Aaron Rodgers or Zach Wilson? Jets fans can hardly tell the difference

The Arizona Cardinals snuffed out any lingering hope the New York Jets may have had left with a dominant 31-9 victory in Week 10. 

The Jets entered the past two seasons with the expectation of being a true Super Bowl contender. There wasn’t this much optimism around the team even when former head coach Rex Ryan led them to two consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances.

When the Jets mortgaged their future for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the hope was that he could lead the young, talented roster to a championship. For Rodgers, the Jets provided an opportunity to cement his legacy. Then, just like all-time great quarterback Tom Brady, he too could say that he switched conferences and led a perennial loser to glory in his first season.

Instead, Rodgers produced just four snaps in 2023 and just three wins in 2024. Midway through the season, the team’s campaign is already over and their dreams are already dead. With just three wins in 10 games and a loss against the Buffalo Bills already on the ledger, the Jets have dug themselves into a six-game hole that is essentially six feet deep. 

Aaron Rodgers’ stats are very similar to Zach Wilson’s 2023 stats

The Jets will miss the postseason for a 14th consecutive season, extending the longest active playoff drought in the league. As long-suffering Jets fans process another losing season, they’ve noticed how little improvement Rodgers has offered them over former quarterback Zach Wilson.

His stats don’t pop out in most categories when compared to Wilson’s 2023 season. Although Wilson played in two more games than Rodgers has played so far this season, the difference is underwhelming. 

Rodgers has yet to pass Wilson’s 2,271 passing yards, and he has only improved the passing game by an additional 36.5 passing yards per game. His 62.4 percent completion rate and 6.4 passing yards per attempt (6.4) are only marginally higher than Wilson’s 60.1 percent completion rate and 6.2 passing yards per attempt. 

Rodgers has produced seven more passing touchdowns, but he has also matched Wilson’s seven losses and seven interceptions in two fewer games. Wilson far outpaced Rodgers on the ground, generating 168 more total rushing yards.

The Jets selected Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft after one highlight-reel throw at BYU’s NFL Pro Day went viral and skyrocketed his value. Over his first two years, it became evident that Wilson was not equipped to be a starting quarterback at the professional level.

With a dominant defense and a talented pair of young offensive weapons, the narrative was that the Jets just needed a capable quarterback to contend for a championship. Yet, the Jets have played 27 regular season games since they traded for Aaron Rodgers, and he has only produced three victories for them.

As the organization picks up the pieces of their shattered hopes, they’re left wondering where they went wrong. Maybe it was when they fired their defense-oriented head coach for offensive problems, only to replace him with another defensive coach. Maybe it wasn’t about why they fired him, but when. The Jets had an opportunity to take first place in the AFC East that same week. 

Or did the issues arise even earlier than that? Maybe when they hired Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator for the sole purpose of persuading Rodgers to join the team. Maybe it was when they signed Rodgers’ old buddies, or when they allowed him to miss mandatory workouts in the offseason. It could have been when they traded for Haason Reddick without having a renegotiated contract in place.

Perhaps there’s a better question to ponder: Would a competent organization have done any of those things? 

To win, a team first needs to establish a winning culture and good leadership. Brady did that for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and they have continued to make playoff appearances ever since he ended their drought. 

The Jets, however, don’t have good leadership or a winning culture — and they certainly don’t have Brady. Every level of the organization is rotten, and it may be time to tear the whole team down for spare parts.