Aaron Rodgers doubles down on criticism of former Chargers star

Chris Roling | Oct 15, 2024

Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

In this story:

Los Angeles Chargers

Former Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams was in the headlines on Tuesday for all the wrong reasons.

The biggest thing keeping Williams there—by far—was public criticism from New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

To keep it short and sweet, on Monday night, Rodgers hit the Jets’ postgame presser and essentially called out Williams for running the wrong route on the play he threw the game-sealing pick in the loss.

Rodgers, hearing the criticism and getting asked about it on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday, doubled down on his comments.

“There were a lot of mistakes throughout the night, but if you’re looking at just that play, that’s what the question was, What happened on that play? It was two verticals to the right side and Mike needed to get to the red line, which would have been a big gain,” Rodgers said, according to PFT’s Michael David Smith. “So I wasn’t calling Mike out for anything but his responsibility and the details on that play. I have a lot of love and respect for Mike. He does some nice things for us. On that play he wasn’t in the right spot. You can make more of that if you want to, but we all should be held to a standard.”

Rodgers is being truthful when he says the pressers often feature him accepting plenty of self-blame, too.

But Rodgers isn’t exactly correct about holding players to a “standard.”

There’s no standard being upheld when a quarterback calls out his teammates in public rather than handling things behind closed doors. That’s why the way he went about it has garnered so much widespread coverage and criticism—and one can only imagine how the rest of the locker room feels about it.

Not so coincidentally, Williams was a first-round pick for the Chargers in 2017 and spent seven seasons with the team before this rough go in the Big Apple. It’s also not a coincidence that the Chargers have a big need at wideout and should probably call the Jets about a trade for Williams now that New York has reunited Rodges with Davante Adams.

— Enjoy free coverage of the Chargers from Los Angeles Chargers on SI —