The New York Jets and four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers have high expectations for the 2024 season. Last year, when they first acquired him via trade from the Green Bay Packers, the Jets expected to make the postseason for the first time since 2010. Unfortunately, that did not happen after Rodgers tore his Achilles four snaps into Week One.
Instead of a postseason run, New York finished 7-10 for the second year in a row. With a revamped roster this season, the hope is that 2024 will be far more successful. If it is not, well, Rodgers could find himself look for a new team in 2025.
One anonymous NFL head coach is not so sure the future Pro Football Hall of Famer has what it takes anymore.
New York Jets Quarterback Aaron Rodgers Has Plenty of Doubters
Every year for the last 11 years, The Athletic polls coaches and executives from around the NFL and asks them to rank quarterbacks into tiers. For the first time in the history of the poll, Rodgers was not ranked in Tier One.
In a breakdown of the voting, one anonymous head coach was quoted as saying, “You go back and watch those first four plays before he got hurt, he did not look good. He looks old. If they can’t protect him and they can’t run the football, it’ll be just what you saw late stages in Green Bay. He became ineffective. I’m looking at what he is, not who he is.”
The Athletic reports that the head coach who said this placed Rodgers in Tier Three.
It is worth noting, though, that Rodgers received 23 votes to be in Tier One, more than any other quarterback that was ranked in Tiers Two-Four.
Clearly, not everyone shares that head coach’s view. One offensive coach was quoted as saying, “Maybe he falls off. I just know the last time I saw him play, he can carry it. I’m going off that.”
That coach placed Rodgers in Tier One, per The Athletic.
Can New York Jets Quarterback Aaron Rodgers Return to Pre-2022 Form?
Rodgers is and will always be remembered for his All-Pro and MVP-level of play as the Packers’ quarterback. He has set records for efficiency and his ability to take care of the football. This is the version of Rodgers that the Jets hoped to get when they traded for him last year.
It is worth mentioning, though, that Rodgers’ 2022 season, his last in Green Bay, was not up to par with the standard that he set for himself. He had a 64.6% completion percentage, 3,695 passing yards, 26 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a 91.1 passer rating.
It was just the third time in his career that he three double-digit interceptions.
He did have three rookie wide receivers in Green Bay that season, but he also had veterans Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, both of whom followed Rodgers to New York last season.
It is also worth noting that Jordan Love threw for 4,159 yards and 32 touchdowns with those same wide receivers, sans Lazard and Cobb, last season.
To be fair, the anonymous head coach has legitimate concerns. It has been over a year since Rodgers has taken the field for a regular season game, and his last complete game (played with the Packers) saw him throw a season-ending interception to kill Green Bay’s playoff hopes in 2022.
If anyone can come back after so much time off the field and from such a devastating injury, it is Rodgers. But whether or not he actually can is yet to be seen.
