What if it…works?
What if it goes according to plan?
What if Aaron Rodgers hops aboard the New York Jets crazy train and succeeds where Richard Todd, Ken O’Brien, Boomer Esiason, Frank Reich, Neil O’Donnell, Vinny Testaverde, Ray Lucas, Chad Pennington, Brooks Bollinger, Rick Mirer, Brett Favre (!), Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh McCown, Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson and quite a few others (Michael Vick! Joe Flacco!) haven’t, leading this comically snakebit franchise to its second Super Bowl title since Joe Namath delivered the one and only versus the Colts?
Here’s what will happen: Jets fans will be ecstatic—pure rapture in the Meadowlands, whatever on earth that looks like. The risk and this whole insufferable, extended courtship will be forgotten. That’s life in the NFL: Winning a Super Bowl is everything, and anything that gets you there is 100% worth it.
From time to time it will get weird, because it always gets weird in the Aaron Rodgers business. This deal isn’t even done—Rodgers has merely confirmed his interest in an interview with his sleeveless Boswell, Pat McAfee—and I feel like they should set one of those enormous clocks in Times Square to zero and count out the minutes, hours, and days to the first bit of Aaron Rodgers as a Jet weirdness. Or maybe it should resemble a sign they have on the factory floor: DAYS WITHOUT AARON RODGERS DRAMA.
This is the trade off. The Jets are knowingly dealing for a dedicated eccentric writing his own self-published script because the same eccentric is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the sport, a four-time MVP winner and a former Super Bowl champion. Even at 39, Rodgers is a significant talent and upgrade from New York’s quarterback mess in recent years.
If he makes it happen in New York, it’s all good. It’s more than that: It would be a legacy-defining accomplishment, lifting one of the most forlorn clubs in the history of sports to success it hasn’t experienced in more than a half-century. Honestly, winning a Super Bowl for the Jets would be a bigger deal than anything that happened in Green Bay. Winning one for the Packers was great, but those happen. Winning one for the Jets would be like building a skyscraper on Neptune.
And if he doesn’t build a skyscraper on Neptune?
Eh, well, yeah, there’s always the enormous possibility of that. All this Rodgers-to-the-Jets hype should come with an all-caps warning label: DO YOU REALIZE THIS MAN IS JOINING THE SAME CONFERENCE AS PATRICK MAHOMES, JOE BURROW AND JOSH ALLEN? The Jets roster shows promise—this was a good team last season, outside its QB fiascos—but there’s a lot in the way. Rodgers isn’t coming off a great season (the Packers finished 8-9), and he’ll be facing a far rougher road than two games a year with the Vikings, Bears and Lions.
New York Jets coach Robert Saleh chats with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Photo: Matt Ludtke/Associated PressNone of this seems to faze the Jets, who have had goo-goo eyes for Rodgers from the moment he expressed a flicker of reciprocal interest. We’ve already been through The Jets Jet Suddenly Flying West, the Malibu Summit, and various iterations and speculations of What Aaron Wants and What Aaron Needs. On Wednesday Rodgers disputed reports of wanton demands, but it’s clear New York wants to make him comfortable.
And why not? This is exciting for the Jets. It makes them relevant and buzzy in a way they almost never are. Rodgers in New York City is a thoroughly amusing scenario. We seem destined to get Rodgers on stage with Malcolm Gladwell at the 92nd Street Y. Rodgers playing ultimate Frisbee in Prospect Park. Rodgers popping up with a guest op-ed about how the city should fix the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Does Rodgers take the subway? I think he does. He seems like a subway guy. Hat pulled low, minimal eye contact, one hand clutching a Playbill from Jessica Chastain in “A Doll’s House.”
There will be intrigue. Never mind that The Late, Melancholy Jets Stage is a well-worn step on a fading NFL star’s path out of the league. Never mind Rodgers is following the arc of Favre, a predecessor and rival he seemed determined to break away from. Never mind that the Packers…seem extremely cool with the idea of trading Rodgers away.
This move is pass-or-fail. Even though they have the longest playoff drought in the NFL—12 seasons—the Jets aren’t bringing Rodgers to New York to take them to a divisional round loss versus the Bengals. It’s Lombardi Trophy in the Canyon of Heroes, Rodgers giving a rambly speech from City Hall, or it’s bust.
It probably won’t work.
But what if it does? That’s why this is happening.
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Write to Jason Gay at Jason.Gay@wsj.com
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