When Aaron Rodgers was acquired by the New York Jets back in April 2023, the expectation around the league was that four-time MVP was just the guy to drag the Jets out of the NFL’s basement and bring one of the two teams playing in the Big Apple to relevancy. While the Jets have been relevant over the last two years, it’s been for all the wrong reasons.
In that time, Rodgers has suffered a season-ending achilles tear, forced out a head coach, facilitated a trade for his good friend Davante Adams, and routinely found himself under attack for controversial and outright false claims, and what have the Jets gotten out of it, you ask?
12 games, a 4-8 record, and an absolute mess that’s not getting better any time soon… and Jets owner Woody Johnson knows it.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic notes that Johnson, who has owned the New York Jets since 2000, “has lost confidence in Rodgers’ ability to lead the team to their first playoff berth in 14 years.” This stems from Johnson’s apparent belief that Father Time is on the verge of KO’ing the 40-year-old quarterback
“There are some on the team who believe everyone is simply tiptoeing around the fact that Rodgers isn’t the same player anymore. I’m told no decisions have been made yet, but it appears increasingly likely that the four-time MVP, who is banged up, could be placed on injured reserve or possibly benched over the next few weeks, signaling the end of his disastrous time with the Jets. Some around the league say they won’t be surprised if Rodgers is cut in-season.”
Russini provided additional information on the impending break-up, noting that it doesn’t just have to do with the on-field deterioration of what was once arguably the league’s most gifted quarterback.
“As for Rodgers, his relationship with the owner has been strained for months — that’s not a secret in the building or the locker room. At this point, after conversations with sources with the team and around the league, my understanding is that Rodgers still wants to play in 2025, just not for the New York Jets.”
Aaron Rodgers’ tenure as Jets quarterback coming to disastrous end
It’s only fitting that this chapter of Aaron Rodgers’ career would play out in New York, a city occasionally known as Gotham, because it reminds me of a quote from the 2008 film, “The Dark Knight.”
Related New York Jets NewsArticle continues below
Even before Rodgers’ play began to suffer, he had done plenty to be considered a “villain.” But I’m not talking about off-field villainy here.
When Rodgers went down with the torn achilles, down went the hopes of Jets fans that after years of being a punchline, New York was ready to contend. Rodgers embodied that hope, and had he never played another snap for the Jets, he would’ve been forever viewed as something of a tragic hero. But Rodgers worked his way back, gave Jets fans hope again, and now it’s largely on his shoulders that New York has regained their spot as the league’s laughingstock.
Rodgers will likely end up being as despised by fans in New York as he is in Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota. And what ever other city he ends up playing in during the 2025 season, he’s bound to end up being villainized by those fans too.