The hype surrounding the New York Jets before last season was high. Perhaps not as high as a certain quarterback undertaking a dark retreat hopped up on psychedelics, but high nonetheless. As we trudge toward the new season, the hype train seems to be revving up once again.
It’s been an interesting last year or so for the Jets and Aaron Rodgers, to say the least. After acquiring the veteran QB in April 2023, hope was injected into a franchise and fan base that has made the team’s name into an acronym standing for Just Endure The Suffering.
Of course, in a matter of minutes, that hope was destroyed, as Rodgers went down in the first moments of Week 1 with a torn Achilles tendon. While most players would quietly rehab this serious injury to prepare for next season, most players aren’t Aaron Rodgers.
He spent months openly flirting with the idea of returning more quickly than anyone ever has with a torn Achilles, claiming stem cells and time spent in a hyperbaric chamber would help get him back on the field faster. With the Jets out of contention, Rodgers wouldn't return to the field.
For further proof that Rodgers is not like anybody else in the NFL (or perhaps anywhere else), he spent much of the offseason being asked about potentially becoming Robert F. Kennedy’s running mate for the upcoming election. Rodgers was also interviewed by Tucker Carlson in which the QB praised Vladimir Putin and talked about how the U.S. government is hiding the existence of aliens.
While the NFL surely wants everyone to forget about the extraneous stuff and focus on football, once again, the league is touting the Jets. The team will have six prime-time games this season, matching only the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. Three of those games are particularly intriguing due to who they may see at quarterback.
In Week 4, the Jets play the Denver Broncos, and depending upon injuries or other factors, they could end up facing their last “franchise” QB, Zach Wilson. A week later, they’ll be in London to play the Minnesota Vikings, and the guy snapping the ball for the Vikes may very well be Sam Darnold, the quarterback who was going to be the team’s savior before Wilson.
For Week 13, New York will be home to face the Seattle Seahawks, led by another former Jets QB, Geno Smith. While Smith has had marginal success in Seattle, his one playoff game is one more than the Jets have had in the last 14 years. (For good measure, they’re also playing the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. In 2021, the Jets decided to draft Wilson instead of current Steelers QB Justin Fields.)
We’re months away from any meaningful games being played in the NFL, so there’s still plenty of time for even more weirdness to surround the Jets and Rodgers. But this season is shaping up to be one that won’t easily be forgotten, though maybe not for the right reasons.
