The NFL and NFL Films chose the New York Jets to be featured this summer on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” the cable network’s annual training camp documentary series, according to ESPN. The team, which reports to training camp next Wednesday, has appeared on “Hard Knocks” before, being showcased in the summer of 2010.
While Coach Robert Saleh last month said he did not want the team to be featured, the Jets were one of four teams, along with the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders, who could be compelled under league rules established in 2014 to participate in the series. Teams can opt out of appearing on “Hard Knocks” if they have a first-year coach, have made the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons or had appeared on the show in the previous 10 seasons.
The Jets were perhaps the most appealing of the candidates after they acquired four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers in April. Among other storylines entering Jets camp are the development quarterback Zach Wilson, the second pick in the 2021 draft; defensive lineman Quinnen Williams’s contract status; reigning defensive rookie of the year Sauce Gardner; and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, in his first season in New York after an unsuccessful head coaching stint in Denver that ended after just 15 games.
The Jets opened last season strong, winning five of their first seven games before a late-season collapse saw them lose their final six games. New York finished 7-10, a three-win improvement from 2021, in Saleh’s second season.
With Rodgers, the Jets are striving for the type of success they were experiencing the last time they appeared on the show, when Rex Ryan was the head coach. Months after an AFC championship game loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the team opened the 2010 season with championship expectations while at the same time dealing with all-pro cornerback Darrelle Revis’s holdout. The Jets would finish that season 11-5 and again reach the AFC championship game before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.