Stream It or Skip It: ‘Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the New York Jets’ on Max, a Brand-New Season of the Long-Running Behind-the-Scenes Football Drama, This Time With Aaron Rodgers

It’s not August without a new edition of Hard Knocks. This season’s edition of the long-running sports documentary takes us behind the scenes with the new-look New York Jets, who hope that the addition of star quarterback Aaron Rodgers can push their young roster into the playoffs. It’s Hard Knocks Training Camp with the New York Jets on Max!

HARD KNOCKS TRAINING CAMP WITH THE NEW YORK JETS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Joe Namath struts off the field, victorious after guaranteeing an improbable victory in Super Bowl III. We quickly transition into a montage of sports media coverage of Aaron Rodgers’ trade to the present-day Jets. It’s a little heavy-handed, but the insinuation is clear–Rodgers, for all his success, has a tall order ahead of him if he’s going to bring the Jets back to glory.

The Gist: The New York Jets haven’t been on Hard Knocks since 2010, and they haven’t made the playoffs in just as long. They’re hoping their fortunes turn this year, and they’re pinning those hopes on four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who joins a roster including reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year Sauce Gardner and Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson. Third-year head coach Robert Saleh has the team pointed in the right direction, but can they get over the hump this year? It all starts in training camp, with plenty to sort out before Week 1.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? If you don’t know what Hard Knocks is all about by now, where’ve you been? This is the eighteenth edition of the award-winning series, and it’s set the standard for as-it-happens sports documentary productions.

Our Take: Every season of Hard Knocks–and this is the long-running show’s eighteenth season–has to have some kind of compelling angle. How are you going to get fans of all 32 teams to care about the fortunes of one team?

Fortunately, the 2023 New York Jets have plenty of angles. The primary one, of course, is the introduction of a big-time new centerpiece–that being four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who demanded a trade from his longtime home with the Green Bay Packers in the offseason. He’s joining a roster with some real talents, including the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year and All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner, reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year wide receiver Garrett Wilson, and fellow All-Pros C.J. Mosley and Quinnen Williams. He’s also been an erratic public presence over the past year-plus, and he’s facing down Father Time in a season in which he’ll turn 40. 

Still, expectations are through the roof, as head coach Robert Saleh acknowledges in a speech to players near the beginning of the episode. With their new-look roster, the Jets are going to have a target on their backs this year. Teams will be gunning for them, and they’ve got to be ready. Players seem excited for the challenge and excited to be playing with Rodgers–wide receiver Mecole Hardman tells Rodgers he’s been watching the elder player since he was seven years old. “Everyone chases the top-tier quarterbacks, because they change teams,” Saleh notes. “They change locker rooms.”

The tone has changed around the team’s practices, too, with celebrities like Method Man showing up to shake hands with Rodgers. (We even get a little meta moment, as movie star and longtime Hard Knocks narrator Liev Schrieber arrives via helicopter to observe and press the flesh.) “You’re the Voice of God,” Rodgers notes. “I’m just ripping off John Facenda,” Schrieber says, self-deprecatingly but not inaccurately.

One of the most fun montages in the first episode comes as a series of players attempt to replicate Rodgers’ famous no-look passes, with varying degrees of success. Per Rodgers’ own judgment, the best came from the man he was brought in to replace, third-year (and now-backup) quarterback Zach Wilson. It’s a humbling spot for Wilson, going from “potential face of the organization”, as Saleh describes him, to being a backup, and how he reacts to Rodgers’ presence is going to be one of the most interesting dramas of an interesting season.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: After an odd power-outage-caused delay, the Jets drop a 21-16 loss to the Cleveland Browns in the preseason-opening Hall of Fame Game in Canton. “The Jets are aiming high, ready to soar to a place where the crows can’t touch them,” Schrieber notes in his best Facenda impression, referencing a bird-metaphor speech given by Saleh earlier in the episode. They’re not up to full speed yet, but the preseason is about progress, not wins. 

Sleeper Star: Rodgers gets top billing, of course, but the dynamic second-year duo of Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and Garrett Wilson–who look like iron sharpening iron as they square off against each other in practice–are not to be slept on. “You two are gonna make each other great,” one coach notes during practice. We get to see Gardner head back to his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati, to accept his college diploma a little more than a year after leading the Bearcats to a College Football Playoff bid. It’s a reminder that even though he’s already a star, he’s young and has plenty of room to go up from here.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I don’t think there’s any other quarterback on Earth that can make that f**kin’ throw,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich effuses to his team, watching a perfectly-placed throw from Rodgers in a film session after practice. “He’s our quarterback. He’s f**kin’ ours!”

Our Call: STREAM IT. If you’re a fan of the NFL at all, you’re surely hungry for kickoff. There’s no better way to get geared up for another season than with Hard Knocks Training Camp, and this year’s Jets look to be an intriguing team.

Scott Hines, publisher of the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter, is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky.