Antwan Staley | New York Jets Reporter, NY Daily News

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Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. We're pleased to welcome Antoine Staley, who I'm sure has spent his entire last 36 hours working. And thank you for joining us, even though no doubt it's been a whirlwind. From the New York Daily News covering the Jets and the NFL, what has the emotional rollercoaster been like?

It's been a lot. I mean, I think people have just been, obviously, Aaron Rodgers and, you know, him going down even before the game. And, you know, driving in the MetLife Stadium on Monday, it was sheltering place and bad weather and lightning in the area. And fans had to deal with that. And then once they get in the stadium, you know, it was 9-11, obviously, and all the emotion that comes from that. And, you know, the player introductions and, you know, seeing the players come out with, you know, American flags and, you know, once the game gets started to the Bills pun and you're thinking, oh, yeah, Aaron Rodgers, we're going to see him, you know, just finally lead our team to possibly, you know, playoffs and Super Bowl and poof, four plays in, you know, tears the Achilles out for the season. You know, it was devastating. It's devastating to an organization and fan base that really labeled him as a savior.

I know he didn't want that label, but that's basically what it was. And, you know, I'm sure a lot of fans, especially you've been hearing it all day, you know, sports talk radio, social media, they're just crushed that, you know, Aaron Rodgers won't be able to play again this year. What has your day been like? How many interviews have you done? How many stories plus the press conference? I can tell you because it's been it's been I ended up getting like about 30 or so requests, maybe more than that. But, you know, I did about four or five probably. So, yeah, it's been a really a whirlwind to be has to be a all time record for me.

Like I never had this many, I never knew this many people had my phone number. Well, we appreciate you including us on the very important list of interviews that you're doing in the wake of this happening. Antoine, what did you take away from the comments from Robert Salah on Monday, Tuesday?

Well, Monday and Tuesday, basically, I mean, yeah, he spoke on Tuesday as well. And basically, just, you know, it really that Zach Wilson is his quarterback, you know, trying to build confidence in Zach. And I think the teammates kind of rallied around him. And we kind of saw that in the locker room.

I thought going in, we would see kind of a bit of a somber locker room, considering that what we thought, you know, what might happen to Aaron torn Achilles, but I think the players are really optimistic about Zach. And we're talking about a guy that, you know, lost the confidence in the locker room last year, especially after the Patriots, you know, lost to the Patriots 10-3 in November in New England, and he ended up losing the starting job and got benched multiple times. But coaching staff and the players say he's a different player.

I mean, different players. And at this point, they tell me he's more accountable doing the things that he's supposed to be doing, you know, obviously on the field and off the field. And he's at a place where he they feel like he can lead them possibly to the playoffs.

I don't know, you know, Super Bowl is going to be their aspirations now, although I'm sure, you know, they'll tell you that externally, but internally, I still feel like they they believe they are contending team in the AFC as far as the playoffs. What have you seen in Zach Wilson that would indicate he is more prepared to step into this role than he was a year ago? Because as you mentioned, he's had multiple opportunities and it's not panned out. I wrote an article last year talking about like, he felt like he was entitled to the starting role.

I don't feel like that anymore. Now, you know, if he didn't say that, you know, when you got bent and Aaron Rodgers comes in and things of that nature, too, but I figured in the police season, he played really particularly really well. He didn't turn the ball over.

He was efficient and he was a sound decision maker. You know, yes, he threw the one interception last night against Buffalo. But, you know, you look at third quarter on, I think he really made a lot of good plays there. You know, Allen Azar, obviously, the play to get a couple of plays to Garrett Wilson there to really lead them to the victory to help lead them to the victory. And, you know, that Wilson is not going to be Aaron Rodgers. I don't think anybody's expecting that, but they just need him to take care of the football, you know, be efficient and allow their defense to do their thing and also special teams to go.

If he can do that, then I definitely think the Jets have an opportunity to try to sneak into the playoffs. We're spending a few minutes with Antoine Staley, who's very popular today on the day we find out that Aaron Rodgers did in fact rupture his Achilles and will be out for at least this coming season. Antoine covers the Jets in the NFL for the New York Daily News.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. No, it's way too early to tell. But going back to when Aaron was introduced as the new quarterback of the Jets and took the pay cut and the restructuring and all of that, it seemed like he was interested in playing more than one season. What does this mean for the future? Yeah, Robert Salah was asked about that today. He didn't want to speak for Aaron, but they want him to still be in their plans and want to be part of the future. He said they had a restructure of a two-year deal worth $75 million guaranteed, and I definitely think they want him to be part of the future next year.

