April 26th, 2023. The trade we all waited for finally happened. I’m talking about Aaron Rodgers being acquired by the New York Jets. This felt so much like 2008 all over again when the Green Bay Packers sent Brett Favre to the Jets after he decided he wanted to play again. Earlier in that off-season, Brett decided it call it a career after a legendary run in Green Bay. Months later, he got that itch to play again (it happens, look at Brady last year). After Aaron was dealt to the Jets, I immediately looked at the AFC as a whole and more specifically, the Quarterbacks. Now, it’s Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Allen. That’s a loaded group of Quarterbacks! Of course, the hype was at an all-time high surrounding the Jets. They almost made the playoffs last season with inconsistent play at Quarterback, so it made you wonder what could they do with a future Hall of Famer. Aaron made his Jets debut on Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills. However, the debut didn’t last long. He exited the game with a foot injury. Today, it was announced that the veteran Quarterback has tore his Achilles and will miss the rest of this season.
He’s one of the most talented Quarterbacks ever to play our game and there’s no denying that. Aaron is one of the best I’ve seen from a throwing standpoint because throughout his career, he’s made it look so effortless as it’s a simple flick of the wrist, then you look and he’s fired the football up the field. Just from watching him for years and years, he’s proven that he can make every single throw on the field and can fit the football into the tightest of windows. As a former defender, you can throw every blitz, pass rush and stunt up front at him and your secondary could be playing textbook coverage, it never phases him because Aaron gets rid of the football so quickly. During his prime, Aaron was consistently running play action fakes and pushing the football down the field with a mobile pocket. When you get older in this league, you have to adjust your game and he’s more of a pocket guy at this point in his career. However, he’s not limited in any way, shape or form because he can still extend plays with his feet whenever he needs too, so that aspect of the game hasn’t changed much for him. Giving him too clean of a pocket is dangerous because that’s asking him to carve up your secondary. In all my years of seeing Aaron play, the one thing he’s been consistently great at is catching a defense slipping and what I mean by that is if he sees that the defense has one too many players on the field or someone isn’t where they’re supposed to be, he capitalizes upon that and nobody has racked up more free plays than Aaron Rodgers. I love watching him throw the football in the elements. Nothing phases him as I’ve seen him throw the ball in heavy winds as if it were nothing to him. He knows how to throw dimes.
I’m devastated for him. Throughout the off-season and training camp, he had such a big smile on his face and this appeared to be the most relaxed I’ve seen him in his career. All the hype surrounding the off-season move and for this to happen is such a big blow. The question is does he try to come back? Aaron is 39 years old which is an elder statesmen in the league now. The rehab process might be a steep hill to climb, but all I know is I can’t let that be the final play of my career. I give my best wishes to the Future Hall of Famer.
