Fans have gotten a glimpse of Aaron Rodgers as a leader this summer in “Hard Knocks.”
One scene in the last episode showed his anger at a bad practice for the offense. Rodgers pulled no punches as he griped about mistakes the offense was making. For everything the Jets hope Rodgers brings to the field this season, he has already shown them leadership they have not had in a long time.
The 39-year-old has gravitas that no Jets quarterback has had since Brett Favre was here in 2008. Since then, it has been young draft picks or old journeymen at quarterback with résumés that can’t compare to Rodgers’.
“Aaron has such a high standard for himself because of his ability and what he can do in this game,” said wide receiver Allen Lazard, who played with Rodgers in Green Bay, “and he’s not going to lower that standard just because other guys on the field are there with him. He’s going to hold his guys to the same standard and set expectations whenever he’s on the field. He’s going to approach it the same way. If you mess up, you mess up and he’s going to let you have it.
“Sometimes, I think especially with the way the world is kind of going, people are getting a little softer and a little more sensitive. I think that hard, confrontational discipline is all that you need. I know it was for me. When he was cussing me out or giving me a dirty look after I messed up, that’s what motivated me to not do that again because I did not want to disappoint him.”
Lazard said the message from Rodgers can be boiled down to this: “Be on your s–t.”
When Rodgers talks about his leadership style, he often uses the word “intentional.” In Rodgers’ football world, nothing happens accidentally.
“There’s certain guys I like to check in with daily,” Rodgers said. “There’s guys you get to know. There’s times you walk into the cafeteria and just kind of scope it out, like who is sitting where, who is by themselves and who is on their phone, who would be good to sit next to and have a conversation with, who might need it that day. It’s just like a feel thing, trying to be always present.”
Rodgers does not approach every teammate the same way.
“I’m going to be very patient with certain guys and with certain guys we’re going to up the urgency,” he said. “I think you can’t coach or lead each player the same way. Everybody responds differently. I’ve been hugging Mekhi [Becton] every single day. That’s how he responds best. Mecole [Hardman], I can be very direct with him because he wants to do the right thing every time. Garrett [Wilson], there’s a lot of real high-level conversations. I love listening to how he sees things. [Randall Cobb] and Allen have been with me forever so there’s so much unspoken understanding between us. There is patience with the right guys and there’s a little more urgency with the other guys that respond better with a little bit of push.”
Rodgers said he tries to learn things about teammates to show that he cares about them. It may be their child’s name or birthday, an important event in their life or someone close to them who Rodgers met at practice. He keeps notes in his phone to help him remember these types of things.
As a young backup to Favre in Green Bay, Rodgers would think about how he would lead the team when he became the starter.
“A lot of the stuff I learned was honed during the three years as a backup because I had no pressure,” Rodgers said, “so I got to just stand back and go, ‘OK, how would I do this if I was the guy?’ and ‘What does Favre do that I like and what would I do differently as a young starter?’ And just start to figure out how I wanted to lead once I got the opportunity.”
As tough as Rodgers can be, Lazard said he has seen more patience from the quarterback since joining the Jets. Lazard said Rodgers understands most of the Jets are learning the offense and working with Rodgers for the first time.
“He’s a lot more relaxed and not necessarily letting things slide,” Lazard said, “but not being so hard to come down on people when they mess up in certain situations.”