Aaron Rodgers stopped the NY Jets from hiring a new offensive line coach in the offseason

Aaron Rodgers runs the NY Jets offense. There may not be an official title of “offensive coordinator” or “play caller” in his contract, but that’s Rodgers’ offense.

It's not Nathaniel Hackett's offense, it's not going to be Todd Downing's offense – this is the Rodgers show. That's perfectly fine and even a good thing if the offense is working and scoring points. That wasn't the case for five weeks.

The Jets' offensive woes ultimately led to the team parting ways with current head coach Robert Saleh last week. Saleh knew that changes had to be made to the offensive coaching staff in the offseason. Unfortunately, he was unable to make the necessary changes.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported Saturday that Saleh made several attempts to hire a new offensive line coach during the offseason, reaching out to players like Eric Bieniemy, Kliff Kingsbury, Luke Getsy and Arthur Smith. Ultimately, they were unable to recruit any of them.

The reason for this is exactly what many have been speculating about for months.

Russini reports that the Jets were unable to offer any of these coaches an offensive coordinator position, greatly limiting the attractiveness of the job. All four of the coaches mentioned above landed offensive coordinator positions elsewhere in the offseason.

Why couldn't the Jets offer them offensive coordinator jobs? Nathaniel Hackett. Or more specifically, Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers was reportedly involved in the process of hiring a new coach and was apparently aware that things needed to change, but “he had no intention of firing Hackett.” He refused to let Hackett go in the offseason to have jets fired or demoted.

As a result, they missed the opportunity to make significant changes to their offensive coaching staff and instead settled for new running backs and wide receivers coaches.

Just five weeks into the season, Saleh was fired and the Jets ultimately demoted Hackett in favor of passing game coordinator Todd Downing, who has his own poor record as a play-caller at the NFL level.

Saleh knew the offensive coaching staff needed an overhaul in the offseason. Rodgers apparently agreed that a change was needed. But this change could not come at the expense of his personal playmaker.

Rodgers has clearly changed his mind on the subject, as Hackett is no longer calling the plays for the Jets' offense, but it's too late for Saleh, who is now watching from home as his former team battles for first place on Monday the AFC East is struggling.

Perhaps Rodgers has softened his stance and is more willing to allow changes to the Jets' offense. But maybe it's too late. Only time will tell.