The New York Jets parted ways with future Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers this offseason.
“The experiment was a good experiment, to bring him in, but it just didn’t work out, as you can see. I have a lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers. He is a great player, a Hall of Famer player. I’m sorry it didn’t work out,” Jets owner Woody Johnson said at the Annual League Meetings via ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
Woody Johnson on Rodgers: “The experiment was a good experiment, to bring him in, but it just didn’t work out, as you can see. I have a lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers. He is a great player, a Hall of Famer player. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” #Jets
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) March 31, 2025
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Very Telling Comments From Johnson on Rodgers
The decision by the Jets to move on from Rodgers was polarizing.
In a since-deleted tweet, star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams said, “Another rebuild year for me I guess 🙄” after hearing the team was set to cut Rodgers.
The fan base was split. Half of them wanted Rodgers gone, and the other half wanted him to return. There were a ton of rumors that Johnson didn’t want Rodgers back in 2025.
“I just think Woody Johnson really doesn’t want him [Rodgers] back. If Woody is smart, he will defer that decision to the new hires. If the owner is not on board, it’s going to be tough to bring him back,” Cimini explained on the “Flight Deck” podcast in late December.
Some new life was breathed into that rumor when Johnson told Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic at the Annual League Meetings, “It didn’t work out, but we had to make a choice. And I think we made the right choice [cutting Rodgers].”
Woody Johnson on releasing Aaron Rodgers, he said Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey made the decision.
“The experiment was a good experiment it just didn’t work out. I have a lot of respect for Aaron Rodgers and I’m sorry it didn’t work out but we had to make a choice. And I think…
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) March 31, 2025
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Johnson saying the team moving on from Rodgers was the “right decision” feeds into the narrative that he didn’t want him back.
Jets Made the Right Call in Both Instances
In 2023, the Jets pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers to land Rodgers. Hindsight is 20/20; the trade didn’t work out, but at the time, it was the only play for the Jets.
The old regime had missed so badly on Zach Wilson as the No. 2 overall pick at QB that the front office had to dramatically pivot to attempt to save their jobs.
Rodgers blew out his Achilles four snaps into the season and the year was over. It’ll forever be a watercooler topic of what could have been if Rodgers never got hurt. The world may never know.
This offseason, a new regime had to decide whether or not bringing Rodgers back was the right choice. Head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey decided to rip the band-aid off.
Glenn said the team wants to “move in silence.” That would have proven difficult with Rodgers as the QB1 on the roster.
