Things are bad for the New York Jets. That’s nothing out of the ordinary, as the team just completed another lost season. That marks the 14th straight year they’ve failed to make the playoffs.
What has been a bit out of the ordinary (even for the Jets) was a recent report that suggested the team’s longtime owner, Woody Johnson, listened to what his teenage sons had to say before making decisions about the team.
The most damning of the accusations that were included in a report by The Athletic suggested that Johnson backed out of a near-complete trade to acquire Jerry Jeudy (who just had his best pro season with Cleveland) because one of his sons told him it was a bad move because of ratings in the Madden video game. Yes, a video game.
That obviously led to jokes galore online making fun of Johnson for making business decisions based on a fictitious simulation game… if that was truly the case, of course. At this point, who really knows?
Jets Owner Denies Rumors About Sons Helping Run the Team
Johnson, though, came out over the weekend to deny what he called a smear campaign. In addition to the initial report mentioning the Madden ratings debacle, it also suggested Johnson included his sons in team meetings.
Why the heck would kids who haven’t even graduated high school yet be involved with a multi-million dollar organization? He did confirm, though, that his sons do attend some meetings as more of an observer. Think like an internship. Still, kind of weird.
“I think the article is a typical smear piece – unsubstantiated,” Jonson told the New York Post. “Nobody really stood up and put their name on anything. It’s absolutely untrue. Everything was out of context. When you’re losing games, it gives people the artistic license to kind of do what they want.”
Johnson is right about one thing there. Any team that is losing as much as his Jets are is always an easy target for drama. I do find it funny he didn’t deny the Madden report, which to me is the most ridiculous thing about this entire ordeal.
Then again, video games probably don’t play into their decisions. I mean, why else would he hand out a three-year, $112.5 million contract to an aging quarterback in Aaron Rodgers? There’s absolutely no video game out there that would suggest that move.
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