Aaron Rodgers is still unsure whether he will continue playing football after this season. Even if he does decide to keep playing, he’s not certain if it will be with the New York Jets.
The 41-year-old quarterback is open to all possibilities during the offseason, which may include mentoring a younger player who could eventually take his place, or even adjusting his contract to stay with the Jets for another season.
“Yeah, I’m open to everything,” Rodgers said after practice on Wednesday.
He also hopes to be in even better health next season than he was this year, after recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. “Yeah, it’s possible,” he said, smiling. “Might be sitting on a beach, though.”
Rodgers’ future will be a topic of discussion until there’s more clarity after the offseason, whether he returns to the Jets, retires, or is released and plays for a different team. However, he emphasized that his first choice is to stay with the Jets.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of reasons why this would be a great opportunity,” he said. “But I’m going to see what happens. There’s a lot of things that have to happen.”
Rodgers was referring to the Jets’ search for a general manager and a head coach after Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh were fired earlier in the season.
“Whether or not I’m part of the conversation, or whether or not they move on,” Rodgers said, “whatever happens, I’ll be taking my time and thinking about my future.”
Rodgers dealt with knee, ankle, and hamstring injuries early in the season, and those injuries clearly affected his performance as the Jets got off to a rough start. The four-time NFL MVP admitted that this season — with the Jets sitting at 4-10 and out of playoff contention for the 14th consecutive year — has not met his expectations.
However, he also refused to use the injuries as an excuse for his inconsistent performance through much of the season.
“It’s a what-if game,” Rodgers said. “I don’t get into a whole lot of that. I felt like I was healthy enough to play, so I played and that was kind of the end of the conversation there. There were games where I was more hampered and games I felt a little bit better.
“But obviously, I feel a lot better the last couple of weeks.”
In his past two games, Rodgers has completed 43 of 69 passes — a 62% completion rate — for 628 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions. In the Jets’ 32-25 win over Jacksonville on Sunday, he threw for 289 yards, with two touchdown passes to Davante Adams and another to Garrett Wilson, helping the team secure a rare win with a late comeback drive.
Still, the 20-year veteran said a strong finish to the season won’t change how he approaches next year.
“No, I’m going to take some time after the year — unless, you know, I get released right away,” he said with a slight smile. “But I’ll still take some time whether or not I want to play, but I’ll take some time to get away from it, either way.”
Rodgers is signed through next season with a $2.5 million non-guaranteed base salary. He would also be owed a $35 million option bonus before the start of the regular season, and his salary cap hit would be $23.5 million.
However, if he retires or is released, the Jets would face a $49 million dead money charge next year, unless they designate him a June 1 cut and spread the cost over two years.
These are all factors the team’s new management will need to consider, along with whether they think Rodgers can still lead the Jets on the field and stay healthy.
New York is likely to pick in the top 10 of the draft next April, so selecting a quarterback could be a possibility. Rodgers insists that he’s okay with that, if he’s still with the team. He was also asked if he could see a situation where the Jets ask him to return, but might turn to a younger player if they fall out of playoff contention.
He compared it to when he was in Green Bay, and the Packers drafted Jordan Love in the first round in 2020. Rodgers started three seasons with Love behind him, winning the MVP in 2020 and 2021, before the Packers eventually moved on.
“When they drafted Jordan, I felt like I was one bad stretch from being benched, and I won MVP a couple years, so that’s the way the league is,” Rodgers said. “You’ve got to prove that you can play every single week, and through stretches.
“So if they ask me back and they drafted a guy, I’d mentor the hell out of him if I was playing. And I’d try to play as well as I could to keep him on the bench.”
