If Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets plan to stay together after this season, they certainly have an interesting way of showing it.
The veteran Jets quarterback pontificated again about his future with the organization on Tuesdayafter reporters asked him how they should interpret past comments regarding a possible release. The most notable responses might have been the shortest, when a reporter brought up Jets owner Woody Johnson:
Reporter: Do you think Woody wants you to come back?
Rodgers: You should ask Woody.
Reporter: Have you and Woody had any conversations, Aaron, about the future?
The cold comments came a day after Rodgers directly criticized an earlier report that Johnson allowed his teenage sons, Brick and Jack, to influence his team’s football decisionsincluding voiding a trade for wide receiver Jerry Jeudy due to Madden’s low grade.
During his usual appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” MondayRodgers alluded, with a smile, to being liberated by a teenager:
“I have a first time for everything and there have been a few this year. I have never been released before. Being released would be a first. Being released by a teenager would also be a first. I am open to everything. I find the comedy in all of this. If it happens, it’s a great story.
Rodgers is currently finishing his second season with the Jets, a tenure that saw the team go 4-11 with him at center after missing all of last year due to a torn Achilles.
Very little has gone as planned for the Jets since his arrival, although the franchise has not failed him in bringing in his favorite teammates (e.g. Davante Adams, Allen Lazard). And with Rodgers now 41, there’s not much reason to expect improvement next year.
If the Jets released Rodgers after this season, they would incur $66.2 million in dead money, costing them $49 million in cap space. They could also release a version after June 1, which would cost them $21 million in 2025 and $28 million in 2026, per Above the ceiling.
It’s always a tough decision to release a player you’re betting on will take us to the promised land, especially when giving up means a significant personal cost. Publicly, Rodgers isn’t betting one way or another on what the team does:
“I think anything is really possible, whether it happens or not…I think there will be decisions that want to be made the day after the season or a few days after the season. I’m just not naive, it’s not 0% in my mind. I don’t think it’s a high percentage.
“I’m just pretty open to anything at this point and I understand there’s a lot of things that can happen. January 6-7, they might say, ‘We want you back next year,’ but they could just easily say, “We’re going to go in a different direction,” whatever that looks like. Again, being open to all of this, understanding all of this is possible and I look forward to those conversations.
That said, he also sounded like someone ready to say goodbye after a chaotic summer camp:
“I have nothing but gratitude to the Johnsons and everyone I met here and everyone who brought me here. It obviously wasn’t as successful as we thought it would be, but I made a lot of things. a lot of good friends here. I’ve had a lot of really special moments too, but no animosity, whatever happens, whatever the decision.
The Jets have two games left this season, the first a road trip against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, then a home game against the Miami Dolphins in Week 18. We’ll see if these end up being the final games of the Rodgers’ Jets career, but the wind is blowing in one direction depending on the tone right now.
