Aaron Rodgers’ time with the New York Jets could extend beyond this season, even with the struggles and disappointments the team has faced.
The 41-year-old quarterback, who will turn 41 on Dec. 2, has said in the past that he wants to play for a few more years. He reiterated on Wednesday that the Jets’ 3-7 record this season hasn’t changed his plans.
“Not really,” Rodgers said in the locker room after practice. “Not for the negative, no. Not really.” When asked if he still wants to play next year, Rodgers nodded and replied, “I think so, yeah.”
Rodgers’ future has come under question recently, especially given his less-than-stellar performance during the worst start of his 20-year career.
He has one year left on his contract, which includes a $2.5 million non-guaranteed base salary and $21 million in bonuses. He would count $23.5 million against the salary cap next season.
However, if the Jets cut Rodgers before June 1 next year, they would take a $49 million dead money hit; after June 1, it would drop to $14 million.
Rodgers had a slow start this season after returning from a torn left Achilles tendon, which kept him out for all but four plays last year.
He showed some flashes of his old self in wins over New England in Week 3 and Houston in Week 9, but he followed up with a disappointing performance in a 31-6 loss to Arizona. Rodgers completed 22 of 35 passes for just 151 yards, with only one pass longer than 10 yards.
Rodgers has also dealt with ankle, knee, and hamstring injuries, which have limited his mobility—something that was once a key strength of his game.
“I mean, I’m not playing as well as I would like to play, for sure,” he said. “The beauty in this game is it’s a team game. The frustrating part is that if you’re a great competitor, you hold yourself to a standard and it’s not unrealistic. And I haven’t reached that standard this year.”
When Rodgers was traded to the Jets in April 2023, the team had Super Bowl hopes, but those were dashed when his injury in the season opener ended his season. However, optimism returned during the offseason and training camp.
After a 2-3 start, head coach Robert Saleh was fired by owner Woody Johnson, and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich took over as the interim head coach.
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, Rodgers’ former coach in Green Bay, was demoted, and passing game coordinator Todd Downing took over the play-calling duties. The Jets also traded for wide receiver Davante Adams, who had played with Rodgers for eight seasons with the Packers.
Despite the changes, the Jets have struggled, going 1-4 under Ulbrich heading into their game against Indianapolis on Sunday. The “spark” Johnson hoped for after firing Saleh has not led to improved play on the field.
“I think that you’re looking at it in strictly binary wins and losses terms,” Rodgers said. “What Brick’s done, the way that we practice, I feel like there has been great changes. I feel like he’s done some really good things.
I think Brick is an NFL head coach, whether it’s here moving forward or down the line. I mean, he is a leader of men and I’ll stand by him.”
Rodgers added, “I’d love to play for him until the end. So I have a lot of love and respect for him.”
Rodgers said Saleh’s firing was hard for everyone because “we all love Robert,” but he made it clear that the players weren’t involved in the decision. He also mentioned that Ulbrich has done a good job of keeping the team together despite all the adversity.
“And Brick’s done a really good job of trying to find ways to motivate the guys to keep them together,” Rodgers said.
“Because this could have gone south, and I’m not just talking about wins and losses — from a personality, cohesion, and standard as far as guys, just kind of splintering and breaking off.”
Rodgers encouraged Jets fans to stay hopeful, saying anything could happen in the final seven games of the season. However, he admitted that he hasn’t played up to the level the Jets were hoping for when they acquired him.
“Health obviously has been a big challenge for me,” Rodgers said when asked about the toughest parts of his time in New York. “The other parts, there’s intangible things, for sure.
There’s guys that you get to know that you don’t know. You know, you haven’t been around. There’s obviously (the) system, trying to get on the same page.
And there’s personalities that you’ve got to get to know. You learn you can push certain guys and you’ve got to pat certain guys. That’s part of the process.”
Rodgers concluded, “It’s been actually a really beautiful couple of years for me in totality. But it’s obviously been frustrating with the football part.”
