Rich Cimini, New York Jets Reporter for ESPN

It's that time of year. Cash the Ticket.

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Getting us ready for the tournament where we're going to break down all the matchups and have an eye on some future plays too. This time of year, baby. Search Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Rich, thank you for taking the time to hop on.

My pleasure. Never a dull moment with the Jets. Well, that's unfortunate for the vast majority of their fan base but fill us in on the latest.

Well, which one do you want to talk about first? They made some news today. I guess probably the biggest news is Zach Wilson.

I think this was more or less a formality. They gave his agent permission to speak to other teams about a potential trade. I think it was heading in this direction for, to be quite honest, several months even during the season when he got benched.

I think that was essentially the end of this marriage and so the days are numbered now and it's just a matter of them finding a landing spot for him. The Jets are not going to get a lot in this trade. We're talking about a day three draft pick probably. But essentially it was over a few weeks ago after the Super Bowl when Woody Johnson came out and told reporters that we didn't have a backup quarterback last year. We got to get a backup quarterback. So that was the end of Zach Wilson right there. Rich, he's likely to most definitely be a backup quarterback for another team.

He's going to be traded, as you said, for likely a bologna sandwich. Now, Joe Douglas ultimately is going to have to answer for this. How much rope does he have or is it all contingent on the existing quarterback Aaron Rodgers?

Correct. It hinges on Aaron Rodgers. Joe Douglas and Robert Sala, everybody over there got a mulligan on last season because Rodgers went down, as we all know, fourth play of the year. So I think Woody Johnson obviously very disappointed by the outcome of the season, 7-10.

They had so much higher expectations than that. But Woody Johnson, when he took a second to think about it, said, I'll give these guys another chance to figure it out with Rodgers. So this is as win now as you can get for an NFL team. Woody Johnson basically, in so many words, saying it's a playoff mandate for Douglas and Sala. So there's no more mulligans. This is it.

If they don't make the playoffs this year, they're probably all gone. Rich Cimini is here with us. The JR Sportbreeze show on CBS Sports Radio. He covers the New York Jets for ESPN. We haven't heard, and I know this sounds odd, we haven't heard from Aaron Rodgers since he was going back and forth with a late night television host. What's the latest on Aaron Rodgers and his recovery? Well, we spoke to him the day after the season ended, and I honestly think he was almost ready to play at that point. I think if the Jets had been in the playoffs, he would have played a playoff game. He made a really quicker than expected recovery. I know Jets fans are upset because he didn't get back on the field.

He kind of teased everyone for a few months there with his McAfee appearances. Trying to get back as fast as he could, and in the end, the Jets were so far out of it that it really didn't make sense for him to come back for meaningless games. But he's doing really well from what I understand.

Back in California, I think he'll be back in New Jersey for their offseason program, which doesn't get underway until the middle of April. So from all indications, he's ready to go, and I think he'll be fine for the start of the season. One of the biggest criticisms for Joe Douglas last season, Rich, is that there was not a veteran option. They had to give the reins over to Zach Wilson. As they move into the offseason, what are some of the potential options that the New York Jets could add as Aaron Rodgers' backup? This might be the most important move they make this offseason, getting a backup. Rodgers is 40 years old. He's coming off a major injury, and you need a good insurance policy, especially when you consider yourself a win-now team.

So there's a couple of interesting guys out there. I think Jacoby Brissett from Washington would be a good fit for them, especially locker room-wise. I think Brissett understands that probably his days as a starter in the league are over. It's a very interesting fit with Rodgers. You don't want to bring in a big personality that might, I don't want to say compete with Rodgers, but could create some waves in the locker room. Ryan Tannehill is probably the best available free agent, but I don't know if Ryan Tannehill wants to come in and be a backup to an Aaron Rodgers.

He's probably looking for a starting job somewhere. Gardner Minshew, I think, will be on the Jets list. They've had their eye on him for a couple of years. I would look out for him.

Jimmy Garoppolo, Sala knows him from their San Francisco days. I think he'd be a guy to keep an eye on. So I think it's a pretty wide open situation right now.

It's just about finding the right fit and a scheme fit, a locker room fit, and also a financial fit. Rich Cimini is here with us from ESPN. You talk about the backup for Aaron Rodgers, and we know this is the Aaron Rodgers show. And he's talked about giving the Jets, I don't want to say a discount, but giving them what they expected, a year or two.

Are we still in that space? It's kind of year to year with him regardless, no? Yeah. He said he wants to play two more years, but he also acknowledged that he, like Sala and Douglas, are on the hot seat. So it is a year to year proposition. He's got guaranteed money through this year, Rodgers, and then after that, for 2025, it's not guaranteed as of right now. So yeah, it's absolutely year to year. If the Jets go in the tank again this year and the whole coaching staff gets fired in front office, a new staff comes in, they're probably not going to want to start with a 41-year-old quarterback, I would not think. So that's why it's all in for everybody this year. The New York Jets, his hands are in the palm of Aaron Rodgers, or the franchise in the palm of his hand.

