Aaron Rodgers is the starting quarterback for the New York Jets. He played one year of college football at Butte College in 2002 before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley. Rodgers set numerous career passing records at Cal, though he never crested 3,000 passing yards or 24 touchdowns in any one season. He was still considered one of the top quarterbacks entering the 2005 NFL Draft, along with that year’s No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith. Rodgers was the second quarterback picked that year, though he famously had to wait in the green room for the Packers to select him with pick No. 24 of the first round.
Aaron Rodgers was drafted primarily to back up franchise quarterback Brett Favre, which he did from 2005 to 2007. The Packers only won six games in Rodgers’ first year as a starter (2008), he impressed by topping 4,000 passing yards and averaging 18.7 (No. 2) fantasy points per game. He would remain in the top three at the position in PPG through the 2014 season. Rodgers led the Packers to the playoffs in every season from 2009 to 2014, winning Super Bowl XLV (2010) in a thriller against Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He won his first two NFL MVP awards in 2011 and 2014. Rodgers’ playoff streak continued until 2017, when he suffered a broken collarbone.
Despite a down season due to injury in 2017, Rodgers was signed to a four-year extension with the Packers worth $134 million. The contract featured a $57.5 million signing bonus, $98.7 million guaranteed, and average annual salary of $33.5 million. After re-working the deal in 2021, he signed with the Packers through 2023 with a maximum cap hit of $46,664,157 million that year.
Green Bay missed the playoffs in 2018, but Rodgers returned to hit his typical benchmark of 4,000 passing yards. Longtime head coach Mike McCarthy then gave way to Matt LaFleur, a rising star in the coaching ranks. Though the 2019 season ended with a third consecutive NFC Championship loss, the Packers won thirteen games and began their rise back to the top of the NFC North. In 2020, Rodgers led the league with 48 touchdown passes. He also logged 3,873 (No. 15) Air Yards, 72 (No. 3) Deep Ball Attempts, and a 23.4 (No. 4) Fantasy Points Per Game average. While those numbers are great in and of themselves, he also led the league in a number of efficiency metrics, including True Passer Rating (126.7), QBR (85.1), Expected Points Added (+225.8), and True Completion Percentage (78.3-percent). Rodgers won his third and fourth NFL MVP awards in 2021 and 2022, leading the Packers to 13 wins and the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed each season.
Amongst growing speculation that Rodgers was clashing with management on his way out the door, many christened 2021 Green Bay’s “Last Dance” season, referencing his and wide receiver Davante Adams' final season together. He again led the league in efficiency metrics such as True Passer Rating (111.5), QBR (68.8), and Adjusted Yards Per Attempt (8.3). This was all while surpassing the 20.0 fantasy points per game threshold for the eighth time in his career. 2021 did turn out to be his last season with Adams, his favorite receiver for the previous several years. Adams went to Vegas and Rodgers was left with Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and some rookie receivers. The Packers had a down season, going 8-9 and being ousted from the playoffs by ascending divisional foe, the Lions. Rodgers was dealing with a thumb injury that may have impacted his throwing more than he let on. He had the fewest passing yards of his career when playhing a full season. After being No. 1 in True Passer Rating in 2020 and 2021, his mark in that metric fell to No. 12 (90.5).
In March 2022, Rodgers signed a mammoth contract extension with Green Bay worth $150-plus million over the next three years, but then was traded to the New York Jets just before the Draft. Rodgers brought along his compatriots, Lazard and Cobb, from Green Bay to New York. He also took a pay cut to make room for the Jets to add offensive weaponry for what they view as a Super Bowl or bust season. The 2023 season for the Jets would end up being a massive bust, as Rodgers Achilles tendon ruptured after only one pass attempt. The Jets are rallying around the polarizing quarterback for one more season in 2024.
