Jets owner Woody Johnson went all out to recruit Aaron Rodgers.
During their meeting at Rodgers’ Malibu home last offseason, Johnson, along with other Jets executives, brought a special gift.
“He gave me some honey from the queen’s garden,” Rodgers mentioned, speaking of the former US ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Yes, you read that right. Honey from Queen Elizabeth II’s garden?
“It’s a neat gift,” Rodgers, who has a passion for history, acknowledged.
The quarterback shared details of Johnson’s gesture in an upcoming biography of the four-time NFL MVP, “Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers”, penned by former Post columnist Ian O’Connor.
According to The Royal Family, Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away in 2022, took great pride in the honey produced by Buckingham Palace beehives – so much so that she gifted a jar of it to Pope Francis during their first encounter in 2014.
Nine years later, Johnson, who served as the US ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration, used that honey as a way to connect with Rodgers, who was feeling discontent after spending 18 years with the Packers at that time.
Accompanying Johnson during the visit to Rodgers, along with his agent David Dunn of Athletes First, were his brother and vice chairman Christopher Johnson, GM Joe Douglas, head coach Robert Saleh, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, and team president Hymie Elhai.
The meeting in March 2023 persuaded the quarterback that the Jets should be his preferred destination for a trade.
Rodgers, aged 39 at the time, opted against retiring following a four-day retreat in the wilderness of southern Oregon.
Christopher Johnson, known as the more amiable of the Johnson brothers, arrived in Malibu ahead of the other Jets officials and had a productive one-on-one conversation with Rodgers, which proved beneficial for the team.
As a result, a prominent NFL personality with connections to the Johnsons pondered whether it was deliberate for the friendlier brother to make the initial impression.
“It’s brilliant if it was their strategy,” Rodgers remarked, alluding to the notion that the Jets sent Christopher for the first meeting as part of a deliberate plan, as mentioned in the book.
Returning home early from a workout, Rodgers found the Jets’ vice chairman waiting for him.
“We had twenty minutes, just him and I,” Rodgers recounted. “I adore Chris, genuinely. I feel like I’ll have a lifelong friendship with him regardless of the outcome.”
Rodgers revealed to O’Connor that during the five-hour summit, he spent the majority of the time conversing with Saleh inside his beachside mansion while the other attendees sat outside on a deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
“[Woody] didn’t say much,” Rodgers noted. “There wasn’t a whole lot of ‘The Woody Show.’ But when he spoke, he said all the right things. He was committed to winning, willing to invest in the right players, and I enjoyed his company. I like Woody.”
In the book, Rodgers made a point about the setting of the Jets meeting – the estate he supposedly bought with then-girlfriend Danica Patrick, a racing superstar, for $28 million in 2019.
“I didn’t purchase it with anyone,” Rodgers clarified.