It is. And we've heard from a Cole Hardman, he sat down with a pivot, he put in his two cents about his time. He didn't share anything that we weren't familiar with, it was just said publicly, but I'm sure the New York Jets are going to have a beef. So what do you think is going to be the outcome if they say, hey, they were over here tampering, the Chiefs were? Well, I definitely know from checking in with some people in the organization, they were not happy with Cole Hardman's comments, specifically the ones where he basically admitted he was talking to the Chiefs and said to their GM and Patrick Mahomes, you know, come get me.

You know, in other words, come save me, get me out of here from the Jets. And as Joe Douglas, you know, said rather bluntly today at the Combine, it was those comments definitely resonated with us. Now, it's unclear at this point if the Jets will pursue tampering charges. The league, I checked in with them, they're not commenting right now. I think the Jets are mulling what to do, but they have certainly let the Chiefs know, you know, through those comments that they were none too pleased with a possible tampering situation. So the Hardman stuff, I know the Jets are ticked off about it. I know some of the players are ticked off about it. You saw a bunch of guys go on social media today and fire back at Hardman. A guy who admitted he quit on the Jets. He said in the podcast that he was checked out after four games because he was so disgruntled with his playing time that he was checked out. And so I think that's a pretty self damning statement to make. And the Jets were not happy at all with Hardman and they traded him.

And I think they saw it as addition by subtraction. Well, Rich, I would imagine that the Chiefs and Brett Beach aren't happy with this coming out as well. What might this mean for him? Yeah, well, he wasn't able to, he spoke a couple of days, it was yesterday at the combine, so he was unavailable for comment today. Now, you know, Hardman said that. Now, Hardman also posted last night, you know, following up on my story, he said he did not talk to the Chiefs. He wanted to clear that up.

Even though he said on the podcast that he talked to the Chiefs, he was basically saying that he misquoted himself. I guess is what he was saying. In the video that we could all see him speak, right? That video. Okay, sure.

Yeah, yeah. He said, I guess someone possessed his body and was speaking stuff that he didn't want to say. So he was backtracking. Clearly someone got to him and said, you better come out on Twitter and set this record straight here. Maybe it was the Chiefs. Now, we don't know what kind of conversation he had with Brett. He might have texted Brett Beach and said, hey, man, you know, try to trade for me. You know, you don't know. Maybe the Chiefs didn't engage him. Maybe he said, I'm sorry, we're not allowed to talk, you know, and hung up on him. We don't know. But all I know is two weeks after that alleged conversation took place, the Jets traded him back to Kansas City.

Rich Cimini here with us as we start to wrap up. We know the New York Jets, they need a backup quarterback. They need a wide receiver.

They need some defensive help. We also know they have the 10th pick in the draft and you need to protect Aaron Rodgers with the holes that they do need to fill. What is the likeliest outcome with this 10th pick? I think the likeliest outcome is an offensive tackle. This is a tackle rich draft. You could see six or seven tackles go in the first round. I think the Jets are in position to get the second or third best tackle at number 10. Maybe it's Olu Fershanu from Penn State.

Or maybe it's Talise Fuega from Oregon State. You know, those are the two most likely candidates there. There is also some thought that if they don't see the tackle they like, maybe they go with a Brock Bowers, the tight end from Georgia, to add another weapon for Aaron Rodgers.

I think it's impossible to say for sure at this time. It depends what they do in free agency. You know, if they go out and sign two tackles in free agency, then yeah, I would say Bowers becomes a much better possibility at 10. But for now, my money is on offensive tackle at number 10.

Well, last question for you Rich. You talk about free agency. Are there any ideal players that would help the New York Jets out in free agency that they should really go out and pursue? Well, I mean it's going to be offensive line centric for the Jets.

Now the question is, do they go for a tackle? There aren't a lot of great tackles in free agency, which is not surprising. Teams usually don't let good offensive tackles get to the open market.

You want to keep those guys. So the Jets could end up signing two guards and then moving Elijah Verrett-Tucker, their very multiple, you know, very versatile guard out to tackle. He can play tackle.

He has played tackle. So I think they could sign two guards. And then certainly Dotson from the Rams is a guard worth considering. If they want to go for a tackle who can step in and play right away, Tyrone Smith from Dallas, who's still a really good player. He's had injury issues, which is a concern, but he's still a good player when he's out there. He'd be like a one-year stopgap. I think he'd be a possibility to look out for.

But he'll definitely sign two starting caliber offensive line, but it just depends on which two. Well, Rich, thank you so much for taking the time to hop on. The Jets are always in the news, typically not for good reasons, as we both mentioned. Where can people follow you and your work with ESPN?

Yeah, at ESPN.com and also Twitter or X, whatever we're calling it these days, at Rich Semeni, C-I-M-I-N-I. Well, thank you, Rich, for taking the time. And let's talk soon. Let's see what these Jets do. I'm sure they will have plenty of content real, real soon. They will, for sure. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next time.