The rise of the Detroit Lions coincided with the hiring of Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes in 2021. What started with a viral comment about biting kneecaps turned the Lions into one of the top teams in the NFL, reaching the NFC Championship Game two years ago and earning the best record in the NFC last season.
The success has turned the Lions into a model franchise and one that teams tried to replicate during this year’s coaching cycle. A former coach that learned under Campbell is already making a positive impact on his new franchise and laid the law down as he met with a star player shortly after his hiring last spring.
Aaron Glenn Stiffarmed Aaron Rodgers’ Attempt to Return To Jets
Aaron Glenn was hired as the head coach of the New York Jets back in January and has one of the league’s tallest tasks. A dysfunctional franchise that reportedly uses Madden ratings to assess talent, Glenn has spent his first few months on the job attempting to clean up the culture and use some of the principles he learned from Campbell in Detroit.
The first test came a few weeks into the job when he had a meeting with Aaron Rodgers. The future Hall of Fame quarterback flew cross-country to meet his new head coach around the time of the Super Bowl but was stiffarmed by his prospective new coach.
“So we sit down in the office and I think we’re gonna have this long conversation. I’ve flown across the country, and 20 seconds in, he goes, I mean literally, I’m talking to the GM about something. And he leans to the edge of his seat and goes ‘Are you sure you want to play football?’ I was like ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’ And he said ‘We’re going another direction at quarterback.’”
"I figured when I flew across country to meet with the Jets there was gonna be a conversation..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 17, 2025
We sat down in the office & 20 seconds in the coach said we're going in a different direction..
That's totally fine but they could have just told me that on the phone" ~… pic.twitter.com/By7QvLK7tM
Rodgers went on to say he wasn’t shocked by the Jets’ decision to move in a different direction at quarterback. But he also believed that message could have been relayed in a phone call. When the conversation continued, Glenn further explained his decision via Rodgers’s “verbatim” account.
“And I said ‘What does that even mean? Are you assuming I would be in the back of the room during a team meeting undermining what you’re saying?’ and he said ‘You don’t know me.’ And then I said, ‘Exactly. Which is why I flew across the country to have a face-to-face meeting with you to talk about my experience with the Jets and hear your vision for the team.’”
While the message went over Rodgers’s head, Glenn’s vision for the team was crystal clear. The Lions have established a culture with as little drama as possible and it’s created a team that has a true identity as Super Bowl contenders.
The Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010 and are in a similar position to where the Lions were, stuck toward the bottom of their own division and an NFL laughingstock.
Rodgers and his 77 overall rating weren’t enough to turn things around and Glenn probably wanted a new direction after watching former head coach Robert Saleh get fired to give him this opportunity. It’s the first step of cleaning house and building a winning culture in New York, which has Glenn off to a good start with his new employer.