Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, took to social media on Thursday to reject an NFL Network host’s allegation of a “very heated conversation” between him and head coach Robert Saleh during the league’s annual meetings in Orlando, Florida earlier this week.
He was referring to NFL Network’s Colleen Wolfe, who informed her co-hosts and the “Around the NFL” podcast audience that she had a tip “from a very reliable source.”
“At the owners meetings, there was a very heated conversation between Woody and Robert Saleh,” she said. “To the point where it was a little awkward.”
The discussion lasted more than five minutes, with her co-hosts delighting in the “developing news.” Wolfe underlined that the exchange should be viewed as passionate but not argumentative.
“It could have been about anything,” she joked. “Where there’s smoke there’s fire.”
A few hours following Johnson’s tweet, Wolfe issued a statement denying her report and apologizing to the Jets:
The initial story appeared to feed the flames surrounding Saleh’s predicted place on the hot seat for the forthcoming season. It will be his fourth season as head coach of the Jets, who have yet to finish with a record better than 7-10. He has an 18-33 career record with Gang Green.
Wolfe’s distinction between “argument” and “conversation” was clearly insufficient to avoid blowback against the report.
In addition to Johnson’s reaction and Wolfe’s testimony, Connor Hughes of SNY disputed that such a conversation occurred.
However, Johnson made it plain that his disagreement with NFL Network is not new. His criticism of the outlet’s “irresponsible reports” comes despite the fact that he officially has a stake in the platform. NFL franchise owners, including himself, own the league in equal parts, as does the NFL Network.
It’s a new piece of non-football drama for the Jets, who had star quarterback Aaron Rodgers almost become a potential 2024 US vice presidential contender earlier this month.