Nathaniel Hackett benched as play-caller for part of Jets minicamp

With starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers a no-show for the New York Jets mandatory minicamp this week, the team apparently decided to shake up its coaching personnel as well.

According to SNY’s Connor Hughes, passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Todd Downing, and not offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, was calling the offensive plays during two-minute drills on Wednesday.

While teams typically allow position coaches to call plays from time to time during minicamp, the Jets — and more specifically Hackett — are under a microscope after it was reported a few weeks ago that the team attempted to hire someone during the offseason to oversee the offense and essentially replace Hackett as the offensive play-caller.

There were multiple reports last offseason that Hackett would call specific plays and that Rodgers would audible out of them at the line of scrimmage to plays that he preferred to run. The two spent three seasons together in Green Bay (2019-21) when Hackett was the Packers' OC.