The Giants seriously considered pursuing Aaron Rodgers, but concerns about his age and durability were too significant for team president John Mara to move forward with a potential signing, according to Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post.
General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll preferred Rodgers to the other quarterbacks available in free agency, but Mara needed to be convinced. Rodgers has a reputation as an intense personality in the locker room with no shortage of off-field controversies
The Giants reached out to three members of the last Jets regime – head coach Robert Saleh, general manager Joe Douglas, and defensive backs coach Marquand Manuel – who said that Rodgers was “no problem in the locker room,” per Dunleavy. (Manuel was hired in January as the Giants’ new defensive pass game coordinator.) There was no way around the mercurial quarterback’s attention-grabbing words and antics, but the team was willing to overlook that, especially for how cheap Rodgers would be.
What the Giants could not get past, according to Dunleavy, was the potential for Rodgers to miss time this season due to injury. Mara has repeatedly expressed his lack of patience with the team’s lack of results in the last two years, and Rodgers showed signs of limited mobility in 2024 after tearing his Achilles a year prior. He’s also openly debated retirement in each of the last few offseason, including this one, making it clear that he’s not a long-term answer at quarterback.
Instead the Giants went with younger players in Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston on incentive-laden one-year deals to see if one can emerge as a plus starter in 2025. They’ve also done their homework on the current draft class and could add a new franchise quarterback next week.
Today; is there any difference between Rodgers, Wilson, or Winston? I don’t see it, except price tag.
On the field? Definitely. I mean, everybody’s really down on Rodgers, but he definitely outproduced either of those guys on a worse team. Divorcing personal opinion from analysis should show that Rodgers definitely is more capable a QB than Wilson (who can’t throw over the middle) or Winston (who can’t avoid turnovers). Rodgers can still make every throw, and though he turned the ball over more than his normal rate, that’s still better than most QBs in the league (considering that he was the best in league history at not turning it over, it stands to reason that his normal rate would have been quite remarkable).
Rodgers on the field is significantly less mobile than he used to be, and I would definitely have durability concerns for a 40 era quarterback in the NFL, especially one who’s not particularly large, and had a serious injury two years ago. But Wilson, for his part, is also less mobile than he was in his heyday, which very much affects his current play given his playstyle. Wilson can’t play in a structured offense like Rodgers, due to his ineffectiveness in throwing middle throws, and his penchant for freewheeling and take unscripted deep shots. Winston can make every throw, and is bigger than either Rodgers or Wilson, but he takes too many chances with the ball and takes some unscripted chances of his own. If you do want a quarterback who audibles, I think that you’d prefer Rodgers to do it over either of those two.
That said, and this might sound counterintuitive, I don’t think that Rodgers is a better option for New York than Winston or Wilson. There’s just not enough there to help out an older, smaller sized, and recently injured quarterback. Can Rodgers offer more on the field as a passer than either Winston or Wilson? Certainly. Is he as safe a bet healthwise for a team who likely won’t be competitive anyway? Not so sure. To be honest, I thought that the Winston signing was a good enough move for New York before they brought in Wilson, but I just don’t like the combination of Rodgers with a shaky roster with a desperate regime running the team. Minnesota would be a different story, and Pittsburgh can at least offer a good TE, WRs, and stability. Winston would be my choice going forward, as he has the size, youth (relative), and arm to serve as a starter going into 2025. There will be turnovers, but the Giants figure to be trying to build up rather than cash in this year-minus an incredible draft.
He didn’t want to get lay there anyways, wants to at least be able to sniff the playoffs on a competitive team
What competitive team wants a broken down, egotistical QB? If they’re competitive, they have a solid QB room.
As much as a diva as he is. I highly highly doubt Rodgers was even interested in the giants to begin with.