I thought the Packers and Robert Saleh were cool?
At least, it seemed like it when Saleh was spared two months of coaching Aaron Rodgers and immediately landed in Green Bay. Shortly after he was fired by the Jets, Saleh ended up doing some work with ol' pal Matt LaFleur in some sort of analyst/advisor role. Consulting: it's good work if you can get it.
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And since he and LaFleur go way back, you'd think there'd be some sort of gentleman's agreement about not ruining the entire draft weekend by stealing a prospect that would have been good for the Packers. But I guess that's not how it works in the NFL? Apparently the billion-dollar sports enterprise takes priority over who was in your wedding party? Because how else can you possibly explain the fact that the 49ers – who hired Saleh to be their defensive coordinator this offseason – drafted popular Packers Day 3 target CJ West?
CJ West would have been a great draft pick for the Packers, which Robert Saleh probably knew
Getting after the QB 💥 pic.twitter.com/wSHdRHZP7b
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) April 26, 2025
I mean, the Packers could have used an edge rusher. And he's from/played college in the midwest? What business does he have playing for a team out on the west coast? I kind of wished the NFL would have stepped in and stopped this. Packers Twitter wanted CJ West, and that deserves to be taken seriously, especially in a year when Green Bay's been so hospitable in hosting this draft. I'm not even being dramatic – this feels like an extremely personal and calculated slight that's going to probably reignite one of the best conference rivalries in the history of the NFL. The next chapter in the great Packers-49ers story has just been written.
Everyone in the NFL loves pointing out that, at the end of the day, it's all just a business. And while that may be Saleh's excuse for stealing a Packers draft crush on Saturday afternoon, Green Bay won't forget it. Now it's personal. You don't just go take CJ West from Packers Twitter without consequences.