The New York Jets have needed a good quarterback for decades, so much so that they gave one particular player a gift before he joined the team. The recipient, of course, was future Hall-of-Famer Aaron Rodgers, who is undoubtedly the franchise’s most talented signal caller since “Broadway” Joe Namath.
Jets owner Woody Johnson gave him some special honey, via Mike Florio of NBC Sports.
“He gave me some honey from the Queen’s garden,” Rodgers said. “That’s a cool gift.”
The quote is an excerpt from New York Post The new Rodgers biography by columnist Ian O’Connor is 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 in the beehives at Buckingham Palace – so much so that she gave Pope Francis a jar of it at their first meeting in 2014,” Florio reported. “So is it a problem if a team gives something like that to get a player to accept a transfer there?”
Since the NFL’s tampering rules are usually strict, one may well ask whether New York’s management has crossed a line. After all, the Miami Dolphins lost a draft pick due to illegal recruiting attempts with Tom Brady.
However, according to an email from the NFL to Florio, the Jets strictly adhered to the rules.
“Reasonable travel expenses, entertainment and accommodation can be part of a visit covered by a club,” it said. “Such a thing would not be a problem.”
Since the honey was most likely not exorbitantly expensive, the gift was considered harmless. This is just one of the reasons the Johnson brothers deserve credit for the way they orchestrated Rodgers’ recruitment.
The Jets made an emotional appeal to Aaron Rodgers
New York sent Christopher Johnson to Malibu to meet with Rodgers before Woody, considered the “kinder brother,” had his say (via Glass Mirror).
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“It’s brilliant if that was their grand plan,” Rodgers said in the book. “We had twenty minutes, just him and me. I love Chris, I really do. I feel like I’m going to have a lifelong friendship with him, no matter what happens.”
Head coach Robert Saleh, GM Joe Douglas, team president Hymie Elhai and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett then joined.
“(Woody) didn’t say much,” Rodgers said. “There wasn’t much of ‘The Woody Show.’ But when he did talk, he said all the right things. He wanted to win. He was willing to spend the money and get the right people, and I liked him. I like Woody.”
With the Queen’s Honey and the strategic timing of the meeting, the Jets have hit the jackpot with the procedure. Now it’s crucial for Rodgers to stay healthy and bring the team a championship.
