ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe didn’t hold back in his scathing critique of Aaron Rodgers, whom he accused of playing a key role in the dismissal of New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh. Saleh was fired by Jets owner Woody Johnson on Tuesday morning following the team’s disheartening 2-3 start to the 2024 season, punctuated by a recent loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Sharpe, visibly shocked by the news during a live broadcast of First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith, Domonique Foxworth, and Molly Qerim, pointed the finger not at Saleh, but at Rodgers for the chaos surrounding the team. In a fiery rant, the Hall of Fame tight end argued that Rodgers, through his undermining behavior, had set Saleh up for failure long before the season began.
“Saleh didn’t lose this team,” Sharpe said. “Aaron Rodgers undercut this man by not coming to minicamp. We heard the mumbles about how bad that looked because it was mandatory.”
Sharpe elaborated that Rodgers’ decision to skip the Jets’ mandatory minicamp in June, instead opting for a vacation along the Nile River, sent a damaging message to the rest of the team. “The moment Aaron Rodgers did that, Robert Saleh lost control over the team because the guys were saying, ‘This guy is supposed to be our leader. This is the guy we’re supposed to count on?’” Sharpe continued.
Rodgers, who had participated in voluntary OTAs earlier in the offseason, chose to skip the mandatory sessions in favor of a trip to Egypt. His absence, deemed “unexcused” by the team, resulted in fines totaling over $100,000. At the time, Rodgers was on track for a return to the field after suffering a season-ending Achilles rupture in 2023.
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The decision to miss minicamp, and Rodgers’ later justification on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast, where he dismissed the importance of the sessions and described his Egyptian getaway as “beautiful,” did not sit well with Sharpe, who felt it showcased a lack of commitment from the quarterback.
Sharpe continued his criticism of Rodgers, stating, “Boy, this is a bad look on Aaron Rodgers. He doesn’t realize how bad this looks. Can you imagine Tom Brady later in his career getting a coach fired? Can you imagine Peyton Manning later in his career having a coach fired on his watch? That ‘bad man’ has become more problems than he’s worth.”
While Sharpe laid the blame squarely on Rodgers for creating an untenable situation for Saleh, his First Take co-host Stephen A. Smith had a different perspective. Smith argued that Saleh’s firing was inevitable and had been a long time coming, citing deeper issues within the locker room that predated the current season.
“I told you a week or two ago that I didn’t think he was going to make it through the season,” Smith remarked. “Robert Saleh had no control over the team itself. The offense was being run by Aaron Rodgers.”
Smith continued by pointing out that many in the NFL had criticized the Jets’ leadership structure and their lackluster offensive performance, calling them “pedestrian.” “Opposing coaches, people on stations, everybody who knows anything about football was talking about how pedestrian the Jets were—especially offensively—how they were bereft of the leadership you need for this team to be what it had the potential to be.”
Smith also referenced the apparent disconnect between Saleh and Rodgers, noting the mixed messages coming from the sidelines. “You saw the relationship with him and Rodgers on the sideline, and people speculating about it. Saleh saying one thing and Rodgers saying another—something wasn’t right with this picture,” he added.
Though Saleh’s firing was a blow to the Jets organization, Smith wasn’t surprised by the decision. “I’m never happy to see someone fired, but I am not surprised,” he concluded.
Despite Rodgers being back to full health, the Jets have struggled to find their footing this season, with their latest loss to the Minnesota Vikings leaving them at 2-3. Saleh’s firing comes just days after the team’s setback in London, where he made headlines for wearing a Lebanon flag on the sidelines, sparking further controversy.
With Saleh out, Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will take over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The Jets, now a floundering franchise, are left to pick up the pieces after yet another tumultuous chapter in their search for stability and success.
Whether the team can rebound from this early-season chaos remains to be seen, but one thing is clear—Shannon Sharpe believes Aaron Rodgers has played a significant role in the downfall of Robert Saleh’s tenure in New York.
