HBO has selected the New York Jets to appear on this season of Hard Knocks. There are three criteria that allow a team to deny appearing on Hard Knocks, and the Jets met none of them. These are having a first-year head coach, a playoff berth in the last two years, or an appearance on the show in the last ten years. No teams wanted to participate, so HBO decided to give Aaron Rodgers a platform to advocate for the benefits of magic mushrooms.
The Jets are going to be great for Hard Knocks. The show relies on the people in the locker room to provide entertainment through ridiculous personalities, and over the top levels of competition. The Jets should have no shortage of either of these this offseason. Quarterbacks as good as Aaron Rodgers typically keep their teams eligible to deny the show. A super star quarterback navigating a young locker room is new for the show, and will surely be great television. Throw in the fact that he is one of the weirdest guys in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers is ready to fill a Succession sized hole in the tv world.
In addition to Rodgers, the Jets have no shortage of personality in their locker room. Sauce Gardner is a beast and each of his teammates spend thirty minutes a day reminding everyone of that on Twitter. They also have a young, passionate head coach. Robert Saleh is going to act as a more than serviceable sequel to Dan Campbell’s theatrics last year. They also boast an incredibly young locker room with a bunch of people on the cusp of their own stardom. Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall both flashed their potential on the field, but boast egos so inflated they might pop.
This team clearly has no shortage of personalities. But the best thing about this team is how they have built giant expectations to suddenly join the heavy weights at the top of the AFC. The expectations are going to be huge for this team, but the experience is incredibly limited. The pressure will be on the whole group, but the weight of the world will be on Rodgers. Despite the fact that the cameras will leave before this group ever plays a meaningful snap, the chaos we see this summer will begin the narrative for the upcoming season. I’m hoping this leads to a front row seat to a dumpster fire in New York.
I also want to add, that I would be negligent of my duties in telling you in-depth analysis basic Jets facts and unintelligent opinions without mentioning Quinnen Williams. He is a three-hundred-pound teddy bear with a bubbly personality and a skill for throwing grown men around like toddlers. This guy sneezed in an interview before blessing, AND thanking himself. He’s the type of guy who was the best athlete on every team he played on growing up. As a result, no one ever told him how weird he is. This type of personality will be great for the show.
Some people say Hard Knocks has gotten old over the past few years. Obviously, an NFL training camp is more repetitive than your dad’s responses to Fox News. But with a good cast, it truly never gets old. The Jets are the perfect team. Just don’t put a camera in Rodgers’ face while he’s tripping. That would be cruel.
