It’s gotten so bad in the Jets’ locker room that the rookie third-string quarterback is unloading on his teammates.
Greg McElroy, a seventh-round draft pick who spent his first year in the NFL on injured reserve after suffering a thumb injury in the preseason, went back home to Alabama this week and promptly did an interview with 97.3 The Zone in which he trashed the culture of the Jets.
“It’s definitely not a fun place to be, I can assure you,” McElroy said of the Jets’ locker room. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been around extremely selfish individuals. And I think that’s maybe the nature of the NFL. But there were people within our locker room that didn’t care whether we won or lost as long as they got theirs, they had a good game individually. And that’s the disappointing thing.”
McElroy didn’t mention any of those “extremely selfish individuals” by name, but he was responding to a question about the reports regarding Santonio Holmes being a divisive figure in the locker room, and he didn’t say anything to suggest those reports are erroneous.
But McElroy, who was a well-respected team leader with a reputation as a fine scholar-athlete at Alabama, said he loves Jets coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and believes the current coaching staff will turn the team around.
“It’s going to take a lot to kind of come together next year,” McElroy said. “I think the fact that we struggled at times this year really led to a really corrupt mindset within the locker room. But I think we’re going to regroup and I know that we’ll be a better team because of the trials and tribulations this year.”