The first ten games of the Aaron Rodgers-New York Jets reboot can fairly be considered a failure.
A Jets team that had Super Bowl aspirations is 3-7 and out of the playoffs. Rodgers is producing career lows in yards per attempt (6.4) and touchdown-to-interception ratio (15-to-7) with a completion percentage (62.4%) that is among the worst of his career.
This doesn’t work.
But Rodgers sounds ready to reverse it. He was asked on Wednesday whether this season’s results have changed his previously expressed thoughts about wanting to play beyond 2024.
“Not really, not because of the negative,” Rodgers said. “No, not really.”
When asked if he wants to play again in 2025, Rodgers said this:
“I think so, yes.”
So Rodgers sounds ready to give it another try. Which begs the next question. Do the Jets want to do it again with Rodgers next season?
Rodgers, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon last season, will turn 41 in December. His arrow does not point upwards. If he chooses not to retire, the Jets would have to make a pick in the third year of his three-year, $112.5 million contract. Keep him and carry a $23.5 million salary cap hit. Or release him and carry a $49 million dead cap hit that could be spread over two seasons: $14 million in 2025 and $35 million in 2026.
The reasons for Rodgers to want to return are clear – at least financially. The football reasons are less. Rodgers has four MVPs and a Super Bowl ring and is five years removed from his induction into Canton from the time he retires. His football legacy is safe.
He joined the Jets thinking the combination would offer a chance at a second Super Bowl ring. Those dreams have been dashed for this season and there is little indication that another run next season would yield the desired results.
So will Rodgers feel the same way this offseason when faced with the prospect of another season full of NFL hits? We’ll have to wait and see. But for now, he’s ready to play out the rest of his contract.
If that’s true, the ball will go straight to the Jets’ court.
