The Washington Commanders were one of the best teams in the NFL in 2024, thanks to a quick rebuild that happened practically overnight. The Commanders made it to the NFC Championship game but ultimately got knocked out by the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite not reaching the Super Bowl, there was plenty to take away from the season, and reaching the conference championship game as a Wild Card is a win.
There is now pressure on the Commanders to continue this level of play, and they will have to do so once again through a tough NFC conference and NFC East that contains the defending Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, along with the Giants and Cowboys, who will be itching to get back to relevance after sub-par seasons.
The New York Giants were not only one of the worst teams in the division but also the entire league, and they will be looking to get things headed in the right direction after having moved on from quarterback Daniel Jones. With Jones no longer in New York, the Giants have a quarterback problem heading into the 2025 offseason as they only really have Tommy DeVito to take the mantle. This issue is exactly why NFL.com's Nick Shook believes that the Commanders' divisional rival would be a great potential landing spot for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers who was informed by the Jets that they would be moving on from him.
"Rodgers wasn't elite in 2024, but he was certainly better than any quarterback the Giants played, making for an ideal partnership between a coach seeking immediate results and a passer seeking purpose for one more season," wrote Shook. "Yes, Rodgers switching sides in New York would be comical, but it's not difficult to imagine the Giants welcoming him to their side of MetLife Stadium as a bridge to their future. If they draft a quarterback in April, Rodgers can also fulfill the mentor role he said he was willing to take on in his final months with the Jets. Plus, the New York tabloids would have a field day with it. Why not?"
There is no denying the fact that Rodgers isn't the same quarterback that he used to be. Now over the age of 40 and one year removed from a torn Achilles, Rodgers wasn't able to drastically change the direction of the Jets the two seasons he was there, so it's hard to imagine that a move to the other side of New York would change much for the end of his career.
The Giants are in desperate need of help at the quarterback position and could end up drafting one in the NFL draft this April as they currently hold the third slot. However, the quarterback class this year isn't as hyped up as we have seen in the past. Rodgers can still get it done, but he will undoubtedly need an extremely helpful cast to join him - something that I don't believe the Giants have at this point in the time.
The likelihood of Rodgers landing with the Giants seems thin, but stranger things have happened. If Rodgers does end up with New York, then the Giants could be an interesting team for the Commanders to watch out for in the NFC East.
