Midnight report claims Aaron Rodgers spoke to Jets on Monday

Is there veracity to the report that Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets have spoken?

With the New York Jets possibly in Aaron Rodgers-or-bust territory, fans are understandably hanging on for every scrap of news about what Rodgers could possibly be doing or thinking.

So when a post-midnight report surfaced that Rodgers and the Jets have spoken, the discussion immediately spread like wildfire despite the lateness of the hour. The report came from Trey Wingo, a former host at ESPN.

Per sources. Aaron Rodgers and the Jets had conversations today. While nothing is imminent Rodgers is open to the idea of going to NY

— trey wingo (@wingoz) March 7, 2023

UPDATE (9:08 a.m. ET): Multiple Jets beat reporters have since confirmed Wingo’s report.

With all the rumors that have flown around on Twitter, it’s difficult to separate the truth from the noise. There are also many pseudo-reporters out there who mimic the tweeting style and language of real reporters, thus confusing the public.

In this case, there is reason to be skeptical of the report. For one thing, no one at NFL Network or ESPN, two of the main sources of credible insider NFL information, has said a word about any such meeting.

Additionally, Rodgers just said on The Pat McAfee Show two weeks ago that very few people are part of his inner circle and know what he’s thinking. Even ESPN’s sources do not seem to have a good handle on what’s going on with him, as they went from reporting that Rodgers is going back to the Packers to stating barely a week later that it feels like the two sides are headed for a breakup.

Jets general manager Joe Douglas has played things similarly close to the vest. Since joining New York in 2019, he has run a pretty tight ship in regard to media leaks. Therefore, it’s unlikely that any such report would have come from the Jets’ end unless they wanted it to. If they did, it would have come from either NFL Network, ESPN, or one of the Jets’ beat reporters.

Note that it is likely sources are actually saying these kinds of things. However, they are usually speculative when stated in entirety but presented as fact, making it sound like something is a certainty rather than conjecture.

For Rodgers to have met with the Jets, the Packers would have had to give him permission to talk with them (which the Jets are fully aware of, as Woody Johnson stated at NFL Honors). It is unlikely that this part of the process would have escaped sources until after the fact, but their actual meeting would be reported.

Therefore, it is difficult to believe that this meeting actually took place. Jets fans will need to wait a little longer and frantically refresh Twitter for news about Rodgers.