Aaron Rodgers’ two-year New York Jets tenure included the future Hall of Famer missing just about the entire 2023 season due to a torn Achilles, the in-campaign firing of head coach Robert Saleh this past fall and the 2024 Jets going 5-12 before the club officially showed Rodgers the door this offseason.
For an article updated on Tuesday morning, Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated shared what some inside the Jets’ building thought of the 41-year-old as numerous reports continue to link him with the Minnesota Vikings.
“I’ve spoken to coaches who genuinely enjoyed their experience with Rodgers last year and hold him in high regard,” Orr explained. “The prevailing belief is that he was not the primary reason for the injection of chaos in Florham Park. Was that the case for every player and staffer in the building? Of course not. But you could say this about almost any star player in the NFL.”
Rodgers earned criticism when it was reported in early 2023 that he gave the Jets a “wish list” of players, and that criticism continued through his final game with the organization. While recently hired general manager Darren Mougey insisted in February that “there was never an ultimatum or rules of engagement for Aaron to potentially join the Jets again,” it seems some within the organization didn’t love his weekly “Pat McAfee Show” appearances or the fact he skipped the club’s two-day mandatory minicamp because of a pre-planned trip to Egypt last June.
It’s now no secret that Rodgers wants to join the Vikings so he can spend at least one season playing ahead of and mentoring 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy, who missed all of his rookie campaign due to needing a full meniscus repair in August of last year. Orr sounds convinced Rodgers wouldn’t be a negative presence for a team guided by Kevin O’Connell, the reigning Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year.
“Those who automatically assume that Rodgers equals chaos live in a world where a rudderless Jets franchise fawned over the quarterback and did everything they could to pacify him,” Orr added. “Minnesota is an entirely different place with no roster wiggle room and little wiggle room on the offensive coaching staff to add Rodgers loyalists. …While I see it as unlikely that Rodgers would get outplayed by McCarthy in camp, imagine the tailwind that it would provide the second-year quarterback to know that he unseated one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.”
Until Minnesota publicly slams the door shut on signing Rodgers, questions about where McCarthy is (or isn’t) in his recovery will hover over the franchise. Perhaps O’Connell thinks Rodgers would give the 2025 Vikings the best chance to at least win a playoff game after Minnesota was a one-and-done postseason team with Sam Darnold in the lineup this past January.