Beyond that, I don't know. It was an article in the New York Post that said Aaron Rodgers is entertaining that he wants to play until he's 45. I don't know if that's going to be the case, especially now, considering he suffered an Achilles injury. But I have a hard time believing he's going to want to go out like this, even though it's going to be a long rehab, it's going to be hard. Achilles injuries are very difficult, no matter what age you suffer them at, and then he's almost 40 years old. But I think the thing is, too, it's not like he's not married, he doesn't have any children, he loves football. Obviously, to play it at the age that he is and still playing it at the high level, I think he's going to want to come back and try to rewrite this story with the Jets, too.

Whether that's at the MVP level or not, I don't know. But I will feel that if I had to bet money, I would bet that Aaron Rodgers is probably going to try to play at least in 2024. Even for people who are not fans of the Jets, what I've heard from friends all over the country, even other radio interviews that I've done, is it's better for the NFL when Aaron Rodgers is playing, but just the six months of build-up and hype to have it kind of fizzle out in the first couple minutes. I mean, Antoine, you spent the last six months talking about this guy, only to have it go poof in four snaps. Yeah, I mean, it felt like an air guy lifted out of a balloon last night at the stadium. That's just basically how it went down, and it felt like a funeral. He cut it short there, but I always gauge things. My mother is not necessarily a sports fan, but she hears things, she watches the news, but she knows what happened just going around the world.

So she understands the big news, pictures, stories. Obviously, when you're not a sports fan, but you're still hearing about certain people, and Aaron Rodgers was obviously a hot-button target, not only in sports, but also just around the world. Him joining the Jets, especially the media market that New York is, and everybody had anticipation to want to see him play this upcoming year. For that to happen, it hurts a lot of Jets fans, especially considering they hadn't made the playoffs in 12 years. They hadn't won a division since 2002, and also the crazy thing about it was Vinny Testaverde was actually in the building last night. Vinny suffered a very similar type injury in 1999, a year after they made the AFC Championship. Vinny goes down towards his achilles, he's out for the season, and the Jets end up finishing 8-8 after that. Bill Parcells ended up retiring, and a lot of other things happened with that.

So I just felt like that was kind of a bit of an irony, that Vinny was in the same building, and the same thing kind of happened to him too as well. And we'll see what the ripple effects are from the injury. Antoine Staley of the New York Daily News with us here, CBS Sports Radio. What is the backup plan at quarterback, considering that Zach Wilson wasn't supposed to be the starter?

Who's going to back him up? Well, right now, Tim Boyle, who was on the practice squad, ended up signing him. I believe in April, they ended up cutting him, and now he's been on the practice squad. But they are looking for active veteran quarterbacks there. Joe Flacco is obviously an option, he's familiar with the Jets and they're familiar with him.

Obviously this is a new system with the Daniel Hackett in there, so he would have to learn a brand new system as well. They've made phone calls, they're going to test the free agent market, but also the trade market too as well. The problem is, it just happens so quickly that I don't know if teams are going to be willing to give up a commodity backup quarterback this early in the year, considering that. We still have 15 more games to go, and it happened to their backup quarterback too. So yeah, they're in a bit of a pickle. It's not like we're at the trading deadline. We have guys that are established or rookie quarterbacks that have played, and they might be the guy now.

These queens are going to try to clamor to hold on to them, simply because it's the unknown. Their starting quarterback can go down at any time too as well. Can we focus on the positive? How about that defense last night? Yeah, I think we kind of knew what the defense was going to play at a high level too. I know DJ Reed talked about how he felt like the defense could be a legendary level.

I know he compared it to the 85 Bears in the 2013 Seahawks. But yeah, I think that's kind of what's going to have to be their formula. It was sort of like last year when the defense was top four in the league and yards and points allowed.

I definitely think they have an opportunity to do that once again. They're going to have to rely on the defense. Special teams too, obviously. Xavier Gibson had that big monster return there for a touchdown.

It was such a bit of a roller coaster there on all ends last night. Obviously Aaron going down and the defense forcing four turnovers on Josh Allen, which is a whole other completely different story. A lot of people thought the Bills would and they still could be a player in the AFC. But that was definitely a tough way for them to start. And then an undrafted rookie and Xavier Gibson ended up being the hero in the game winning touchdowns.

It was a crazy whirlwind for the Jets all the way around. Such a neat moment though for him because of his story that was portrayed on Hard Knocks. What have you got to know about him and his personality or what role he might play for the team? Well, we saw him in the preseason and a guy that was drafted out of Stephen F. Olsen. And that's in Texas for some people that aren't necessarily from anyway, college football too.

I thought I'd just throw that out there. But yeah, I mean, it's a guy that has a ton of talent, a speedster that you kind of saw last night if you looked at the play there. And he made some big plays, you know, whether it be at the receiver position or at the returner. And the Jets certainly need that. They ended up letting go of Braxton Barrios. They had a bit of a void there. And then it was really between him and, you know, they could have used McCole Hartman. But I think they're trying to use him more in the receiver role there.

