- Sauce Gardner is pulling out all the stops to bring Aaron Rodgers to the Jets.
- On Thursday, Gardner posted a video of himself burning the cheesehead he used to celebrate a win over the Packers in 2022.
Some of the young stars of the New York Jets sent a clear message to Aaron Rodgers on Thursday night: Come play with us!
A summoning circle of sorts was led by cornerback Sauce Gardner, last year's Defensive Rookie of the Year. When the Jets defeated the Packers at Lambeau Field back in October, Gardner celebrated after the game by wearing a cheesehead in front of the Green Bay faithful.
On Thursday night, Gardner posted a video of himself and two fellow young Jets — running back Breece Hall and wide receiver Garrett Wilson — burning that cheesehead in a peace offering of sorts to Rodgers.
"At the end of the game I felt like I was on top of the world," Gardner explained. "But let me tell you what an even greater feeling was: the conversation that me and Aaron Rodgers had.
"We settled our differences about the cheesehead and everything. He had some energy. I had some energy. Our conversation definitely gave me hope that he could be in that green and white next season."
As news broke earlier in the week that Jets officials were meeting with Rodgers, Gardner tweeted out a promise that he wouldn't pick off the longtime Green Bay quarterback in practice if he joined New York. Gardner also said he'd be willing to burn the cheesehead.
—D’ROY GARDNER (@iamSauceGardner) March 7, 2023
On Thursday night, Gardner made good on the second half of the promise in a video posted to YouTube.
"I just know it's going to be precise," Wilson said of a potential connection with Rodgers. "That's the main thing I think about when I think about A-Rod."
The cheesehead was burned, melting away in Gardner's fire pit.
"It's turning into cheese sauce!" the group exclaimed as the cheesehead drifted from this mortal coil.
It's not hard to see why the young Jets are so eager to get Rodgers to join their ranks.
Through the first half of last season, New York looked like potential contenders. While the squad was still rather young on both sides of the ball, their defense was near elite, and Wilson's emergence as a top-tier wide receiver as a rookie suddenly made the offense look dangerous.
The problem, however, was under center.
Rotating through quarterbacks Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson, and Mike White, the Jets offense was never able to find its rhythm, and dramatically fell off through the second half of the year.
—Ben Volin (@BenVolin) March 10, 2023
While Rodgers is now 39 years old and will turn 40 during the course of the 2023 NFL season, he's still just a year removed from back-to-back MVP campaigns, and across the NFL, there are few — if any — better candidates available that are capable of unlocking the Jets' potential.
Rodgers said earlier in the off-season that he didn't plan to hold the Packers hostage as he mulled his options — from returning to Green Bay to looking for a new team to potential retirement.
After his darkness retreat, the ball is now officially in Rodgers' court.
If he wants to head to New York, it's clear he'd be welcome in the Jets' locker room.