Aaron Rodgers says he has 'some personal guilt' over Zach Wilson benching
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, left, and quarterback Zach Wilson, right, before a game against the New York Giants. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Aaron Rodgers, the Jets’ starting quarterback for four plays this season, said on Tuesday that he has “some personal guilt” over what befell his successor.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the Jets replaced Zach Wilson with Tim Boyle, Rodgers said on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” “This was obviously not the way any of us thought this was going to go down.”
He said the idea was for Wilson to watch and learn from the future Hall of Famer, not be thrown back into the fray in the season’s first quarter.
“So obviously, this is disappointing,” Rodgers said. “I have some personal guilt around the whole thing. I’m [expletive] that I wasn’t able to play.”
Had he been playing well, he said, “There would be different narratives around our team and Zach would have the opportunity to learn and grow and see what it looks like without the pressure on and be able to go through the season and just get to watch me and my process.”
Rodgers added, “We’re all going to support Tim and go forward, but we're also going to put our arms around Zach and love Zach, because he is a great kid and it’s not all his fault and it’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Coach Robert Saleh removed Wilson late in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Bills, then said on Monday that Boyle would start Friday against the Dolphins.
“We need a spark, and obviously this was the decision that was made,” Rodgers said. “I feel for Zach. I love Zach. Zach is such a great kid. And I do think he still has a bright future in the league.
“This has been a tough go for all of us. A lot of times in these situations, there's certain guys they’ve got to scapegoat. I think there's enough blame to go around.”
Rodgers knows Boyle well. He was Rodgers’ backup with the Packers in 2019 and ’20. Rodgers praised him as a student of the game, calling him a football “gym rat.”
Rodgers called into the McAfee show from his bed in a rehab facility in California, but he plans to join the team in New Jersey full-time this week.
He only partially denied a Fox Sports report that he is aiming to return to practice on Dec. 2, his 40th birthday, noting that it is a Saturday and thus not practical.
But he did say, “I’ve love to be trending toward practicing by my birthday.”
Rodgers did confirm a Fox report that he sent some teammates a video of him running on a treadmill to illustrate his progress after Achilles tendon surgery.
While Rodgers sought to downplay the video’s import, McAfee said he had seen it and, “For real, it’s bananas what you’re doing right now . . . You’re crushing it.”
Rodgers said his urgency to return has not been dulled by the Jets’ three-game losing streak and 4-6 record. He had done his homework on that subject.
He noted the Jets were 4-6 in 2009 when they won seven of eight and reached the AFC Championship Game, and that Rodgers’ Packers were 4-6 in 2016 when they won eight in a row and reached the NFC Championship Game.
“The season is definitely not over,” he said.
Asked about Rodgers’ timeline on Monday, Saleh said, “I’ll be honest, I am talking to Aaron all the time, just about life and football and all that good stuff. Until he is cleared by doctors, all of it is a moot point and I haven’t gotten any indication otherwise. I love that he is working hard. I think that it shows the type of character he is. I have said that before. He is relentlessly trying to get back to this football team as quickly as he can. Does he have personal goals? Sure. Does he have his eyes set on certain weeks? Sure. But all of it is a moot point until he is cleared by doctors.”
Rodgers said he contemplated retiring the night of his injury but woke up the next morning ready to “climb the mountain one more time.”
He said not playing has been “awful most days, to be honest,” but down the stretch he plans to be around the team and doing what he can to help.
But unlike in 2016, when he made it his business to be the voice of the Packers’ late-season rally, he knows those on the field have to accept that job this time.
“I’d love to see more guys step up and somebody put it on themselves and say, ‘I’m going to be the reason we win this week,’ ” he said. “And hopefully everybody can play a little bit looser and go out there and be free.”
“Nobody’s expecting us to win. That’s a dangerous position to be in [for the opponent].”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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