The Jets are giving up on the Aaron Rodgers experiment, so what comes next?

The Jets are looking for another new quarterback and Aaron Rodgers could be looking for one final landing spot to end his career.

Super Bowl Sunday was a pretty busy day as you might expect, with storylines flying all over before, during, and after The Big Game. There was one bit of news reported out during the pregame show that was glossed over a bit, and it’s a major piece of the free agency puzzle in the 2025 offseason.

FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer reported Sunday that Aaron Rodgers wouldn’t be back with the New York Jets in 2025. Rodgers met with the new members of the Jets front office last week where they told him he wouldn’t be in their plans going forward.

Glazer also noted that it seems like Rodgers does want to play in 2025 at the age of 41.

When do the Jets need to release or trade Aaron Rodgers?

Rodgers’ contract is set up so that New York doesn’t have to pay him until right before the start of the regular season, so there is no rush on dealing him. They can chose to wait until they get offers from other teams if they think they can trade him.

New York doesn’t have to release Rodgers until August if they really want to hold onto him, but it is probably best for all parties — and especially Rodgers — if he hits the open market prior to the start of free agency.

Why it’s unlikely the Jets trade Aaron Rodgers

Rodgers is set to make $37.5 million in cash in 2025 under his current deal, with $35 million of that paid up front in an option bonus. If the Jets eat some of that money, they may be able to trade Rodgers, but there isn’t much incentive to do that as Rodgers’ value isn’t very high right now. Even paying Rodgers $10 million to lower his commitment to a new team to $27.5 million doesn’t really scream value.

The other hurdle is Rodgers has a full no-trade clause, so he would have to approve the move.

What is the salary cap charge for the Jets when they cut Aaron Rodgers?

The Jets have paid Rodgers $75.05 million in his two seasons in New Jersey, but only accounted for $26.05 million on their cap. The difference in those two numbers is $49 million. That will be Rodgers’ cap charge in 2025 if they use a regular release. With his current 2025 cap charge expected to be $23.5 million, that will raise his cap hit by $25.5 million, so it’s unlikely New York goes that route.

The other option for the Jets is to use a post-June 1 designation for Rodgers. That would keep his $23.5 million cap charge in place until the beginning of June, then lower it to $14 million. The remaining $35 million would be applied to the 2026 salary cap.

Because they don’t have to pay him anything, the Jets could also just hold onto Rodgers until June 2nd for the same cap effect, though that would greatly hurt his chances of finding another job for 2026.

What happens if Rodgers decides to retire?

For the math of it all, the same rules would apply. The Jets don’t have to pay Rodgers any more money and they wouldn’t file his paperwork until after June 1st in order to split his dead cap charge combined over the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

His $23.5 million cap charge would remain in place until the beginning of June, then lower to $14 million. The remaining $35 million would be applied to the 2026 salary cap.

What are some potential landing spots for Aaron Rodgers?

Several teams could be in the market for a bridge quarterback in 2025, especially because the 2025 NFL Draft class isn’t particularly strong at the position. The free agent field could be crowded for the first time in a while with Sam Darnold, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Jameis Winston already set to be on the market along with multiple former starters.

Rodgers won’t want to come back to be a backup, so that will whittle down the choices.

The Cleveland Browns are looking for a short-term quarterback as they reset in the wake of the Deshaun Watson failure. The Tennessee Titans are presumably moving on from the Will Levis experiment and head coach Brian Callahan needs an answer at QB to keep his job. The Las Vegas Raiders are an interesting option as they reorganize again under minority owner Tom Brady. Could Rodgers move across the stadium to join the New York Giants and fill the void left by the departed Daniel Jones?

Why didn’t Aaron Rodgers work out with the Jets?

When the Jets traded two second-round picks for Aaron Rodgers, they thought they were getting a guy who very nearly had an MVP season. Sure, his age meant he was bound to decline, but all they needed was competent QB play, not transcendent QB play.

Rodgers was injured just a few minutes into his Jets debut in 2023 and rehabbed the entire season. He managed to play the entire 2024 season, but the Jets were out of sorts from the get-go. The aging QB never made a ton of mistakes, but also wasn’t the reason the Jets were going to win. He finished the season with the lowest air yards per attempt of his career and simply did not put pressure on the defense by pushing the ball even into the middle range of the field. The offense also wasn’t clicking behind a suspect offensive line and they played from behind a lot, making them one-dimensional. New York finished 2024 with the 24th-ranked offense.

What is next for the Jets at the quarterback position?

The Jets hired new head coach Aaron Glenn this offseason and then paired him with new general manager Darren Mougey.

Mougey worked his way up through the Denver Broncos organization since 2012, and because of that has experience with Russell Wilson. It could make for an intriguing bridge opportunity for a first-time head coach.

Glenn overlapped with Jameis Winston for one year in New Orleans, when he coached defensive backs and Winston was the backup to Drew Brees.

The Jets pick seventh in the 2025 NFL Draft, and we projected both of the first-round quarterbacks to go in the top three picks, so if they want to draft a guy, they’ll need to make a big trade up.