Jets, Aaron Rodgers were ready to throw Nathaniel Hackett under the bus for one man

The New York Jets may have Aaron Rodgers, but they also have Nathaniel Hackett calling plays. Despite him proving to be a halfway decent offensive coordinator previously with Rodgers' former team in the Green Bay Packers, as well as a brief stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Hackett couldn't hack it as an NFL head coach, fired midway through his lone season leading the bad Denver Broncos.

Flash forward to this year. Gang Green was this close to replacing him as their offensive coordinator after a down season almost entirely without Rodgers a season ago. One candidate who may have been in line to replace Hackett was none other than another failed former NFL head coach in Arthur Smith. The former Atlanta Falcons head coach now coordinates the Pittsburgh Steelers offense.

The Athletic's Dianna Russini dropped this delicious nugget over on her new podcast, Scoop City.

"Nathaniel Hackett is entering his second season as the New York Jets' offensive coordinator, but the team had some conversations this offseason about a new approach to offensive play-calling — and Aaron Rodgers was made aware."

Rodgers may be in Hackett's corner, but Smith did do more with less when we has with Tennessee.

"Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was one of those coaches that the Jets talked to about possibly being part of the play-calling process, as reported on the first episode of The Athletic's new NFL podcast, Scoop City."

Do I think Smith could reinvent himself as a strong offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh? Potentially, as he has far better quarterbacks to work with this season in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields than he did the last two in Atlanta with the likes of Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke. However, Smith's lust for control and pounding the rock would have been a terrible fit with Rodgers.

This is because Rodgers loves to go off-script as one of the game's greatest quarterback ad-libbers.

New York Jets at least toyed with the idea of hiring Arthur Smith as OC

Even well past his prime, Rodgers may still be the better quarterback over Wilson and Fields at this juncture. Both the Jets and the Steelers are in that same cluster of teams in the AFC where making the playoffs is a strong possibility, but a lot is going to have to go right for them to win their divisions. I can understand the allure of going to New York to help the Jets make the playoffs, but there is this...

What does Mike Tomlin have that Robert Saleh does not besides a Super Bowl ring? That would be job security. For as long as the Steelers view winning seasons to be on par with hoisting Lombardi Trophies, Tomlin is never going to be fired. Conversely, should the Jets fail to make the playoffs, it will probably cost Saleh his job, maybe general manager Joe Douglas', depending on how bad it gets.

And even if Smith is not the least bit good in his second stab at being an NFL offensive coordinator, he will probably get at least one more year after this for two reasons. One, his predecessor Matt Canada was deplorably bad at this job. Smith looks so much better by comparison. And two, the Steelers cannot afford to run through coordinators like Larry King did wives and still be functional.

It is all about control in Pittsburgh, which is to give off the illusion that it is as good as it ever was.