Former NFL star Ryan Clark has launched a brutal attack on Aaron Rodgers, branding the Jets quarterback a 'catfish' and insisting he cannot be compared to Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.
Rodgers is under the spotlight following the firing of Robert Saleh, who left New York this week after a miserable 2-3 start to the season.
The 40-year-old quarterback has so far failed to reverse the Jets' fortunes since his move from the Green Bay Packers last year.
Rodgers is a Super Bowl champion and four-time MVP who has long been considered one of the finest quarterbacks of all time. Clark insists he has 'every physical tool to have been the greatest' ever.
But the former safety - who won Super Bowl XLIII with the Pittsburgh Steelers - believes Rodgers lacks certain 'intangible' qualities, making him 'devoid of leadership' and incapable of 'elevating a locker room' like Brady or Manning.
Ryan Clark has launched a brutal attack on Aaron Rodgers, branding the Jets star a 'catfish'
Former NFL star Clark said 'there is something that he is missing in his intangible DNA'
'Everybody thought they knew who Aaron Rodgers is,' Clark said on ESPN's Get Up.
'The Aaron Rodgers that we knew was in a fantasy land and was a figment of our imagination.
'The Aaron Rodgers that we mentioned (along) with the names Tom Brady and Peyton Manning was a catfish.'
Clark went on to point out that Manning turned the Denver Broncos into Super Bowl champions after leaving the Indianapolis Colts, while Brady won a seventh Vince Lombardi Trophy after joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Peyton Manning led the Denver Broncos to Super Bowl glory after leaving the Colts in 2011
Tom Brady collected a seventh Vince Lombardi Trophy after joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
'The spirit, the reverence, the attention to detail, the respect of of those organizations was immediately magnified by the addition of those two quarterbacks,' Clark said.
'That's not what has happened in New York. Aaron Rodgers was put in that conversation because he was the best quarterback we'd seen - he could throw the football in a way that even those other two couldn't. But the other two had the MVPs and the championships.'
He added: 'Aaron Rodgers has every physical tool to have been the greatest quarterback to have played this game.
'There is something that he is missing in his intangible DNA that makes him devoid of great leadership, makes him devoid of being able to elevate locker rooms and I think that's what we're seeing in New York."
