The New York Jets made the anticipated — and proper — resolution to formally half methods with quarterback Aaron Rodgers this week, however not with out the longer term Corridor of Famer making one final plea to stay because the workforce’s signal-caller.
In accordance with a report from the New York Publish on Saturday, in his last assembly with Jets administration, Rodgers pleaded with them to provide him no less than one other yr or two to stay with the group as its quarterback.
It clearly didn’t work, and the Jets formally moved on.
Rodgers will nearly actually by no means admit to that form of exit, however it is smart why he may make that form of plea to stay with the workforce regardless of two forgettable and disappointing seasons.
For one, if he may have persuaded the Jets to maintain him, he would have been below contract for $37.5 million in the course of the 2025 season.
Rodgers should know that there is not one other workforce within the NFL that’s keen to provide him something near that quantity — not after the way in which he performed in 2024.
He’s going to show 42 late subsequent season, and his groups have received simply 13 of the previous 34 video games he has began and accomplished. It isn’t a fantastic current monitor report, and it is not prone to get higher sooner or later as he will get older.
Rodgers may also have a tough time discovering a brand new house in any respect. The groups out there for a quarterback this offseason are nearly actually going to be in search of a youthful, long-term possibility on the place. The one quarterback-needy workforce that’s even within the universe of contender standing is the Pittsburgh Steelers, and so they could not wish to take care of the sideshow circus that Rodgers brings to city. They’re additionally in all probability in search of long-term stability — or no less than an affordable short-term possibility.
Even when he does discover a workforce with a mutual curiosity, it is unlikely he’ll get the form of energy and management he appeared to have with the Jets.
When the Jets acquired Rodgers previous to the 2023 season, the hope was that he may assist flip the franchise into an immediate contender. The Jets constructed every little thing round what Rodgers wished, proper all the way down to the offensive coordinator, and introduced in a number of of his most popular former teammates from Inexperienced Bay.
The whole ordeal turned out to be a large number. Rodgers tore his Achilles simply 4 performs into his Jets profession and missed the rest of the 2023 season. When he returned in 2024, he was a shell of his former self. The Jets received fewer video games with him (5) than they did within the two earlier seasons (seven wins every in 2022 and 2023).
Together with the off-field distractions and chaos that Rodgers constantly introduced, the whole factor was a bitterly disappointing ordeal — even by New York Jets requirements. All people might be glad to have a brand new quarterback in 2025, whoever it is likely to be.
