Aaron Rodgers still wants to run it back in 2025.
The Jets quarterback said Wednesday that despite the struggles of this 3-7 season, he still wants to play next season.
“I think so, yeah,” Rodgers said when asked if he wants to play in 2025.
It was not as enthusiastic or emphatic as Rodgers has been about his future when asked previously, but it is notable that he did not defer to answer until after the season or just duck the question completely.
Rodgers turns 41 in December and has had one of the worst seasons of his career. The Jets have gone from having Super Bowl dreams to having a very slim chance of making a playoff run.
Rodgers has not thrown for 300 yards in a game for 32 consecutive games. He has looked skittish in the pocket at times and has battled ankle, knee and hamstring injuries this season.
Rodgers was asked if how this season has gone has changed his view on playing next year.
“Not really, not for the negative, no,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers did concede that he has not played well this season.
“I’m not playing as well as I would have liked to play, for sure,” he said. “The beauty in this game is it’s a team game. The frustrating part is as a great compeтιтor, you hold yourself to a standard and it’s not unrealistic and I haven’t reached that standard this year.”
The Jets traded for Rodgers in April 2023. He missed all but four plays of his first season with a torn Achilles tendon. He returned this year and things have not gone well. Still, Rodgers said he has enjoyed these two years.
“It’s been actually a really beautiful couple of years for me in totality, but it’s obviously been frustrating with the football part,” he said.
If the Jets were to part with Rodgers in 2025, they would incur $49 million in ᴅᴇᴀᴅ money against the salary cap.
Realistically, what comes in 2025 for Rodgers and the Jets probably depends on how the rest of this season goes. It feels like the Jets are careening toward a rebuild with a new coach and general manager. If the Jets somehow go on a miraculous run to make the playoffs, that feeling will change.
The Jets are coming off a 31-6 loss to the Cardinals in which they failed to reach the end zone. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said it is not fair to pin the offense’s struggles on Rodgers alone.
“What we have not gotten accomplished on offense is a byproduct of everybody,” Ulbrich said. “It’s a byproduct of not running as well as we should at times. It’s a byproduct of protection at times. It’s a byproduct of the receivers. It’s a byproduct of Aaron sometime. Everybody has a part in that, coaches, players, all three layers of offense need to improve. We’re going to work our ʙuтт off to try to get it fixed.”
Rodgers threw his support behind Ulbrich on Wednesday, taking issue with the characterization that the firing of Robert Saleh and elevation of Ulbrich after five games has not helped the team.
“I think you’re looking at it in strictly binary wins and losses terms,” Rodgers said. “What Brick’s done, the way that we’ve practiced, I feel like there has been great changes. I feel like he’s done some really good things. I think Brick is an NFL head coach whether it’s here moving forward or down the line. He is a leader of men. I’ll stand by him. I’d love to play for him until the end. I have a lot of love and respect for him.”
The Jets are going to have to string together six or seven wins over the final seven games for Ulbrich to truly be a candidate to stay, but Rodgers praised his leadership.
“Look, it was a tough decision because we all love Robert,” Rodgers said. “But, in the end, that’s a decision way above all of our pay grades. I think everybody handled it pretty well and Brick’s done a really good job of trying to find ways to motivate the guys to keep them together because this could have gone south. I’m not just talking about wins and losses, but from a personality, cohesion standard as far as guys just kind of splintering and breaking off.”
