At a time when many were waiting for news that the Jets would trade receiver Davante Adams, the Jets fired coach Robert Saleh instead.

The potential for an Adams trade still exists.

It’s impossible to judge Saleh’s firing without considering the potential Adams trade. Was Saleh against the move? If so, that could have been enough to drive a permanent wedge.

Saleh had to deal with Aaron Rodgers’ constant overtures. From hiring his hand-picked offensive coordinator to bringing in several former teammates to potentially trading for Adams, the Jets have given Rodgers everything he wants. And Rodgers therefore stood above the team, doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, however he wanted.

That was the biggest problem when Rodgers skipped mandatory minicamp for a trip to Egypt that will be his entire post-football career. It wasn’t about whether the mandatory minicamp days were essentially OTA days. It wasn’t about whether he had attended the most OTAs. The issue wasn’t whether he misjudged the intersection in the calendar between the offseason program and his vacation time.

It was about whether he would submit to the person in charge or not. It’s about whether the rest of the locker room views Saleh as the team’s undisputed leader. It was a matter of whether Rodgers was officially in charge and whether Rodgers was unofficially in charge.

If Rodgers has recently used his ownership influence to push Adams into the team, and if Saleh didn’t want Adams, then that’s reason enough for things to come to a head.