It’s official. The Jets want a brand new quarterback.
The workforce formally introduced Thursday it has knowledgeable Aaron Rodgers it’s shifting in a special path.
The transfer has been anticipated for some time, with the Jets making a change at coach and common supervisor this offseason and Fox Sports activities reporting Sunday that the Jets had knowledgeable Rodgers they had been shifting on in a face-to-face assembly final week.
The transfer ends a disappointing chapter for the Jets and Rodgers, who got here to the franchise in a commerce in 2023 with loads of hope hooked up to him.
“I personally need to thank Aaron for his time on the New York Jets,” Jets proprietor Woody Johnson mentioned in a press release launched by the workforce Thursday morning. “His arrival in 2023 was met with unbridled pleasure and I’ll perpetually be grateful that he selected to affix us to proceed his Corridor of Fame profession. From day one, he embodied all that it meant to be a New York Jet, embraced our followers, and immersed himself in our metropolis. That’s what I’ll bear in mind most once I look again at his time right here. He’ll at all times be welcome, and I want him solely the very best in no matter he chooses to do subsequent.”
The Jets now should resolve whether or not to launch him and take the complete $49 million lifeless cash hit on their wage cap in 2025 or designated him as a post-June 1 launch. That will enable them to separate the cap hit over two years — $14 million in 2025 and $35 million in 2026.
If the Jets resolve to make him a post-June 1 launch, they’ve to attend till the brand new league yr on March 12 to really launch him. Rodgers, 41, could be free to signal with any workforce after that. Rodgers’ $23.5 million wage cap cost would stay on the books for the Jets till June 1.
The Jets despatched a package deal of draft picks to the Packers in April 2023 to amass Rodgers. The hope was that the four-time MVP and future Corridor of Famer might present the Jets with a tradition change and elevate the workforce out of its shedding methods. The commerce was met with a lot fanfare and Rodgers and the Jets had been featured on “Arduous Knocks” that summer time.
The pregame introduction for Rodgers’ first recreation on Monday Night time Soccer towards the Payments was some of the electrical moments the Jets have had at MetLife Stadium.
The temper rapidly modified, although, when Rodgers tore the Achilles tendon in his left ankle on the fourth play of the sport. Rodgers was misplaced for the season and the Jets went 7-10 with Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian at quarterback.
The return of Rodgers in 2024 gave the Jets extra hope getting into final season. It didn’t go as deliberate, although.
Rodgers and the workforce struggled and head coach Robert Saleh was fired after 5 video games with the workforce at 2-3. The teaching change to Jeff Ulbrich solely appeared to make issues worse and the Jets continued to spiral. They completed the yr at 5-12 and common supervisor Joe Douglas was fired in November.
The quarterback had an up-and-down season and was affected by leg accidents in the course of the season. He threw for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. There have been some good moments down the stretch that made some assume the Jets ought to deliver him again in 2025, however he struggled mightily towards the Payments, the very best workforce the Jets performed within the remaining month.
The Jets employed Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey as their new coach and GM in January and their first massive transfer is to maneuver on from Rodgers.
“Final week we met with Aaron and shared that our intention was to maneuver in a special path at quarterback,” Glenn and Mougey mentioned in a press release launched by the workforce. “It was vital to have this dialogue now to supply readability and allow every of us the correct time to plan for our respective futures. We need to thank him for the management, ardour, and dedication he dropped at the group and need him success shifting ahead.”
The query now could be the place the Jets go at quarterback.
Tyrod Taylor is underneath contract and offers the Jets an skilled quarterback, however he has sturdiness questions.
The Jets maintain the No. 7 general choose, which suggests it’s unlikely they may be capable to get Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders, who’re thought of the highest tier of quarterbacks within the NFL Draft. The Jets might draft a quarterback on Day 2 and pair him with Taylor.
The choices in free company should not all that interesting.
If the Vikings don’t re-sign Sam Darnold, he would be the high free agent quarterback however it’s unlikely that Darnold would need to return to the workforce the place he spent his first three seasons.
Justin Fields is one other chance in free company. There’s additionally hypothesis that Atlanta might reduce Kirk Cousins. He has historical past with Rick Spielman, who was not too long ago employed as a senior advisor for the Jets. Spielman signed Cousins when he was the GM of the Vikings.
It will likely be one other offseason of quarterback drama for the Jets, a place they know all too nicely.
