Aaron Rodgers Has Lifted the Mood at 'Lit' Jets Facility

Multiple parties credit Gang Green's new field general for re-energizing the franchise

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Cool, dope, lit — words used by members of the New York Jets to describe the feeling of having Aaron Rodgers as the team's quarterback. 

Rodgers has been a Jet for 28 days, and the novelty has not worn off yet. In fact, it still seems to be growing.

Jets' head coach Robert Saleh and select players stepped to the podium in Florham Park on Tuesday and addressed questions about having a four-time National Football League Most Valuable Player in the building.

Saleh said, "it's been cool."

Tight end CJ Uzomah called it "pretty dope." 

Starting cornerback DJ Reed described it as "lit."

Here are the extended comments about Rodgers, who comes to the Jets as the ninth all-time leading passer in NFL history.

DJ Reed, Cornerback

"It's lit, man. It's a great energy around the building. It wasn't just the players that I felt the energy from. I felt it from all the staff. Everybody was just happy, had a smile on their face."

"One guy can do that. Even when he came in the building. I seen him, I'm like that's really AR, he's really a Jet. It was still kinda surreal. It's a crazy feeling knowing that we got a Hall-of-Fame quarterback that's going to be playing for us this year. It was pretty dope. My first encounter with him, real cool dude. He's a Cali boy. Got a chill vibe."

"AR, he can make crazy throws that a lot of quarterbacks can't, and the ball placement, where he puts the ball at for the receiver to get, it's pretty crazy at times. That's what I'd say that he does elite. I feel like he controls 2-minute situations really good."

CJ Uzomah, Tight end

"It's been pretty dope to be honest. Just having his presence, having his insight in football. It is fun for me to be able to, I mean every year I try to learn something different, but I'm learning a lot. With concepts, with coverages, with how he wants us to run certain things. He's opening up the playbook."

"Meetings. Meetings is the biggest, is where we feel his presence the most, because it's not just someone talking to you. It's, 'Hey, we're gonna stop for a second and talk about this,' just so we're all on the same page."

"It is just that veteran presence. ... He's an expert out there. He's a GOAT."

"We have nice talks about Broadway shows, sometimes, which is nice. I'm a big Broadway guy, he's a big Broadway way guy, doing stuff in the City. We've had some good conversation outside of football. He's one of the boys. He's one of the homies."

"Every time he goes out somewhere, he's on the big screen, he's on the jumbotron. Anytime we go out know, we're hearing something about going to the Super Bowl, and this and that. It's outside noise though. Everything that we're focused on is in this building, and in that locker room and on the field. A lot of buzz, but it means nothing until we go out there and prove it."

OTAs starting mean the helmets go on @AaronRodgers12 @cj_uzomah pic.twitter.com/I858jGZbX7

— Woody Johnson (@woodyjohnson4) May 22, 2023

Robert Saleh, Head coach

"It's been cool. I joke around that he's closer to a coach than he is a player at this point in his career. He's a fantastic mind, he's a fantastic conversation, so, it's been all positive."

"He’s had a lot of schemes in his day, obviously, so he has a wealth of knowledge. He’s got familiarity with Hackett. There’s going to be some nuance, obviously, that’s different than what he had in Green Bay. I’m not going to get too much into trying to reveal for Buffalo to go study. There are nuances, there will be some differences, but it’s stuff that obviously he can handle."

"The amount of communication, pre-snap, post-snap, just sitting in meetings and having him be vocal about his cadence and the way he wants to operate within the offense as a quarterback calling the signals."

"He is a little kid in an old man’s body. He’s having a blast."

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