The Jets have weighed their options and decided that it is in their best interests to start quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the last game of the preseason. According to Brian Costello of the New York Post, New York decided not to wait for the regular season to debut their shiny, new quarterback. 
The grizzled veteran will participate in a preseason game for the first time in five years. His last preseason appearance came in the second week of the 2018 preseason against the Steelers. The third week of the preseason typically used to be when most starters would see preseason action and then sit out the final week as fringe roster spots were decided. Since the abolition of the fourth preseason game, though, teams have taken a mixed approach to their depth charts in the third and final week of the preseason.
Now, this appearance likely doesn’t have anything to do with Rodgers’ ability to throw a football. Long considered one of the best passers in the game, the four-time MVP doesn’t need to prove himself to anybody, even his new head coach. This has much more to do with the reason he has a new head coach in the first place.
This is the first time we will ever see Rodgers in a game jersey that is not yellow and green. After 18 years in Green Bay, Rodgers will, for the first time, start a game in a different home stadium in a different city with a different staff. While the game is technically a home game for the Giants, the fact that they share their stadium with the Jets means that Rodgers will have an opportunity to experience a home environment in MetLife Stadium for the first time as a home player.
This means he will have an opportunity to work out anything that might be different from the long-standing routines he held in Wisconsin. This will be his opportunity to work through a pregame routine (albeit from the visitors’ locker room) for the first time. Also, the fact that both teams will have home fans in attendance means that the environment will likely resemble a regular season crowd more than any other preseason game might.
It’s a new era for the Jets. And rather than wait until there is no room for any error, New York has opted to get its new sheriff settled in while mistakes are purely superficial.
He gets hurt jets are gonna look real stupid.
Wont be the first time the Jets have looked real stupid.
If Rodgers is the new sheriff it just means there are a lot of guys on defense that now want to be Bob Marley.
If he gets hurt, it’ll be the most Jets thing that’s ever happened.
Only if he gets hurt executing a butt fumble.
Karen Rodgers tears his labrum in a meaningless preseason game, film at 11.
Seriously, if they want him to get used to a new routine why not just have him do everything the starter would do right up until kickoff?
I imagine part of the reason they want Rodgers playing is to capitalize on the hype. Even in a meaningless preseason game they would like to have an edge against their Rutherford rivals the Giants. If Rodgers has a strong game that also gets the Bills thinking a bit prior to the season opener.