Matt Leinart and Rodney Harrison are both former players who have become members of the media. However, the two apparently don’t see eye-to-eye following Harrison’s interview with Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.
During that interview, Harrison seemed to be trying to get Jones to say something bad about New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, who has been much maligned but played well against Kansas City. Harrison said, “But watching that tape, man, you’ve got to look at this dude and he is garbage, like we should really tear him apart.”
Chris Jones took the opportunity to praise Wilson, calling him a special player. At that point, Rodney Harrison cut him off and said he had a special night but that he’s not a special player. It was an interview that Leinart took issue with from the start and shared his feelings about on Twitter.
“This is trash,” Leinart posted. “Our job in media is to analyze and critique not to rip these guys apart especially after a great game. Complete garbage.”
For the most part, the general public seemed to agree with Leinart. It’s one thing to critique a player, but it’s another thing to be insulting to a player. In this case, it likely wasn’t necessary after Wilson played one of the best games of his career.
Matt Leinart likely also feels a connection to Zach Wilson in a way that very few others can understand. Just like Wilson, Leinart was a quarterback taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. Just like Wilson, things really didn’t work out in the NFL for Matt Leinart and they’re both now considered draft busts. In another world, Harrison’s comments could have been about him during his own struggles.
Micah Parsons responded to Rodney Harrison
Another current player who took issue with Rodney Harrison’s comments about Zach Wilson was star edge rusher Micah Parsons. In particular, Parsons took issue with the fact that Harrison wasn’t praising the winning Kansas City defense, but trying to take shots at Zach Wilson.
“Bro honestly I’ll never understand media,” Parsons posted. “This platform should been a moment to praise the chiefs and they win!! This guy is trying to completely tear Zach Wilson down!! I don’t get it!! I honestly hope Zach proves a lot of these people wrong!”
Zach Wilson will get his chance to prove Rodney Harrison and all his doubters wrong throughout this season, even if the job is likely to go back to Aaron Rodgers once he returns from an Achilles injury regardless of how well he plays.
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