Ryan Fitzpatrick Questions Aaron Rodgers's Leadership After Mike Williams Comments

Karl Rasmussen | Oct 16, 2024

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Thursday Night Football analyst, on set before the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Much like Aaron Rodgers's final throw of the game, the New York Jets came up short on Monday Night Football in the 23–20 loss against the Buffalo Bills.

On the day following the Jets' prime-time loss to their division rivals, Rodgers was asked by reporters about the team's final play in which he and Mike Williams were not on the same page, resulting in a game-sealing interception by Taron Johnson. In his comments, Rodgers admitted that Williams had run the wrong route rather than shoulder the blame himself.

That didn't sit well with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The former quarterback turned Prime Video NFL analyst took to social media to share his thoughts on Rodgers and his recent comments. Fitzpatrick questioned why Rodgers felt the need to publicly call out Williams for his route, rather than hold an off-camera conversation with his teammate.

This response is the biggest thing I don’t understand about Aaron….can be super charismatic, his swagger gives teammates the ultimate confidence BUT

why can’t he shoulder ALL the blame in the media and then get behind closed doors with Mike Williams or the whole offense or the… pic.twitter.com/JyEhoX1DVP

— Ryan Fitzpatrick (@FitzMagic_14) October 15, 2024

"This response is the biggest thing I don’t understand about Aaron... can be super charismatic, his swagger gives teammates the ultimate confidence," Fitzpatrick wrote. "BUT... why can’t he shoulder ALL the blame in the media and then get behind closed doors with Mike Williams or the whole offense or the whole team or anyone else that isn’t doing their job and tell them he needs more out of them... The need to set the record straight at the expense of someone lesser than just hurts me."

Fitzpatrick made clear that he felt airing Williams' mistake to reporters wasn't the right response. As a leader, he feels Rodgers should have fallen on the sword in front of the cameras, and then discussed the matter with his wide receiver privately.

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