When the New York Jets pursued Aaron Rodgers earlier this year, legendary Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko disapproved.
The 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee feared that Rodgers “could ruin the locker room.”
Two months after the Jets traded for the four-time MVP quarterback, Klecko has changed his mind.
“He’s a different duck. He really is. There’s no doubt,” Klecko said on ESPN Houston’s Jake Asman Show. “But as far as him as a football player, I’ve always said, as far as an accurate passer, there probably maybe has never been one as good, and presently there’s not. He’s the best accurate passer in the league and a four-time MVP. … My only contention was how he was going to get along with the young guys, you know?”
Klecko referenced the comment he’d made about Aaron Rodgers and team chemistry.
“I made a reference to it because the team I was on, we grew together,” Klecko said. “That was really a cool thing because we got along so well. That’s what I was hoping, which he now has shown. He’s ingratiated the rest of the team, and he’s out there teaching guys. He’s doing the things that you see a Tom Brady do. I think he’s going to be a big surprise for everybody in New York.”
Klecko, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, played 11 seasons in New York, winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1981. He keyed the team’s ferocious defensive line in the early 1980s that earned the nickname “New York Sack Exchange.”
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.