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

The potential for an Adams trade still remains.

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

Saleh has had to deal with Aaron Rodgers’ continued pandering. From hiring his hand-picked offensive coordinator to adding multiple 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, how he wanted.

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

It was about whether or not he stood up to the man in charge. What matters is whether the rest of the locker room sees Saleh as the undisputed leader of the team. It was about whether Rodgers was officially in charge, and whether Rodgers was unofficially in charge.

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