Aaron Rodgers hints at how many years he could play for Jets

This past winter, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers teased he could play for "four more years" even though he suffered a torn Achilles last September and turns 41 years old this coming December.

It sounds like Rodgers is focusing on a different goal regarding his future ahead of the upcoming season.

"I would say there was a lot of sentiment that last year wasn't a great year for me," Rodgers admitted during a weekend conversation with NFL Media personalities Judy Battista and Brian Baldinger, per the league's website. "I'd like to still have two great years."

Rodgers joined the Jets via a trade from the Green Bay Packers in April 2023, but went down with his injury just four offensive snaps into New York's regular-season opener. The future Hall of Famer managed to make a remarkable recovery and allegedly could've considered returning to the lineup in late December had the Jets been a legitimate playoff contender. Instead, they went from 4-3 to 5-9 before it became clear that keeping Rodgers an inactive spectator through Week 18 was the right move for everybody involved.

While speaking with reporters last week, Rodgers noted that "the last five percent of being 100 percent is just the mental part" after he essentially missed an entire campaign of work. He lowered that number to "about four percent" during his NFL Network appearance.

"It's one of those things: I came back, took a knee and thought to myself, 'I didn't think about that rep that just happened,'" Rodgers said about something he experienced during Saturday's practice. "You have to stack some of those plays to where now you're just playing and not thinking, 'Can I do this? When was the last time I've done this? How does my leg respond?' Those are all good signs."

Assuming Jets owner Woody Johnson lets Rodgers try to give the team "two great years," the four-time regular-season Most Valuable Player could convince Johnson to part ways with head coach Robert Saleh and/or general manager Joe Douglas if the club misses the playoffs for a 14th consecutive campaign. 

Then again, history suggests Rodgers could be a phone call away from pursuing some off-the-field interest at any point between now and next summer.