SNY’s Gary Cohen offered up a Pat McAfee-inspired theory as to where Aaron Rodgers might be after not attending the Jets’ mandatory minicamp.
The iconic play-by-play announcer discussed national news with SNY Jets studio host Steve Gelbs while calling the final out of Wednesday night’s 10-4 Mets-Marlins win.
“So where do you think he is?” Cohen asked Gelbs. “There are a lot of possibilities,” Gelbs replied.
“Is he under Pat McAfee’s couch or somewhere?” Cohen said pointedly.
“That might be the best possibility,” Gelbs said with a laugh.
It’s no surprise that McAfee had some amusing thoughts on the situation, as he and Rodgers are very close and McAfee gives the future Hall of Famer an open forum each week to share his thoughts.
No matter what Rodgers has to say, whether it’s about Jimmy Kimmel or COVID, McAfee won’t argue with Rodgers and will almost always be on his side.
Even with this current Jets drama, McAfee mocked how Jets coach Robert Saleh handled Rodgers’ absence, with Saleh saying Rodgers missed minicamp because of “something that’s very important to him.”
“It’s interesting that Aaron is 20 years old and has never missed an OTA,” McAfee said Tuesday. “What’s happened in your life? Obviously Saleh heard that and was like, ‘No, I don’t think so.'”
McAfee may be laughing about it, but the reality is that Rodgers made Jets minicamp a talking point by putting football on the back burner.
Saleh tried to calm the situation Wednesday by saying he and his star quarterback are on the same page, but their priorities don’t appear to be aligned.
While many have weighed in on the situation, the SNY staff had more fun with the story (rightfully, I might add) than just focusing on the final out of a game between two struggling National League East teams.
Cohen had no problem speaking candidly about Rodgers’ career with the Jets.
“Aaron Rodgers took four snaps in his career with the Jets,” Cohen said.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Gelbs replied, to which Cohen added: “Do you think he’ll take more?”
“Absolutely,” Gelbs said, “and I honestly don’t care where he is right now. I just want us to win games in the regular season.”
“When you compare their careers with the Jets, my feeling right now is that Brett Favre has had a better career than Aaron Rodgers so far,” Cohen said before striking out.
“Well, I don’t think it’s an issue right now,” Gelbs responded, to which Cohen laughed. “Gary, at this point, very few people have had it worse, but it’s still very early on. I’m as optimistic as I’m physically able to be, but I don’t know how optimistic that will be. But I’m optimistic.”
Cohen then took Gelbs, a well-known Jets and Rangers fan, down memory lane.
“There’s been a lot of disappointment over the last few years with Rodgers leaving and Rangers not getting to the finals…” he said.
“It’s been a tough year,” Gelbs agreed.
Cohen responded: “Hopefully Aaron will come along at some point because I don’t know if I can stand any more of this.”
Jets pre- and post-game hosts conveyed optimism to the world about Rodgers’ absence.
“Look at it from this perspective,” Gelbs said, “he participated in every offseason practice he could last year, mandatory and non-mandatory, and what did he get out of it?”
It’s true that the Jets got nothing done and can only hope for better things to come going forward.
In the meantime, maybe we can check under McAfee’s couch to see if his buddies are there.