So why not have a guy that also can flash there and be a big time returner. You saw his electricity in the preseason and he displayed the same thing last night too. And the players told us they felt like he was going to break one for a touchdown at some point. They didn't think it would be week one. But, you know, crazy enough, it ended up happening. And a lot of bad things happened for the Jets last night. Obviously with Aaron Rodgers, that was a good thing.

At least they started out wanting to know. And especially with a daunting schedule ahead. Right, no doubt. And it was great to see Breeze Hall run the way he did.

Yeah, Breeze Hall. I mean, he was on a bit of a pitch count last night. But he made it work like the cares that he did. I mean, had over 100 yards in the first half and just was electric. I know I asked him personally that did he feel like he was going to score on an 83-yard run.

And he was kind of, you know, not happy he got caught from behind. But he's still working his way back there. He doesn't necessarily have all his endurance back considering like they've been kind of easing him in there. But they feel like as the season goes on, he's going to be even more of a player. But, you know, for him to coming off the ACL injury in less than a year removed from that. And then they have the game that he did 100 yards before halftime.

I think it's astonishing. And so I definitely think the Jets feel a bit positive vibes from Breeze Hall this upcoming year. Especially in week one with the performance that he has. Antoine, I know that it's a huge hit to lose Aaron Rodgers.

Not minimizing that at all. But this was a fairly good team without the quarterback. So if you consider how the Jets responded on Monday Night Football. But also the leadership, some of the veterans they have. How confident are you that they'll be able to weather this adversity and continue forward? Because the entire season is still staring them in the face. I think they can still be a player in the AFC.

But it's tough, man. You know, you got all these teams that are clamoring for, you know, one of the wildcard spots, even division there. I think Miami, you know, I think what they saw, so to get the charges. They feel they're probably going to be the favorite at least right now to win that division there. Buffalo still going to be there. I wouldn't necessarily count out New England, although they did lose to the Eagles. But I think they look better in the second half as well. But, you know, the AFC North is stacked. I mean, Cleveland, you know, beat the Braves off of the Bengals the other day.

So, yeah, I think they're going to be a lot better. And obviously Desai Watson seems like he's starting to, you know, get that formula that he was. That he ended up having with the Texans many years ago there. And then you got the AFC West. You got the Chargers. You got the Chiefs. You know, maybe the Raiders will be a player.

I'm not necessarily sure. But, you know, you got seven spots in the conference. And, you know, the rest of the other teams are going to be left out in the cold.

But I definitely think the Jets sold last year. They can. They have the ability to at least contend for one of those wildcard spots and one of those playoff spots. And I think they will. I think they will be in the midst. I'm not sure they're going to get in now without Aaron Rodgers.

But I think they'll be in in the end, kind of like what happened last year, too, as well. Do you have any idea when we might hear from him or when we might get any details on his treatment, his surgery? We asked about that today.

I would say he didn't have any information. What I understand is the surgery will probably happen in the next week or so. Beyond that, it might take a few months. I still will hear from him later on in the season once he's able, you know, get a little bit further in the rehab process. But, yes, I know when we will have a conversation with him.

But hopefully we will, too, just to get some clarity on that, too, about what happened. Did Robert Sala or anyone else say anything about speaking to Aaron and how he's doing? Yes, they talked about how I felt down and, you know, I felt like he kind of let his teammates down and things of that nature, too. I know Randall Cobb pretty much wanted to get out the locker room pretty quickly because him and those two have a really good relationship and wanted to talk to Aaron.

Aaron ended up leaving the stadium last night during the game, obviously, considering, you know, everything that happened. And I assume he was feeling down. And Dwayne Brown, who ended up giving the sack up to Leonard Floyd, just was distraught, really. You know, you could tell he was very emotional. So I don't want to say he felt like it was his fault, but you can tell that, you know, when something happens like that and then a defender, you know, gets past you and it ends up hurting, you know, your starting quarterback.

You have to feel a certain way and you could tell, like, he was very emotional and was lost for words about what happened. What an emotional roller coaster it has been going back to Monday evening with all the anticipation, the buildup, and then the injury to Aaron, which will require a year of recovery. And that, of course, means people like Antoine, who covered the Jets, have been riding that wave, too.

So we need to give him some time to sleep. You can follow him on Twitter at Antwan Staley, A-N-T-W-A-N, covers the Jets, the NFL for the New York Daily News. Popular guy. Again, thank you for including us on your list, Antwan. It's good to talk to you. Yeah, good to talk to you. Never a dull moment.

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