It has been the worst imaginable season for Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets, who fell to 3-10 with Sunday's OT loss to the Miami Dolphins. There hasn't been much of a silver lining here. The Jets put all their eggs in an extremely volatile basket and watched it blow up in their face. Such is the way of Jets football.
What does the future hold? That much is unclear. Rodgers is either a free agent or a trade candidate next offseason — the Jets almost definitely won't keep him around. Woody Johnson once considered benching Rodgers and appears unhappy with the state of the franchise. It's way too easy to deflect blame back at Johnson, but he's not going to sell the team. Get used to it.
Rodgers, 41, is coming off of an Achilles injury that sidelined him all of last season, so we probably should've seen this decline coming. Nobody can knock Rodgers' football IQ, but you need a certain level of mobility and arm strength to effectively quarterback an NFL offense. Rodgers hasn't been awful, but he hasn't been nearly good enough to salvage the Jets' patchwork roster and incompetent coaching staff.
To make matters worse, Rodgers has actually been playing through pain and injuries, too. So he's just not healthy, and it's unclear how "healthy" we can expect him to get moving forward. The prognosis for next season is not great.
And yet, Rodgers appears to have supporters in the Jets locker room and around the league, against all odds.
Aaron Rodgers earns respect for playing through injuries despite Jets tailspin
According to FOX Sports' Jay Glazer, Rodgers has "propped [himself up] more in the eyes of teammates" this season by fighting through painful injuries. So, while the Jets' season has fallen by the wayside, Rodgers doesn't appear to be losing the respect of his peers. If anything, Rodgers is gaining support in the face of adversity.
Sunday’s @NFLonFOX scoopage… @AaronRodgers12 fought through wayyyy more painful injuries than people realized this year, which propped him MORE in the eyes of his teammates, while others including owner talked of his benching his teammates didn’t feel same way seeing how much… pic.twitter.com/1OzHxsIb3L
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) December 9, 2024
The whole Rodgers schtick has probably worn off for most folks by now. He's pretty much the NFL equivalent of your annoying uncle at Thanksgiving — the crackpot conspiracist who somehow became the world's greatest thrower of the football. All his preseason bluster gave way to a mediocre QB performance on football's most disappointing team, so folks outside the Jets locker room might not be as quick to throw support behind the four-time MVP.
That said, if Rodgers really has been battling through pain all season for a team that doesn't win games (or seem to want him around), he does deserve a sliver of credit. We know Rodgers loves football above all else and he's definitely the type to lead his team into battle on half a leg.
The flip side, however, is why? Why would Rodgers put his body on the line for an owner who doesn't respect him and a team that has zero hopes of contending — and hasn't felt realistically close to the postseason race for a long while? It feels like an unnecessary burden, but again, Rodgers loves football. Sometimes it's that simple.
We shall see how Rodgers market shapes up in the offseason, and if this newfound respect from his peers translates to a second chance with a new franchise.