NY Jets news: Aaron Rodgers contract, favorable 2023 schedule, Todd Bowles

Justin Fried

NY Jets, Aaron Rodgers / Tom Horak-USA TODAY Sports

The NY Jets' trade for Aaron Rodgers has been finalized for weeks now, but the two sides continue to work on renegotiating his contract, per ESPN's Rich Cimini. The so-called hard part is done, but the Jets' work is far from over.

Rodgers is currently slated to make just $1.2 million this season and an absurd $107.6 million in 2024. Needless to say, that is going to change.

The Jets managed to temporarily lower Rodgers' 2023 cap hit to facilitate the trade with the expectation that they would rework his deal following the 2023 NFL Draft. That remains the plan as we enter the second half of May.

It's unclear what the final terms of Rodgers' contract will be, but expect his cap hit this season to be a bit higher than $1.2 and his 2024 cap hit to be significantly lower than $107.6 million.

Other NY Jets news

Jets handed a favorable 2023 schedule

The first six games of the Jets' 2023 schedule are one of the toughest stretches any team will face this season, but as a whole, the Jets should be feeling pretty good about this year's schedule.

This is largely due to the team's very favorable rest differential, a metric used to determine how much rest a team has compared to their opponents. The Jets' plus-12 days of net rest differential ranks second-best in the NFL and is actually the fifth-best differential since 2002, per Cimini.

This suggests that the Jets should be more rested than their opponents on most occasions. This is helped by the fact that the Jets are one of only a handful of teams that don't play a game against a team coming off their bye week.

The Jets have some difficult matchups on their 2023 schedule, but in terms of overall rest, few teams have a more favorable outlook.

Todd Bowles fulfills promise to his mother

Former Jets head coach Todd Bowles gifted his late mother, Joan, a beautiful Mother's Day present a day early this past Saturday. Bowles fulfilled a promise he made to his mom some 40 years ago — he graduated college.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach promised his mother that he would eventually receive a college degree before he left Temple University early in 1986 to enter the NFL Draft. 37 years later, he finally did it.

Bowles graduated from Mount St. Mary's University on Saturday with a Bachelor of Science degree in youth and community development. It's easy to see why Bowles is one of the most respected and beloved coaches in the NFL.

His four-year stint as head coach of the Jets from 2015-2018 may not be held in high regard by fans, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone — within or outside the organization — who has a bad word to say about Bowles as an individual.

Justin Fried

Justin Fried is an editor for FanSided who has over seven years of experience covering the NFL and various other sports. A diehard Jets fan since birth, Justin has served as the editor for The Jet Press since 2019, interviewing athletes such as Sauce Gardner, Curtis Martin, LaDainian Tomlinson, Joe Klecko, and many others. Justin has also worked closely with brands like Red Bull to help highlight the niche sectors of the sporting world. His four-part series on the sport of breaking remains one of his proudest pieces of work. In his spare time, Justin is an avid pro wrestling fan who is fortunate enough to have traveled to nearly 30 different countries.