By Emilee White
Y’all just can’t leave him alone, huh? You just have to — HAVE TO — make this upcoming season as difficult as possible for Aaron Rodgers.
In case you haven’t heard, the New York Jets were involuntarily selected as this season’s focal point on “Hard Knocks”, an NFL/HBO collaborative reality sports docu-series. The Jets were previously featured in 2010, but declined to come back for the 2011 season, and this is something they’ve strongly stuck by ever since. So why? Why do you have to pick the Jets?
Before you say the Jets “fit the bill” when it comes to selecting a team to feature on “Hard Knocks”, imma just stop you right there. I know the reasons, I know the number, I know the stats. In order to be considered for a “Hard Knocks” season, a team must fit the criteria, which includes teams without a new head coach, that haven’t been to the playoffs in the last two seasons, and that haven’t been the subject of the show within the last 10 years.
What I don’t understand is how the Jets were selected over other qualifying teams, and arguably more compelling in terms of storylines, like the Bears, Saints, and Commanders. Here are my reasons why the other teams would be a better fit for “Hard Knocks” than the Jets.
New Orleans Saints
If the content behind the new season is having a new quarterback on the team, then the Saints are just as good a pick as the Jets. Add in a little drama, and you got yourself primetime television right there. Quarterback Derek Carr had an actionless last few weeks, literally was benched, with the Las Vegas Raiders prior to making the move to New Orleans, and that was coming off of a stinker of a season.
In his final season with Las Vegas, Carr’s record was 6-9 as a starter while also having his second-worst completion percentage (60.8 percent) and second-worst passer rating (86.3) of his career. Carr also tied his career high of 14 interceptions. Those are some sad numbers when you think back on how big of an impact Carr had when he first joined the Raiders franchise — in his nine seasons, he was Las Vegas’ all-time passing leader (35,222 yards) and all-time passing touchdown leader (21), and was second in wins (63), had the most upset win (33), the most game-winning drives (33), and most fourth-quarter comebacks (28) by any quarterback since 1970.
It all came to a head for the quarterback when the Raiders, as reported by Carr, made his wife cry, saying, “Once they made my wife cry, that was pretty much over.” It was also reported by CBS Sports that Carr is still “miffed” by the whole situation. Everyone loves drama.
Washington Commanders
NBC Sports reported the Washington Commanders were told they would be the Hard Knocks’ subject for the new season, if assigned. For all intents and purposes, Washington volunteered. I rest my case.
Chicago Bears
I feel like whenever I’m forced to do research on the Chicago Bears for work, they are always having some kind of issue with the players. What I didn’t expect to find out about the Bears was their wide receiver, Chase Claypool, dabbles in modeling. First, slay. Second, finding out Claypool models every so often isn’t the reason why the Bears should be Hard Knocks’ subject. I think this is a great story to follow because the Bears are actually concerned Claypool might be more invested in his modeling gig.
While in his offseason, Claypool made an appearance at the Feng Chen Wang Fashion Week in Paris, modeling a neutral palette consisting of a cut out-patterned shirt with holes all over, pants, a silk head scarf, a small handbag, and clear–framed sunnies.
While the Bears continue to ponder if Claypool will choose a high-end modeling career or stay with the sad, lowly Bears, that’s enough time for Hard Knocks to switch its focus towards the Windy City.
Photo credit: New York Jets’ Instagram
