When the New York Jets acquired Aaron Rodgers in a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers last offseason, the Jets were expected to be Super Bowl contenders.
Instead, Rodgers unfortunately tore his Achilles on New York’s first offensive series of the regular season, ending the Jets’ championship aspirations.
Now, Rodgers’ contract is being called into question.
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon released a list of the most overpaid players on every NFL team, and he chose Rodgers as his Jets example.
Gagnon says that while we can’t hold Rodgers’ 2023 injury against him, he will still count $68.7 million against the salary cap in 2024 and 2025.
Of course, if Rodgers is able to produce at an MVP level like New York initially expected when it landed him, that won’t be a huge deal.
Rodgers may be 40 years old, but he is just three seasons removed from winning his second straight MVP award after throwing for 4,115 yards, 37 touchdowns and just four interceptions while completing 68.9 percent of his passes and posting a league-high passer rating of 111.9.
The year prior to that, Rodgers led the NFL in several major categories, including passing touchdowns (48), completion percentage (70.7 percent) and passer rating (121.5).
It should be noted that Rodgers showed signs of decline in 2022, as he totaled 3,695 yards, 26 touchdowns and 12 picks, the latter of which was the most he had thrown since his first season as a full-time starter back in 2008.
Still, it’s hard to bet against Rodgers. Remember: it looked like he was declining in 2019, as well, but then he had arguably the best year of his career the following season.
Aaron Rodgers is expected to be healthy for Week 1, so hopefully, he comes back with a vengeance and is worth every penny of his contract for Gang Green.
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