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 group’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 offer 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 virtually definitely by no means admit to that type of exit, but it surely is smart why he may make that type of plea to stay with the group regardless of two forgettable and disappointing seasons.
For one, if he might have persuaded the Jets to maintain him, he would have been underneath contract for $37.5 million throughout the 2025 season.
Rodgers should know that there is not one other group within the NFL that’s prepared to offer him something near that quantity — not after the best way 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 is not a fantastic current observe document, and it is not prone to get higher sooner or later as he will get older.
Rodgers may additionally have a troublesome time discovering a brand new dwelling in any respect. The groups out there for a quarterback this offseason are virtually definitely going to be searching for a youthful, long-term choice on the place. The one quarterback-needy group 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 searching for long-term stability — or no less than an affordable short-term choice.
Even when he does discover a group with a mutual curiosity, it is unlikely he’ll get the type 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 might assist flip the franchise into an on the spot contender. The Jets constructed every thing round what Rodgers needed, proper all the way down to the offensive coordinator, and introduced in a number of of his most well-liked former teammates from Inexperienced Bay.
Your entire ordeal turned out to be a multitude. 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, your entire factor was a bitterly disappointing ordeal — even by New York Jets requirements. Everyone might be comfortable to have a brand new quarterback in 2025, whoever it is perhaps.
