NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Aaron Rodgers is now a man of movement.
The Jets quarterback criticized the use of pre-snap motion during his time in Green Bay, and it has been widely acknowledged that he is against it ever since.
But the Jets used motion on 49 percent of snaps against the 49ers last week, signaling they intend to move their receivers more before and at the snap.
Rodgers said this week that his perspective on motion has changed because teams like the 49ers and Dolphins have made it so popular.
“It's all the rage,” Rodgers said. “For me, I think there was a time when I loved Peyton. [Manning] What they did for a long time was line up 2×2 or 3×1 and everything was at the line of scrimmage. So I think there's value just to look at that. And just like we did a couple of third downs and we were able to get to the right play, there's a lot of value in pre-snap motion because it really shakes up the defense and tests their gap control. It tests their rules.”
Rodgers said his comments against motion were made a long time ago and that he has grown since then and understands the value of motion as the game has changed.
“You can have multiple guys moving on the same play – nickel, back and safety – so it forces guys to think a lot and I think that's a big part of the offense, but it's because the league has changed,” Rodgers said. “When I was younger, when Peyton was playing, the league was different. You could be a base keeper on the field. You could sit there and watch. [figure] I knew what was coming.
“Now, the reason I was surprised by the motion was the defense because of the West Coast quarterback. I was raised to start on defense, and now as you can see with these motions, teams are becoming less aggressive about pressuring because you can get very hurt in the boarding zone in both the run game and the pass game. It's a long answer, but I like the motion. I said that once. And I'm grateful that it gave me the room to grow and adapt to it.”
The Jets promoted DL Jalyn Holmes from the practice squad for Sunday's game against the Titans.
