Aaron Rodgers has dominated offseason storylines concerning the Jets given his trade acquisition and the expectations surrounding himself and the team in 2023. How willing he is to play beyond this season has been an open question, however.
The 39-year-old spoke on the subject today, and indicated that he does not foresee a retirement coming at the end of this campaign. Circumstances could of course change between now and then, but as his first season outside of Green Bay approaches, the four-time MVP remains confident he will continue his career for multiple years. 
“The Jets gave up a lot for me, so to play just one year. I think, would be a disservice,” Rodgers said during an appearance on ESPN’s DiPietro & Rothenberg Show. “Now, if that one year turns out to be a magical year, who knows? But it’s more than that: it’s how my body feels” (h/t Newsday’s Al Iannazzone).
Those remarks came not long after others from head coach Robert Saleh also pointed to Rodgers remaining in the fold for more than one season. Doing so would be beneficial for a New York team which is firmly in win-now mode, and which paid signficant draft capital to acquire the longtime Packer in April’s blockbuster trade. Looking too far down the road is not something Saleh is interested in with respect to his quarterback’s future, however.
“I don’t think he needs to,” Saleh said, via Brian Costello of the New York Post, when asked about Rodgers’ willingness to commit to 2024. “I don’t want to even back him into a corner and make him commit to something like that… Odds are if you enjoy playing football, you’re going to want to keep doing that.”
The Jets fielded one of the league’s best defenses in 2022, and their offense features an intriguing array of skill-position players. The team remained active on the QB market during the offseason, and trading for Rodgers quickly emerged as their preference. Age is a major concern in Rodgers’ case, but the fact New York has a number of young high-end contributors is influencing his intentions.
“When you have so many great players on rookie deals, it’s pretty exciting, knowing you can do something,” the future Hall of Famer said after the Jets’ Friday training camp practice. “You’ve got a good window. It’s not just a one-year thing where you can be competitive, which is fun.”
Of course, finances are also at the heart of Rodgers’ future. He has a cap hit of only $1.22MM this season, but a restructure to his Packers contract which delayed a roster bonus payment leaves him due a whopping $107.6MM next year. The Jets have engaged in talks about sorting out that massive dichotomy, but Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio notes that a resolution has still not been reached.
The Jets will be the subject of plenty of scrutiny based in large part on Rodgers’ play in his new home. Analysis of his and the team’s performance will, though, be made moving forward with an even stronger belief that he will not hang up his cleats following a one-and-done campaign.
I’d play as well if I was owed $107.6m! Such a Jets move, not to know that ‘minor’ detail. I mean it’s not like sports media never gives the details of high profile contracts or anything.
He’s not getting screwed out of anything. Any remainder on this year’s cap will go to him and the rest will be stretched over three years (next year and two void years) that could be rearranged based on how long he can play. Garrett Wilson thinks he’s in heaven with how perfectly the ball is being thrown to him now. Granted that’s preseason practice, but after what he had before this is special.
We’ll see. Other than Tom, name a recent great to HoF QB that was stellar in his late 30’s. Mannings, P Rivers, Ben, Breese, even Russ looked awful last year and he’s only 35.
Jets don’t need Rodgers to be stellar. They need him to not be Zach Wilson and Mike White.
Rivers wasn’t stellar but he wasn’t awful.
68% comp, 4100 yards, 24TDs, 11 Ints. Jets would gladly take that production.
Peyton was steller at 37 he won mvp and 38 he made the pro bowl. At 39 he suffered that neck injury or something and played the year injured.
Eli produced a rivers type season at 37. At 38 he was battling the front office for a new deal and they had just drafted Daniel Jones at #6. He only played 4 games that year so not alot to go off of.
38 and 39 Ben had good seasons
38- 65.4%, 3800 yards, 33 TDs, 11 ints
39- 64.5%, 3700 yards, 22Tds, 11 ints.
Rodgers can give them anywhere between
63-68%
3500-4500 yards
20-30 TDs
5-15 ints
Jets will be happy with that production. Again Rodgers doesn’t need to be stellar. He needs to move the ball, get some touch downs, lean on the run game when necessary, and not turn the ball over.
arty- Peyton Manning set the TD pass record and led one of the greatest offenses of all-time at age 37, then played excellent at 38 before his performance fell off a cliff.
Brees led the league in completion percentage at ages 38, 39, and 40, and in those last two seasons had TD:INT ratios of 32:5 and 27:4.
Rivers was lesser quality than those two but still had very good age 36 and 37 seasons, even leading the Chargers to a 12-4 record at 37.
At age 38, Big Ben had a season better than his mean statistically passing the ball. He beat his career average in completion percentage, INT and INT rate, QB rating, and threw the 2nd most TD in a season in his career.
edit: posted this comment before I saw Foxtrot commented something similar.
I agree with the others-especially with as lenient as this current NFL is to passing offenses, I don’t think that Rodgers’ offense will be as bad this year as Green Bay’s was in his last year there. The only factor that gives me pause is how uncertain the Jets’ tackle situation is.
Brown is Rodgers’ age, and his play really slipped last year in limited action. Becton is coming off injury at a position he despises. Vera-Tucker looks like he could be a building block, but I’m not sure that the Jets’ current line will allow Rodgers to take as much advantage of his late age transition as Brady, Brees, or Manning (all of whom had much better lines than Rodgers will, especially Brady and Brees). The other side of this is that Rodgers should be able to mitigate a portion of that by getting the ball out quickly and, more importantly, calling protections.
Any GM that authorizes a contract where 100+ million comes due has to be insane or unhappy with ownership as that payment is akin to a divorce settlement
We’ll see, if the Jets do their normal Jets thing and find a way to struggle he might not want to stay beyond this year. It’s easy for him to say this before the season.
I don’t doubt he’ll keep playing based on what’s he’s owed but there will be mood swings.
Seems like a big decision that will require at least two or three trips to a secluded “darkness retreat”.
Personal note: My wife has decided that I am important enough to go on “darkness retreats” as well, so once a week she directs me to the basement to do the laundry while I search for cosmic awareness.
A comedian prisoned by dirty laundry
He’s still in the honeymoon stage with the Jets so of course it’s all puppies and kittens right now. Lonnnng way to go. He already likes some of the main coaches so he won’t sour on them but there will be some waves of drama before the season ends with this arrangement.
This dude keeps Klein, Festool and Milwaukee tools in a Dollar Tree toolbox.
Too far