Former Jets quarterback makes harsh criticism of Aaron Rodgers' leadership style

The NFL has had some interesting examples of elite quarterbacks changing teams in the late stages of their careers and having a huge impact, not only on the field, but also helping adjust the culture. That's how Peyton Manning won with the Denver Broncos, and then how Tom Brady was extremely successful with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So far, the same can't be said about Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.

The team is 2-4, head coach Robert Saleh has been fired, and the offense is only 21st in DVOA this season.

According to former New York Jets quarterback and current Amazon's Thursday Night Football analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick, Rodgers' leadership style brings a specific problem to the locker room.

Against the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, Rodgers was intercepted late in the game. In the post-game press conference, the quarterback publicly said that wide receiver Mike Williams ran the wrong route.

During his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Rodgers explained his decision to point out the mistake.

"If you watch my press conferences, I've started with myself when I've made mistakes. That's the standard for everybody. 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 explained. "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."

Aaron Rodgers has a fair point, but Ryan Fitzpatrick thinks a leader could simply take the blame publicly and address Williams' mistake privately.

"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," Fitzpatrick wrote on X. "The need to set the record straight at the expense of someone lesser than just hurts me."