Aaron Rodgers is headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
That's true even if the New York Jets can't find a way out of an early-season spiral that has seen their record drop to 2-3 and their coach, Robert Saleh, fired on Tuesday. Hell, that's true if he never earns another pass to the New York Jets, or even if he never becomes a New York Jets at all.
His 18 seasons in Green Bay, capped by four MVP trophies, a Super Bowl championship and 475 regular-season touchdowns, proved that long ago. He is a legend.
Yet legends are compared to legends. Degrees of greatness matter, and Rodgers' late-career franchise turnaround is also subject to evaluation, especially compared to peers Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
In 2023, Rodgers, 39, left Green Bay for New York in search of the Super Bowl. He followed in the footsteps of Manning, who moved from Indianapolis to Denver in 2012 at age 36, and Brady, who moved from New England to Tampa Bay in 2020 at age 42.
Both Manning and Brady won Super Bowls, made the playoffs in other seasons, and generally changed the direction, if not the hard-to-define “culture,” of their new franchises.
They finished strong. They have proven to be more than just their original franchises.
Rodgers, well, the jury is still out.
Opening night and a season-ending injury last year delayed everything. Now, five weeks into the season, the Jets look like the Jets of old. Their two wins come against bad New England and Tennessee teams. They looked listless after losing to Minnesota – and old QB San Darnold – in London.
This left Salih without a job.
“This is one of the most talented teams the New York Jets have ever assembled,” he added. said team owner Woody Johnson. I wanted to give the team the best chance to win this season.
How much does it cost Rodgers? How many not? How much could you expect him to change? It's a Jetta, after all. Dysfunction, especially in the Johnson era, was common.
Well, the offense has been poor – only two touchdowns on four turnovers over the past two weeks. The offensive line struggled with Rodgers' hard count – his known weapon – and he committed false starts too often. And Rodgers is doing… just OK by his standards. His completion rate this season (61.0 percent) and steal rate (2.2 percent) would be near the worst of his career.
Much has been written about Rodgers' decision to skip the mandatory June mini-camp and go to Egypt because he believed it was a “bucket list” trip. The Jets fined him $50,000, which Rodgers refused to comply with. Perhaps some of the criticism directed at Rodger was unjustified. How much does it really matter?
Well, Manning and Brady wouldn't do that. When Manning arrived for his first season in Denver, the NFL was in a labor lockout. He borrowed the Colorado Rockies' facility for practice and then organized training sessions for the players himself. Meanwhile, Brady arrived in Tampa at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. He gathered players on the local high school field to get representatives.
This isn't the only way to make a name for yourself with a new team, but the system Rodgers is using hasn't worked yet. He spent Wednesday defending himself on The Pat McAfee Show and stated he had nothing to do with Salih's firing.
“I don't like each of these accusations because they are patently false,” Rodgers said. “It's interesting how much power people think I have.”
It's worth taking Rodgers at his word here. There is no indication that he caused the head coach to be fired. However, his strength is why the Jets brought him in. It wasn't just about passing or running the offense, it was about leading a young team and teaching an organization that wasn't winning how to do it.
Most of the narrative surrounding Rodgers' final years in Green Bay is that the organization failed him by not providing the final pieces needed to win another Super Bowl. This may be true. But here we are, in New York, and the grass may be a different color of green, but it's certainly not greener.
New York is facing a reboot. New coach. A new approach.
There's still plenty of season ahead of us, and Aaron Rodgers remains Aaron Rodgers, an incredibly talented player and a proven champion.
However, if he wants to prove that his second appearance can be considered in the same class as Manning or Brady, it's time to act.
His entire legacy is not at stake here, but some of it certainly is.
