It’s been anything but a flagship season for the New York Jets – but Aaron Rodgers has his positives to take from 2024.
Not least of which has been playing actual football after missing effectively his entire debut year at MetLife Stadium. Rodgers, 41, made it just four snaps into the 2023 campaign before his campaign was crushed by an unfortunate Achilles injury.
That lowered his expectations coming into 2024, with the Jets set to wrap up their regular season at home to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. And NFL icon Rodgers will tick off at least one of his New Year’s resolutions if he suits up in his team’s curtain call.
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“We get paid for 17 weeks. Not 10, not 11, not five,” he said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show in December. “One of my goals this year coming back from the Achilles was to play all 17 games, plus whatever play-off games we played in. Obviously, that hasn’t been the case this year, but we still got five games left, and I would love to be out there battling with the guys.”
As it stands, the Jets are 4-12 for the season and have long since been eliminated from the post-season picture. That’s a downgrade on the 7-10 record they managed with Zach Wilson and Trevor Siemian tending to the quarterback position last season.
Rodgers was pulled from Sunday’s brutal 40-14 defeat to close rival Buffalo, where a referee was seen laughing at the QB’s limp attempts to avoid an obvious penalty. However, replacement Tyrod Taylor did what his team-mate could not by at least converting consolatory touchdowns in the closing stages of the game.
Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich will hope those saved snaps have given Rodgers the rest needed to at least end this season on a high. The Dolphins are 8-8 in the AFC East and still have the faintest hope of a play-off place, but Rodgers can rain on their parade with one last opportunity to inject the Jets with some much-needed hope for 2025.
At the very least, playing his first 17-game schedule since leaving Green Bay is a bonus for the former Super Bowl MVP. So while it may not have been a season to remember for Rodgers, he can take solace in knowing he was at least along for every step of the ride.
The veteran has indicated he’s uncertain of whether or not he will see out the final year of his Jets contract in 2025. But his improved fitness compared to last year will be considered a big plus to any hopes of seeing him continue in New Jersey next year.
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