Jets vote Aaron Rodgers as the team's most inspirational player

Injured New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Credit: Lee S. Weissman

By Laura Albaneselaura.albanese@newsday.com @AlbaneseLauraUpdated January 5, 2024

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Rodgers again made news for his off-the-field behavior this week — but this time it was overwhelmingly positive.

Despite playing only the first four snaps of the season before tearing an Achilles tendon, Rodgers was named the winner of the Dennis Byrd Most Inspirational Player award by his teammates in the Jets’ end-of-year awards Friday, the team announced. Linebacker Quincy Williams was named the Curtis Martin Most Valuable Player.

“When he first got here, he pulled me to the side and had a conversation with me and first off, I was kind of star-struck,” Williams said, explaining that Rodgers told him how impressed he was with the linebacker’s practices. “I said, ‘I’ve just got to put it all together.’ And he stopped me and he said, ‘I didn’t say that. You’ve just got to get the recognition [for] doing what you’re doing.’

“So I kept that mindset and went straight ahead for it — not changing anything that I was doing, just being consistent, and then spoke it into existence.”

Rodgers consistently spoke to teammates after his injury and rejoined the team on a full-time basis in November. He often said he was trying to be ready for the playoffs — a massively accelerated timeline for an injury of this severity. That goal was thwarted when the Jets were eliminated from playoff contention last month.

“Most of these awards are not necessarily what’s done on the football field,” coach Robert Saleh said. “He loves his teammates, his teammates love him. He’s so intentional with how he approaches everyone in the building, he’s very thoughtful in the way he does things and he’s a tremendous human, he really is, and well deserving of the award.”

It was some good news for Rodgers, who made headlines earlier this week when he suggested during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” that late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel could be included in the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates. Kimmel denied having ties to the financier, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges (The Associated Press reported that no official list of associates exists).

Quincy Williams honored

Though disappointed about not making the Pro Bowl, Quincy Williams nonetheless was heartened by being named the team’s most valuable player.

“It means a lot,” he said. “The biggest thing is it’s your peers. It’s the people who see you every single day, the people you hang out with on the field and off the field . . . It means they’re seeing the work that I put in.”

The Jets’ other honorees were: TE Tyler Conklin (Kyle Clifton Good Guy award), CB Justin Hardee (Marty Lyons Community Service award), RB Breece Hall (Ed Block Most Courageous Player award), WR Xavier Gipson (Bill Hampton Rookie Who Acts Like a Pro award) and LB C.J. Mosely (Selfless Player award).

Clemons’ controversy

Saleh said he didn’t have a problem with Micheal Clemons’ actions toward Browns fans last week (the defensive end taunted people in the stands by repeatedly spewing profanity in their direction).

“He’d be one of the first ones I’d call to watch my kids, and I mean that,” Saleh said. “He’s an incredibly thoughtful and kind person . . . These guys, when they put uniforms on, they transform into something way different. It’s a very dangerous area to be in when you’re around him, but that man especially, he plays with a mean streak. Like I said, if you knew him, you wouldn’t have a problem with anything he did.”