the board at seven and there will be that you should take them.

You have to take them if.

You if the organization completely is an agreement that this is a guy to build around, and they'll know a lot from the visits and pro days and sitting down with him if he's the guy. But it's the most important thing that Darren Moodie's gonna do here in his first year is to identify that player whoever would you know, whether it's Start or mil Row or Leonard whatever, like that's he's gonna be getting measured by that. Right with Pop Nix.

Hey, we got Mons ahead that he's discussed in the draft.

But some pundits have pegged defensive tackle Mason Graham for the Jets there at number seven, and you've been talking about that Philadelphia defensive line. That'd be an interesting pairing up front on the interior, Graham next to quinnin Williams.

Well, not just Graham, but I was in Mobile.

I think this is the deepest and best defensive tackle draft we've seen a long time.

Like there's gonna be you can find him you know, was every round.

But you could look at Darius Alexander Toledo, who had an unbelievable final year, didn't do a whole lot before that, but big, strong, twitchy like there's and they come in they're three hundred and forty five pounds, they're two hundred and ninety five pounds.

Like.

There's pass rushers, some better than others. There's run stuffers like you can get. In fact, I believe that there's gonna be a team that's gonna draft two defensive tackles in this draft. It's just that deep right now. And so it's a good it's a good position if you're.

Looking for and after everybody just watched the Super Bowl, I would think that everybody's going to be lowing up along that defensive lot.

Well, I mean even if you look at, say, I thought the most improved player in this league.

This year was Nolan Smith of the Eagles.

You didn't start. I mean, they had Bryce Hoff for the first six weeks. Didn't work out. But by the time Nolan Smith got on the field and you watched week the week like he had sex in every postseason game, he blew up, He knocked guards out of the game.

Like his ability to strike and really bring heat off.

The edge is almost second to nobody in this whole business right now. But drafted develop He's the thirties pick of the draft and here is in the second year. I think he's gonna be elite player like Jackson. Like if you look at you know, some of these other players that they drafted, they all developed. So you know, Clinton Hurt, the defense line coach, did a great job, you know, really identifying these guys.

And I wanted to ask you about the new regime. Aaron Glenn, Darren Mugie Glenn, I tweeted this the other day. I saw this in an article written by Dan Watson, and I loved it. Everybody doesn't fit with what we do because not everybody can take it.

It's for the tough, it's for the grinders, it's for the gritty.

It's for the guys who want to improve on a day to day basis, and you are never satisfied this guy. That's some sweet music for you, Baldy, and tell us your thoughts at Aaron Glenn coming back here to the Jets.

I'm excited about to hire because of the things that he stands for. And there's gonna be zero tolerance, you know, for everything from from being late to lack of effort to not be in the training room.

I mean, it's gonna you're gonna be held accountable.

And like, I don't think you're gonna get a lot of fiery speeches at Aaron Glenn. But I think the big thing is I got to see development from the classroom to the offseason walkthroughs, to the practice field to the game. I got to see players develop. Like player development is music to my ears. And that's coaching, and that's teaching, that's demanding, that's never being satisfied. That's finding

Aaron Glenn is gonna be no bs, gonna demand accountability, gonna make sure that these guys know what the standard is. But at the same time, I also think he's gonna know when to love the players up as well.

Would you, yeah, knock him down. Knock him down, You can't do that. Everybody is wired a little bit different. You motivate different players differently as you get to know your players. The master of all time was Bill Parcells, but you know he everybody wanted to become a Parcels guy. But he didn't just give you love like you had to earn it, you know. And so I think Aaron understands a lot of that part of it. But yes, there's gonna be that part of it too. There's gonna be camaraderie.

There's gonna be team building, There's gonna be a chance to enjoy it.

It's not gonna just be a grind and knock you down. There's gonna be the other part to it. You can push and you can pull. There's a little fine dance the coaches.

Let's go rapid fire on some of these coaching editions, starting with the coordinator Steve Wilts. He's been known to be quite aggressive. Aaron Glen was aggressive as a defensive play caller himself.

In Detroit.

We saw that both these guys like to blitz WALDI, what do you think about a g adding the experience Wilts, Well.

Steve's got a lot of experience.

You know, he's been a head coach, he's been a coordinator, He's done all those things. So he's been in those shoes that can help. Aaron got a great deal learned from some of the mistakes Steve been made in his one year or whatever. But I think it's a good hire. Look, the aggressiveness is fine. The Eagles didn't blitz once in a Super Bowl, not one time, all right, their front

Rushers and you were forced to do it or whatever.

Steaks Steve's past is, but doesn't mean that you have to do that.

You have to play to your players strengths.

And so you know they're gonna get Johnson back on the defensive line, you know, to go with the development of Will and quitin like they might be able to do a lot with just their front.

Pol Tanner Angstrand comes over from the Detroit Lions. He's the passing game coordinator under Ben Johnson. There first time play caller, but you also have some experience right next to him and Scott Turner, a former offensive coordinator himself.

