In retrospect, Aaron Rodgers probably should have done the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. VP sidekick thing.
Instead, Rodgers passed up the chance to drop out from the fringes of the 2024 presidential race with RFK Jr. to return to the New York Jets, which started the season with Super Bowl aspirations, ahead of limping home to a 5-12 finish, largely because Rodgers sucked.
“We want to thank him for the leadership, passion, and dedication he brought to the organization and wish him success moving forward,” new Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and new GM Darren Mougey said in a joint statement announcing his release on Thursday.
Actually, the release can’t come until March 12, for salary-cap purposes.
Rodgers will still count $14 million toward the Jets’ cap in 2025 and (gulp!) $35 million in 2026.
The Jets have a new head coach and new GM, and are now in the market for a new QB1, because of how the 2024 season played out.
Owner Woody Johnson fired head coach Robert Saleh in October after a 2-3 start, and cut bait on GM Joe Douglas in November when the spiral hit 3-8.
Rodgers put up good counting numbers, on the surface – passing for 3,897 yards and 28 TDs – but he finished 25th in the league in Total QBR, 28th in yards per attempt and 30th in completion percentage among qualified passers.
The money stat: the Jets finished 3-7 in one-score games, which used to be a Rodgers bread-and-butter – he ranks fourth on the active list with 34 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter and OT.
Glenn and Mougey met with Rodgers last week to discuss his future, and apparently things didn’t go to his liking, with the coach and GM handing Rodgers an edict that would bar him from making outside media appearances during the season, including his regular, paid appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
No doubt that was going to be a non-starter – Rodgers used his weekly in-season “McAfee” platform to push conspiracy theories about vaccines, FEMA and Ukraine, and also publicly entertained the idea of running for vice president alongside Kennedy, who was confirmed today as the Health and Human Services Secretary in a 52-48 U.S. Senate vote.
Rodgers gets extra credit for being a supposed deep thinker because he played in college at Cal-Berkeley, but a quick Google search will tell you that he was a JUCO transfer who left Cal after his junior season without a degree.
For all we know, Rodgers could have taken two years of classes along the lines of Intermediate Fingerpainting, Theory of Lawn Bowling and Survey of 1960s TV Sitcom Theme Songs before deciding to grow a moustache thinking it would make him look smart.
All of which qualifies him to reconnect with RFK Jr. at HHS.
Polio isn’t going to make a comeback on its own, after all.
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Chris Graham
