Aaron Rodgers is going to deliberate whether he wants to prolong his NFL career following this mayday season that the New York Jets have endured, nosediving to 4-10 with three games to play.
However, the Jets may not wait for the quarterback to call his own shots on whether he returns for the final year of his contract with them in 2025.
After making a miraculous recovery and returning from a torn Achilles that kept him out for 2023, Rodgers, 41, is amidst the worst healthy campaign of his 20-year Hall of Fame career, and the Jets are bereft of answers.
This was a season many tabbed the Jets as Super Bowl contenders. It's OK to admit that believing the quarterback position was the only missing piece from the puzzle last season.
Though a year later, general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh has been fired. Trading for three-time All-Pro wide receiver to reunite with his old companion in Rodgers ostensibly couldn't patch the holes in this franchise.
The Jets have earned one win since all of these events.
Surprise, surprise: the shame of the longest playoff drought in all four North American major sports leagues gets another installment.
At what point is it no longer a personnel problem and more of an ownership problem? But that's a conversation for another time.
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For now, all that can be done assessing what options do exist in attempting to fix the Jets, regardless of whether you believe it's an on-field problem or not.
Rodgers's age has finally caught up with him. He was never the most mobile quarterback, but as the game gets younger, the signal callers get more agile and elusive. It's time the Jets equip themselves with someone of that breed.
Free Agency
There are two options that stand out as impending free agents. The first is Justin Fields.
Now, this franchise has never been able to successfully nurture a quarterback — whether with real NFL potential or not — from the ground up (Sam Darnold serves as case and point). So mixing in a player who's shown flashes of upside but just hasn't gotten the right opportunity with a black hole organization such as the Jets could be a recipe for another futile experiment.
Douglas had the choice between Fields and Zach Wilson with the second overall pick in the 2021 draft but elected to select the latter.
Almost four years later, Wilson holds a clipboard in Denver after a disastrous three seasons in New York while Fields waits in the wings for a deserved No. 1 job as the last year on his rookie contract wanes.
Fields commandeered Pittsburgh out to a 4-2 start and if it weren't for the greater investment in Russell Wilson along with the contrast in experience, that job would have more than likely remained his.
His throwing abilities haven't made significant strides, but the 25-year-old is only two years removed from the second-best rushing season by a quarterback in the history of the NFL.
It's more than probable the Jets will be without Davante Adams and from the looks of it likely Garret Wilson, too, in 2025. So while this receiving corps would be an upgrade from what he had in Chicago and Pittsburgh, it's difficult to project what weapons will be available.
The second considerable option on the market is Trey Lance. A string of bad luck left who was once the touted future of the San Fransisco 49ers to a backup that's never seen a real chance.
As the third-string option on the Dallas Cowboys, Lance has yet to show any starting potential since the 2021 draft in which he was scouted as a "rare dual-threat quarterback."
If the Jets wanted to sign Lance, it would be another insecure gamble that would warrant holding onto Rodgers for insurance or trading for another placeholder in the interim.
The Draft
Finally, there is the draft, which has repeatedly failed the Jets in recent memory, but with a talented pool of arms in the upcoming draft class, it's likely they will bite the apple.
As it stands, the Jets own the No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with remaining games against the Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, and Miami Dolphins — all of which they will be listed as heavy underdogs, which presents them wiggle room to move up in the order.
Unless the Jets can trade up, they won't own the No. 1 or No. 2 pick — both of which are likely to be used on Colorado's Sheduer Sanders and Miami's Cam Ward.
Who does exist in the realm of possibility is Alabama's Jalen Milroe.
Milroe led the Crimson Tide to an unlikely SEC title against an undefeated Georgia program along with a trip to the CFP National Championship with his explosive scrambling ability. He's a dual threat that emulates Lamar Jackson's game and has risen inside the top-three quarterback prospects by posting back-to-back campaigns north of 2,600 yards, albeit a 9-3 finish for Alabama.
His turnover rate has slipped, however, which presents growing pains in the NFL.
No matter who the Jets select (if they do take a quarterback), it would also be in their best interest to keep Rodgers around as they begin a rebuild.
Rodgers stated he would be open to mentoring whoever is brought on board if he is still with the team next season.
"If they ask me back and drafted a guy, I'd mentor the hell out of him if I was playing and I'd try to play as well as I could to keep him on the bench," Rodgers said in a media session this week.
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