And Scott Turner the son of Door Tournament.

So, I mean there's a long line of lineage there about how to protect the quarterback play action passes. The quarterback is gonna be under center. It's not going to be a shotgun offense. There's certain things that you know right now.

Now.

Detroit had an elite personnel, all right, elite offensive line, Pro bowlers along the offense line. Like, there's a lot to work with there in Detroit. So the Jets are not there yet talent wise. That's you know, Darren's job, that's Aaron Glenn's job, you know, to start building.

The wall in front of whatever the quarterback is gonna be.

They had a pure pocket quarterback, you know, in Jared Goff the last three years.

They knew where he was gonna be every play.

There's a lot of creativity to the offense, which is fine once you established what the offense is.

Like, I think you've.

Got to establish, Okay, we're gonna be under center twenty five thirty percent of the time. Play actual pass is gonna be a big part of it. We're gonna take our shots. Here's how we're gonna do it. Here's how we're gonna max protect. Like there's a playbook there that's in existence, but it's all based on what your talent is.

That's one of those things ag was asked about about, Hey, do you like some of the talent here? And one of the things, in terms of the comparison with Detroit, he said, hey, listen, when we got in there and we started rolling, he pointed to that offensive line.

I mean, Pine Seol's first team on Pro Frank Ragnow is an on pro center.

You know.

I mean, they they they built their wall. They invested heavily in it, you know. I mean they went out got Kevin Zeidler in free agency, who's been a stud right guard. You know, Taylor Deco was the first round picket left tackle. I mean, they invested over way before honestly, Dan Campbell got there, they'd already invested in the line. But you know, I remember when Pine Sewell was drafted. Do we go get an elite receiver or do we

You can do that when you have an elite offensive line. He's a perfect fit in that offense. So I wanted to ask you about Chris Banjo because I know you were doing baldy breakdowns on him when he was a player, only thirty four years old.

He comes over from Denver. A lot of connections here.

When you look at the staff, you can say, okay, Mike west Off obviously he played for AG in that defensive backfield when he was in New Orleans.

But that guy had a NonStop motor. He's going to bring energy into the building.

Well, you got to have it at that position. I mean, you just got to. I mean, it's just important. It's just important to be able to do that to energize a franchise. And so I think the one thing that I've noticed, you know, whether it's Drake Blig like Aaron's bringing a lot of.

Former players in.

Yeah, keeping on Jefferson was a good move at wide receiver, like I think Detroit had Hank Fraley, they had former players on their staff.

And I'm a big proponent of it.

I mean, players have to decide if they want to coach, the commitment to it. Aaron obviously made that commitment as a player, rose through the ranks here as the head coach, and I think I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these position coaches.

Rise to become not just coordinators, but head coaches.

Like I think there's a part of him that wants to You saw what Dan Campbell's douge with Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn like part of it you've seen, honestly, you know Nick Sirianna do it, Aaron, Andy Reid do it.

Like.

Part of it is if you're a great teacher, it's just not the players, it's the coaches as well.

Coaching the coaches is a big part of it.

And I'm I'm kind of anxious to see how many of these coaches get to that level where they become top coordinators, top lieutenants.

Yeah, because if we do have a Detroit situation on our hands here at one Jets Drive. You know, the Green and White had a lot of success with Aaron. Let's end here. Jet's got to get the quarterback position, right.

We know that.

But as far as Aaron, now that he's got a staff complete it in Darren Mugi, what do they got to do over the next couple months Because ultimately, these guys are going to be on the practice field and they got to look up and down that roster too, because some guys externally people might say, well, that's a talented dude, he'll be there. Well, not necessarily, because these guys are going to put their stamp and they also want certain characteristics in their players.

And they deserve that right to look for those things. So honestly, going back and combing the seventeen games this year is a priority and just identifying their type of players, getting to know the players right now as quickly as they can. Some guys are rehabbing, some guys are still in the facility, whatever, but they got to get to the other players because they have decisions to make about

Jermaine Johnson coming back is gonna be part.

Seeing the development of Will McDonald is good, you know, but I want to you know, seeing you know, you know, what they did at certain linebacker linebackers this year, what they've done, Like, I think you've got to start identifying players that are gonna be part of this regime.

Whether you're gonna pay them.

You know, or you know, or whether they're gonna be one year deals or whether they're gonna be jennisons Like these are critical decisions as you start to build your new ninety man roster.

This is awesome, as always, a dawn of a new day here for the New York Jets will be going in a different direction at the quarterback position under Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougi.

Hey, Matt, and thanks for bringing the pipes out.

Yeah, let me just say one thing finished with this because I've heard you know, the Jets obviously do not have a great history, right, you know, in recent history it's not been great. We've seen turnover front office coaches. But just because it hasn't been good, doesn't I want Aaron Glenn to get every opportunity and every optimistic opportunity

The Jets deserve a chance, and Aaron deserves a chance

To get this Inside of my friend,