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Chris Canty: Aaron Rodgers Like a Cancer for the Jets

Canty made his comments on Unsportsmanlike Radio.

Kyle Koster

Rodgers and the Jets are 2-5.
Rodgers and the Jets are 2-5. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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The Aaron Rodgers thing is not going well for the New York Jets. He's won two games for them since being anointed as the franchise's savior. Suffering a season-ending injury four plays into a season is rotten luck and no one can fault him for what happened in 2023. But this year is another story as the soap opera continues.

Pundits who have been saying sort of the same thing after each Jets loss are tasked with saying it in a new way. Chris Canty found a strong way to do that on Thursday morning's Unsportsmanlike Radio, comparing the quarterback to a cancer spreading through the Jets organization.

"The last couple of years in Green Bay, we suspected that Aaron Rodgers could be a little bit toxic, especially with a young team," Canty said. "I had no idea that it would be this bad. This guy is like a cancer that has metastasized within the New York Jets organization and I don't know how they fix it."

Count that as another media member who simply could not foresee that gambling on advanced-aged and free-thinking Rodgers might be a bad idea for the Jets, a franchise that tends to screw up most things they try. It's like no one was paying any attention.

Canty's metaphor is apt and also extreme. But the main difference seems to be that the Jets sort of... invited all this in. They cannot be surprised that Rodgers is asserting control and it's become his show. And more importantly, it's probably best that they put all their eggs in his basket even if it isn't working out right now because what's the other option? Even before he came over it's not like there was a healthy, robust culture.

With 10 games left in the regular season the Jets can't wait much longer if they want to turn things around and play meaningful football post-holidays. Only then will the Rodgers segments change and the comparisons turn more glowing.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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