NY Jets are out of answers as Aaron Rodgers gamble crashes and burns

The NY Jets have tried to build a competitive franchise. Their latest roster-building endeavor with Aaron Rodgers was meant to be the final piece to transform the team into legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

The Jets had tried drafting and developing their own top quarterback prospects in players like Mark Sanchez, Sam Darnold, and Zach Wilson. They've gone the veteran bridge quarterback route with the likes of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh McCown.

The Rodgers experiment was new. Sure, the team had already flirted with a similar concept during the Brett Favre era, but the Jets had never gone all-in on a quarterback and roster like they did with Rodgers this season.

This was supposed to be the year. A future Hall of Fame quarterback paired with a roster loaded with All-Pro and Pro Bowl talent — something the Jets had quite literally never had before.

Not only has their latest roster-building strategy failed, but it's somehow been worse than anyone could have imagined. The Jets are a worse football team with Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback. They're a worse football team with a roster that, even if slightly overrated, is objectively one of the most talented the organization has boasted in decades.

The Jets have explored every possible option, yet none have yielded success. As an organization, the pressing question now is: where do they even turn next?

The Aaron Rodgers gamble has failed and the NY Jets are left with more questions than answers

It's hard to even fault the process. The Jets acquired a future Hall of Fame quarterback who, while no longer his MVP-caliber self, has still played at a league-average level for the majority of this season, and that's not even considering that he's a year removed from tearing his Achilles.

They surrounded said quarterback with more weapons than he's ever had in his career, a supposedly revamped offensive line, and a defense that was among the best in the NFL a year ago.

Just earlier this month, Jets owner Woody Johnson remarked that this was one of the most talented teams the franchise had ever put together. Yet, they sit at 2-5 through seven games staring at a top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

They significantly upgraded at quarterback, upgraded their skill position group, upgraded their offensive line, and became a worse football team.

The Jets defy logic. There is no logical basis for their struggles. It’s as if they’re building a house on sand, and no matter how much effort goes in, the foundation keeps collapsing. Every week, it's a different issue.

Some weeks it's the quarterback. Other weeks it's the offensive line. Sometimes it's the coaching staff. Sometimes it's the defense. The newest wrinkle has been an inconsistent special-teams unit. That's the telltale sign of a bad football team.

Barring a complete and sudden turnaround, the Jets will fall short of a postseason appearance for the 14th consecutive year — a feat that should be impossible given the parity in today's NFL.

But again, the Jets defy logic. They don't abide by the laws of probability or reason; instead, they seem to thrive in a universe where failure is the only consistent outcome. Some call it a curse. Others call it dysfunction. Call it what you want, the result is the same.

The Jets have enough talent to win a few more games this season. An 8-2 run at a playoff appearance seems out of reach, but the Jets are probably too talented to finish with a bottom-five record.

They'll miss the postseason again and will be faced with the next logical question: what next? How do you move forward after this abject failure? How does a tortured fan base even begin to buy in to whatever strategy the Jets cook up next?

The Jets have tried everything. What do you do when everything fails?

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