Bromance blossoms between Jets' Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — There is a look that comes across the face of almost everyone in the Jets' facility whenever they talk about Aaron Rodgers. Their eyes grow large, their mouth begins to curl into a giddy uncontainable grin, and they stammer in an often fruitless attempt to find the right words to describe what it is like to work with such a decorated talent each and every day.
It’s a mix of awe and respect and appreciation. It washes over grown men who themselves are at the top of their professions, players and coaches who have spent their entire careers refusing to genuflect before anyone. They can’t help it. It’s an involuntary reaction.
But there is one player on the team who can make Rodgers himself go all gooey in the same fashion.
Seriously, find yourself someone who looks at you with the goofy gaze Rodgers gets when he talks about Garrett Wilson.
“ 'Seventeen' being out there just changes the dynamics of the whole thing because he’s so special,” Rodgers said of his new favorite target, comparing the disjointed offensive performance in last week’s joint practice with the Panthers when Wilson was sidelined by an ankle injury to this one. “The biggest difference between Carolina and Tampa [Bay] was him being on the field.”
That was evident from the get-go. The first competitive snap of the day was a seven-on-seven rep with Rodgers hitting Wilson on a go route over the top of the Bucs’ defense. He found Wilson again at the end of that drill, then several times throughout the practice.
Even when they got a bit crossed up in the two-minute drill at the end, Rodgers wasn’t upset.
“We haven’t made the same mistake twice,” he said.
He seemed to doubt they would with this one either.
Rodgers isn’t the only one fawning. Wilson has quickly become a favorite of Jets fans who delight in chanting his name each time he catches the ball at these open-to-the-public workouts. Wilson was asked why he has connected so intimately with those folks in the stands and he said he suspects it is because he typically sticks around after workouts to sign a few autographs.
It was suggested his play might have something to do with his popularity, too.
“I dunno,” Wilson said with a shrug.
Well, it certainly isn’t the way he makes time for the kids and poses for selfies that has caught Rodgers’ eye.
“The talent is really impressive,” Rodgers said. “He makes difficult things look easy. It’s the person he is, too. Receivers are an interesting personality. They are usually the most talented guys on the field athletically. Everybody wants the football, everybody wants to be on the field, everyone thinks they are open all the time. I’ve had some great ones over the years who are great people and he’s one of those as well.”
Although Rodgers has spoken highly of Wilson since he arrived in New Jersey in the spring, the most telling sign of the respect the receiver has earned from his quarterback comes on the field.
“I used to have a rule with Davante Adams where I’d give Davante a little extra tick because I knew if I did that he would get open because he’s really difficult to cover,” Rodgers said. “I have to give that to Garrett too. Sometimes, you give him just a little extra tick where you sit on him, and he’s going to be really, really open. He’s earned that.”
The admiration is mutual. Wilson won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year last season playing with a rotating cast of quarterbacks whose combined talents don’t equal the passing acumen he now gets to have distributing the ball to him. Last year, Wilson would have to go get the football in the air. These days, when he runs a route, Wilson can be confident the football will wind up where he is at.
“With him, it’s going to be there,” Wilson said of Rodgers’ throws. “It’s not always like that. I’m blessed. I’m lucky . . . He threw it to a place I didn’t know I wanted it to be at but that’s where I needed it to be at, and it was open. I dunno. He’s cold. For real.”
They probably shouldn’t get along as well as they do because of their 16-year age gap and their different upbringings, Rodgers in northern California and Wilson in Chicago, Ohio and Texas. But they do have similarities that clearly have helped them connect. They share a thoughtfulness, a curiosity and a depth to their characters. They sit next to each other in meetings, Rodgers said, not only to foster the nonverbal communication that will be the telltale sign of the next step in their relationship, but because they actually like each other.
“He sees football how I see it,” Wilson said. “I’m open right now, he’s gonna throw it right now. You don’t have to get through your whole route. It’s honestly rare, but as far as playing pickup ball and how I grew up playing football, that’s how it should be to me. It makes it fun. It’s refreshing for sure.”
Rodgers, in his short time here, has changed not just the internal perception of those within the organization but the external one, too. The Jets have become a free-agency destination. Just look at the parade of talent that has followed Rodgers here (or, in some cases, such as with Allen Lazard, immediately preceded his arrival with some assurances that Rodgers would be joining him). Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook is the latest to fall into place behind the Pied Piper of Florham Park.
“He made it well known to me during the process he wanted to play here with me,” Rodgers said of Cook. “If the money was close, he was telling me he was going to be here.”
Rodgers is, without a doubt, the reason why so many talented players have decided to suit up for the Jets.
Wilson, though, has an even larger role in those dominoes.
He may be the reason why Rodgers did.