The 2024 season is still a year away but the questions had already been swirling regarding Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and whether he will play next season following the Jets’ acquisition of him from Green Bay back in April.
On Friday, Rodgers may have seemed to hint that 2023 won’t be his only season in New York. In a radio interview Friday on the “DiPietro & Rothenberg Show” on ESPN New York 98.7 FM, Rodgers said it would be a “disservice” to only play one season with the Jets.
“The Jets gave up a lot for me, so to just play one year would be a disservice,” Rodgers said, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “Now if that one year turns out to be a magical year, who knows? It’s more than that. It’s how my body feels, and I’ve made some changes this offseason with some training and diet.” Rodgers added that “the way I feel now, I think I could play a number of years.”
Just getting a second season from Rodgers would help make the trade that much more worth it for the Jets. New York swapped first-round picks this year and sent a conditional second-round pick in 2024 that, in all likelihood, will turn into a first — Rodgers needs to play 65% of the offensive snaps for the pick to convey.
Head coach Robert Saleh also said Friday he’d be “shocked” if Rodgers wasn’t around next year.
“I don’t want to back him into a corner and make him commit to something like that,” Saleh said. “I just want him to have fun and know that when he walks in this building to let loose and have a little bit of fun, BS with the guys, come in the office, come talk to us and just enjoy playing football. Odds are if you enjoy playing football, you’re going to want to keep doing it. I wouldn’t put pressure on him to commit to something like that anyway, but I’d be shocked if he doesn’t play multiple years. He looks like a little kid out there.”
We need to get through 2023 first and a season full of expectations, but at least the immediate future is already looking a little brighter in New York.
