It appears New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh has no problem with quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaking his mind during “The Pat McAfee Show” segments that routinely generate headlines for non-football-related reasons.
“You know what, I think — I’m not gonna speak for him, but I am, in this small, little segment, when we refer to ‘BS,’ we refer to everything inside the wall,” Saleh explained during an appearance on “The Michael Kay Show,” as shared by Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing. “I promise you; I don’t think anyone really cares about — inside these walls, his teammates — no one cares about the ‘McAfee Show.’ I think that’s more just noise for the outside world. But just the things in here, and the things that we need to do better as an organization, as players, as coaches — all of us in terms of stop sweating the small stuff, and let’s worry about winning football games.”
Saleh was referring to how Rodgers spoke about the state of the Jets during an end-of-season news conference on Monday and said that “the bull—- that has nothing to do with winning has to get out of the building.” That, of course, was after the future Hall of Famer seemed to link ABC late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel with Jeffrey Epstein and before Rodgers once again shared conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines and other topics during his “McAfee Show” segment on Tuesday afternoon.
“Pat McAfee’s show is entertainment,” Saleh said. “It’s what he does. He makes good money off it; good for him. And they’ve put together a good product. But at the same time, I promise you nobody really cares about what’s said on ‘The Pat McAfee Show.'”
Per Ryan Chichester of Audacy, New York sports radio host Gregg Giannotti said last week that the Jets “don’t have the guts to stand up to (Rodgers) and say” that the 40-year-old can no longer appear on McAfee’s program. It’s widely believed Saleh, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and general manager Joe Douglas are keeping their jobs with the Jets through this winter following a disappointing 7-10 season largely because they have Rodgers’ support.
“There’s nothing negative about it,” Saleh added about Rodgers potentially sharing certain controversial takes with Jets teammates.
Regardless of what anybody thinks about what Rodgers does or doesn’t say on the “McAfee Show,” Saleh’s comments indicate the signal-caller won’t stop appearing on the program anytime soon for better or for worse.
