“I think so, yeah,” is what Aaron Rodgers had to say when he was asked whether he’d play the next year. But do the Jets want him back the next year? The Jets are operating under an interim head coach and sooner or later, they might want to change that. It’s not set in stone that the new head coach would want to do anything with Aaron Rodgers. Why’s that?

It’s simple, he’s not playing well enough to justify his autonomy over the team. They fired Saleh and traded Mike Williams. All these things stem from the 4x MVP dissatisfaction from something or the other. But the media is resilient, and they want a solid answer from A-Rod at this point. Per Mike Florio, “They [Jets] might not want him.” So, who does?

Maybe a team that needs a veteran to come and pull off miracles. The ownership of any given team is getting impatient. In Rodgers’ words, they need a “plug and play” quarterback who can just come in and win games. The impatience across the league is getting obvious now. Just look at Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson being benched.

Rodgers went on to The Pat McAfee show and talked about “preaching patience” for players and coaches. Per the former Packers QB, “the ownership has to come out and make strong statements.” A-Rod further pointed out the organization’s trust in the “process” and the “guys.” But he was talking about the Chicago Bears and not the New York Jets.

The media caught on to the supposed hypocrisy in Rodgers’ statements. Did the New York Jets not think about the “process” and the “guys” when they let go of Saleh and Williams? That’s where Aaron Rodgers tried to divert the conversation about the team’s wanting to hurl young quarterbacks into action right away. The conversation about the “ownership” suddenly shifted to the state of the QBs in the league. Hence, Mike Florio thinks the whole situation is fishy.

“He wasn’t talking about the young quarterbacks when he said what he said. It started as a dissertation about how you should handle the young quarterbacks, but it definitely and unmistakably became a commentary on lack of patience from owners about everyone,” Mike Florio said on Pro Football Talk on YouTube.

Still, Florio finds it hard to understand whether the firing of Saleh was a rational decision or is there a “deeper problem to be rectified.” All this is a bit overwhelming. And it might take some time for the Jets fans to accept – Aaron Rodgers might not be going anywhere anytime soon.

Aaron Rodgers is here to stay

The former Super Bowl winner will turn 41 in about three weeks. This is probably the worst season of his 2-decade career, but that won’t deter him from maintaining a strong foothold in the NFL. The Jets QB made it clear that he wanted to play in the next season on The Pat McAfee Show. “I think so, yeah,” the QB said about playing next year.

Rich Cimini of ESPN dug up Rodgers’ past and pointed out how the QB admitted in the past that he wanted to play for “two or three or four more years.” But would the Jets take him after they started crashing with a 3-7 season? After all, the team will hire a new head coach and a GM eventually. And they might not approve of Rodgers’s way of working.

So, what gives him the motivation to stick around the league a little longer? Check out his statement on The Pat McAfee Show. “I’m not playing as well as I would’ve liked to play, for sure,” he said. “The beauty in this game is it’s a team game. The frustrating part is that if you’re a great competitor, you hold yourself to a standard that’s not unrealistic. And I haven’t reached that standard this year.”

The truth is, the New York Jets are cooked this season. And, to keep Rodgers next year, they’d need to consider his non-guaranteed compensation in 2025. They’d have to shell out $35 million in option bonuses and another $2.5 million in base salary. As Mike Florio put it earlier, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”