How Darren Mougey's experience can guide the NY Jets without Aaron Rodgers

The Aaron Rodgers era in New York is over, as the NY Jets are moving on from the future Hall of Fame quarterback. This past Sunday, it was reported that Rodgers flew to New Jersey to meet with the team, where a decision on his future was made.

This decision didn't come as much of a surprise for the Jets, considering everything that would have needed to happen for Rodgers to return. The 41-year-old ends his Jets tenure with just five wins during the 2024 season and a torn Achilles on the fourth play of 2023.

It is now time for this new regime led by Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey to figure out the quarterback position for 2025 and beyond.

While Darren Mougey doesn't have any previous general manager experience, he is coming from an organization that just rebounded from a similar situation that the Jets are in right now.

Darren Mougey's Broncos experience could benefit NY Jets in post-Aaron Rodgers era

A year before the Jets went all-in for Aaron Rodgers, the Denver Broncos pushed all their chips in the middle for Russell Wilson. Denver struck a trade with the Seahawks to send the Super Bowl Champion to the Mile High City.

Similar to Rodgers, the Wilson era in Denver fell flat on its face. In two seasons, Wilson finished with an 11-19 record as the starter while going through two coaches and getting benched at the end of 2023.

The post-Russell Wilson era for the Broncos came with a serious cost. Last season and upcoming in 2025, the Broncos are dealing with Wilson's $85 million dead cap hit, which included a $53 million charge in 2024, the highest single-season cap hit in NFL history. Denver will also have a $32 million charge in 2025.

Despite all of these challenges from a salary perspective, Broncos head coach Sean Payton, GM George Paton, and assistant GM, now Jets GM, Darren Mougey, were able to navigate it perfectly. The front office took a team coming off a failed quarterback trade and one of the league's worst defenses and turned it into a playoff team in just one season.

The Jets will take on a $49 million dead cap hit from Aaron Rodgers. The options for New York at quarterback may seem bleak, but Mougey, seeing a turnaround in Denver, could lead the Jets to a turnaround of their own.

Many expected Bo Nix to go in the second round of last year's draft. Instead, Denver took him in round one, and it worked. While the most likely route for this regime is a veteran this season and going all-in on a rookie in 2026, could Mougey hit on a guy who rises up the draft boards by April, similar to Nix in Denver?

Not all hope should be lost for the Jets. Glenn and Mougey are coming from two organizations where they saw significant turnaround quickly, especially Mougey, where he saw Denver go through their version of this Aaron Rodgers situation.

This team can still compete in 2025 if built back up the right way like Denver was able to do with Mougey seeing it firsthand in the building.

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