The New York Jets had been starving for a good quarterback for decades, so much so that they gave a certain one a gift before he joined the team. That recipient, of course, was future Hall-of-Famer Aaron Rodgers, who's easily the franchise's most talented signal-caller since “Broadway” Joe Namath.
Jets owner Woody Johnson gave him special honey, via NBC Sports' Mike Florio.
“He gave me some honey from the queen’s garden,” Rodgers said. “It is a cool gift.”
The quote is an excerpt from New York Post columnist Ian O'Connor's new biography of Rodgers, titled “Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers.”
“[New York Post columnist Ryan] Glasspiegel explains that Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022, was ‘very proud of the honey produced by Buckingham Palace beehives — so much so that she gave a jar of it to Pope Francis during their first meeting in 2014,'” Florio reported. “So is it a problem for a team to give something like that to get a player to accept a trade there?”
With NFL tampering rules typically being strict, it's fair to wonder if New York's brass crossed a line. After all, the Miami Dolphins lost a draft pick for illegal recruitment efforts with Tom Brady.
However, the Jets played it by the book, according to an e-mail to Florio from the NFL.
“Reasonable travel costs, entertainment and lodging may be part of a visit that’s covered by a club,” it said. “Something like this would not be an issue.”
With the honey most likely not being exorbitantly expensive, the gift was considered to be harmless, and it's only one reason why the Johnson brothers deserve credit for how they orchestrated Rodgers' recruitment.
The Jets appealed to Aaron Rodgers emotionally
New York sent Christopher Johnson to meet with Rodgers in Malibu before Woody, who's considered the “friendlier brother,” via Glasspiegel.
“It’s genius if it was their grand plan,” Rodgers said in the book. “We had twenty minutes, just him and I. I love Chris, I really do. I feel like I’ll have a lifetime friendship with him regardless of what happens.”
After that, head coach Robert Saleh, GM Joe Douglas, team president Hymie Elhai and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett joined.
“[Woody] didn’t say a whole lot,” Rodgers said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of ‘The Woody Show.’ But once he talked, he said all the right things. He wanted to win. He was willing to spend the money and get the right guys, and I enjoyed him. I like Woody.”
Between the Queen's honey and the strategic timing of the meeting, the Jets hit a home run with the process. Now, the key is for Rodgers to stay healthy and win the team a championship.
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