Letting Rodgers go without a capable quarterback to replace him sets up the Jets to fail.
General manager Darren Mougey and head coach Aaron Glenn decided to start their Jets tenure by preferring to lose rather than win with Aaron Rodgers. That was the message they sent when they swiftly released Rodgers. They knew the Jets would be bad with or without the four-time MVP, so they decided the team would take their lumps in building a culture without him.
Jets fans seem okay with it since they had their fill of Rodgers’ nonsense. Yes, this diva did not win here, and he did not do a good job leading the Jets out of the darkness when head coach Robert Saleh was fired after a 2-3 start. But no one can say the Jets improved by releasing him. Not even Mougey and Glenn can pretend to say that.
Maybe the Jets draft Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord or Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart as the team’s first-round draft pick at No. 7. But they are not ready to play right now, and it’s hard to say any rookie quarterback would be a personification of hope when the Jets have no clue how to develop quarterbacks. Remember how Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson flopped as Jets quarterbacks?
Tyrod Taylor will likely be the Jets’ starting quarterback, and that possibility does not engender confidence. If he were great, he would be a starting quarterback for a team that could use one, such as the Las Vegas Raiders or New Orleans Saints.
If the Jets are going to be bad, they may as well lose with Rodgers. For all his flaws, he threw 28 touchdowns for 3,897 yards with a 63.0 completion percentage for the Jets this past season. Keep in mind he was coming back from an Achilles injury, and I believe Rodgers would have given the team a chance to make the playoffs this year. His production will be hard to replace, and it will be tough to win games without him.
We know Rodgers is not for everyone, and Glenn did not want to deal with the headache of having Rodgers on a team. But outside of Garrett Wilson, Rodgers’ teammates liked him. They knew he could get them the ball and know what to do. He was starting to come around late in the season and would have entered this season with something to prove.
It seems strange that Jets fans are okay with Rodgers’s departure. Yes, he did not integrate himself well with the fans, but who cares about that? It’s about winning and losing, and Rodgers could have elevated this team this season after getting all the rust out.
Letting Rodgers go without a capable quarterback to replace him sets up the Jets to fail.
