In March 2023, Aaron Rodgers appeared on "The Pat McAfee show" with questions surrounding his future, and he said "I made it clear my intention was to play and to play for the New York Jets." A month later, he was officially traded to New York.
Fast forward two years, and Rodgers is no longer with the Jets, and Week 1, he'll be facing his former team as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In his two years in New York, Rodgers suffered a season-ending achilles injury, then led the Jets to a 5-12 record in 2024.
The future Hall of Famer has always made headlines, and during his time in New York he did so both on and off the field. He established himself as a leader for the Jets, but questions about the organization lingered from the top down.
While he insists there’s nothing extra riding on the season opener, it’s worth revisiting Rodgers’ stint with the Jets and how it all unraveled.
Why did Aaron Rodgers leave the Jets?
After a tumultuous two seasons in New York, the Jets and Rodgers mutually agreed to part ways this offseason. New York has a new coach in Aaron Glenn and a new general manager in Darren Mougey. The two made the joint decision to move on from the 40-year-old quarterback.
This offseason, the two parties met at the Jets' facility in Florham Park, and New York let Rodgers know that they were moving on. Rodgers said on "The Pat McAfee Show" that Glenn went "rogue" in the meeting.
"I figured that when I flew across the country on my own dime that there was going to be a conversation," Rodgers said. "And the confusing thing to me and the strange thing was, when I went out there, I meet with the coach ... We start talking and he runs out of the room ... I think we're gonna have this long conversation, and 20 seconds in, he goes -- I'm talking to the GM about something, and he leans to the edge of his seat and goes, 'Are you sure you wanna play football?' And I go, 'Yeah, I'm interested.' And he says, 'We're going in a different direction at quarterback.'
No way Aaron Glenn savaged Aaron Rodgers like that lmfaoooo 😭 pic.twitter.com/46dS8HviYi
— Sneak Eazy Baby (@ItsEazyBaby) April 17, 2025
Glenn chose not to respond to the comments.
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Aaron Glenn was asked if he had a response to Aaron Rodgers' comments on the Pat McAfee Show:
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 25, 2025
“Absolutely. Membou's a really good player and I am so excited that he's a Jet.”
😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/zgFlKFUjix
Rodgers is now in his first season with the Steelers, and his first game with his new team is against Glenn and the Jets.
Aaron Rodgers Jets career
When Rodgers announced his intention to come to New York, the news was met with a wave of excitement. The Jets own the longest playoff drought in professional sports and have struggled for years at quarterback. Rodgers was expected to push a 7-10 team from 2022 over the hump. His first offseason drew plenty of attention, highlighted by the Jets’ feature run on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
The NFL wasted no time putting Rodgers and the Jets under the spotlight, scheduling their opener in primetime against the Buffalo Bills on “Monday Night Football.” Rodgers was the last to emerge from the tunnel, greeted by a deafening roar inside MetLife Stadium.
Then, it happened. Four plays into the team's first offensive drive, Rodgers was sacked by Leonard Floyd. The QB looked at the Jets sideline, shook his head and sat down. He exited the game and eventually was diagnosed with a torn achilles, causing him to miss the entire 2023 season. New York went 7-10 with an NFL-worst 11 passing touchdowns and were 31st in yards per game that year.
Rodgers recovered fully in the offseason — he even made a push to return in late 2023, but the Jets were out of playoff contention — and entering 2024, expectations were high for New York. Though, the Jets failed to meet them, finishing 5-12.
Rodgers got off to a slow start, but he was not the only problem for New York. He finished with 3,897 yards, along with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. After a Week 6 loss to the Bills, the Jets acquired wide receiver Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders; the relationship between Rodgers and Adams dates back to their time in Green Bay, where the star wide receiver became the leading pass-catcher of Rodgers’ career.
As the season wore on, Rodgers’ play was overshadowed by turmoil at the top. The Jets dismissed both head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas within a three-week span. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich took over, but the team went on to blow six fourth-quarter leads in 2024, a collapse that made organizational change inevitable.
In January 2025, Glenn and Mougey were hired to reset the franchise. One of their first major decisions was to move on from Rodgers, ultimately releasing him. Despite the messy ending, his 2024 season still ranked among the best in team history, finishing third all time in passing yards and touchdowns for the Jets.
Aaron Rodgers career stats
As he reaches his age-41 season, it's fair to say Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL. He's currently seventh all-time in passing yards with 62,952, and fifth all-time in passing touchdowns with 503.
He has plenty of accolades to go along with him being at the top of NFL leaderboards, including being the one of two players in NFL history to win four MVPs. He led the Packers to Super Bowl XLV, where they defeated the Steelers 31-25 to win Green Bay's fourth Super Bowl title. He was named Super Bowl MVP after throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns.
Rodgers has won plenty of awards throughout his career
- Four-time NFL MVP (2011, 2014, 2020, 2021)
- Four-time First-team All-Pro (2011, 2014, 2020, 2021)
- Second-team All-Pro (2012)
- 10 Pro Bowl selections (2009, 2011, 2012, 2014-16, 2018-21)
- NFL 2010s All-Decade team
- Associated Press Athlete of the Year (2011)