The first 10 games of the Aaron Rodgers-New York Jets reboot can be fairly assessed as a failure.
A Jets team that had Super Bowl aspirations is 3-7 and not in the playoff picture. 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’s among his career worsts.
This is not working out.
But Rodgers sounds ready to run it back. He was asked on Wednesday if this season’s results have changed his previously stated thoughts on wanting to play beyond 2024.
“Not really, not for the negative,” Rodgers said. “No, not really.”
When asked to clarify if he wants to play again in 2025, Rodgers said this:
“I think so, yeah.”
So Rodgers sounds ready to give it another go, which raises the next question: Do the Jets want to run it back with Rodgers next season?
Rodgers, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon last season, will turn 41 in December. His arrow is not pointing up. If he chooses not to retire, the Jets would face a choice on the third year of his three-year, $112.5 million contract. Keep him, and carry a salary cap hit of $23.5 million. Or release him and carry a dead cap hit of $49 million that could be split over the course of two seasons $14 million in 2025 and $35 million in 2026.
The reasons for Rodgers to want to return are obvious on the financial front, at least. The football reasons are less so. Rodgers has four MVPs and a Super Bowl ring and is five years away from his induction to Canton from the moment he retires. His football legacy is secure.
He joined the Jets under the presumption that the pairing would offer a chance for a second Super Bowl ring. Those dreams are dashed for this season, and there’s little to suggest another run next season would produce the desired results.
So will Rodgers feel the same way in the offseason when faced with the prospect of another season of NFL hits? We’ll have to wait and see. But for now, he’s ready to play out the remainder of his contract.
If that holds true, the ball will move directly into the Jets’ court.