Jets should consider full-on tank, rebuild after Aaron Rodgers stinker vs. Steelers

The NY Jets went all-in with a stacked roster that has Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. The result has been their worst start to a season since 2021, more heartbreak than is possible, and another year of watching playoff football at home. The Pittsburgh Steelers, for all intents and purposes, ended the Jets' season.

The Steelers beating the Jets was not unexpected. The matter in which they did it, however, was so disheartening that it ruined every source of optimism Jets fans had. Even Rodgers, the savior, stunk up the joint.

Rodgers was intercepted twice (one was not his fault) and showed all the flaws of an older quarterback. He looked nervous, unsure of himself, and limited athletically. The best thing he's done in a Jets uniform was beating Jacoby Brissett, and he followed that up with a four-game losing streak.

2024 is a lost cause. They tried; that can't be disputed. However, the Jets can't keep trying to make this work when they have run out of road. The Rodgers era may be done already, as the Jets need to consider bottoming out and wiping the slate clean in 2024. The Jets may have a Top 5 pick to start out with.

Jets must prepare for tank, 2025 NFL Draft after Aaron Rodgers stinks vs. Steelers

At this point, the Jets need to win at least seven (likely eight) of their final 10 games to even have a shot at the playoffs. That won't happen. Jeff Ulbrich, Nathaniel Hacket, Joe Douglas, and all of those loveable (read: hateable) characters will join the unfairly maligned scapegoat Robert Saleh in the unemployment line.

While the Jets have a very good roster with potential Pro Bowl players at literally every unit, these jigsaw pieces do not work well together. Running it back with this wheezing death march of a roster led by a washed quarterback/coach/GM/quasi-owner would not help break the playoff streak.

Won't that mean Rodgers is gone? Yes. Why keep him? He's not going to be the one who fixes it all.

Trading Adams would get the Jets some solid assets. Some defensive pieces still have value. No new GM or coach is going to want to hitch their wagon to this feckless collection of has-beens. This means another year of picking high in the draft, fans talking themselves into the next hot thing at quarterback, and more losing in what has quickly become a bad division.

The Jets have ruined more young quarterbacks than they can count, but that might be preferable to this. This season has been a bludgeoning by the football deities, and the only reckoning that makes sense is to keep about five core players and detonate everything else. The playoff streak will likely be extended to 14 seasons, and No. 15 is coming down the road soon.

Why even try?