NFL Insiders are Brutally Piling On Aaron Rodgers in a Couple of Different Preseason Surveys

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Aaron Rodgers second offseason in New York has been notable for a several reasons. Not the least of which was how he looked ready for a stand-up cane with tennis balls on the bottom during OTAs:

His misunderstanding of what the word "mandatory" means. And the Jets ham-handed attempt to make excuses for him treating the job of "Franchise Quarterback" like it's a side hustle:

We're a week and a half away from finding out how Rodgers' semi-retirement from the Jets will work out. But The Athletic have done two of their annual end-of-the-offseason anonymous surveys. Talking to two completely different sets of NFL insiders. Discussing two entirely different topics. And the one common factor between them is that both groups took a chainsaw to him. 

First was a survey of 50 NFL coaches and personnel people, ranking all the league's starting QBs into five different "tiers." With Tier 1 consisting of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen. Tier 4 being veterans who shouldn't start all 17 games (I see you, Jacoby Brissett). And at the moment, no one considered bad enough to be in Tier 5. 

As for Rodgers, he was demoted this year to Tier 2 for the first time ever. But some had him rated much lower:

“You go back and watch those first four plays before he got hurt, he did not look good,” a head coach placing Rodgers in Tier 3 said. “He looks old. If they can’t protect him and they can’t run the football, it’ll be just what you saw late stages in Green Bay. He became ineffective. I’m looking at what he is, not who he is.”

A voter whose team practiced against the Jets last summer said he thought Rodgers appeared “fragile” and might not last five games this season. The Achilles injury and Rodgers’ age (he turns 41 in December) created uncertainty.

No player in Tiers history has rated as high as Rodgers did this year while getting votes in Tier 4.

The next survey they did was of player agents. Among the topics they were asked to rate all NFL teams in terms of how well they're run. Predictably, the perennially dysfunctional Jets did not fare well. In fact, they were voted the league's third "most unstable franchise" behind only Carolina and Las Vegas. Less predictable was the person they blame for 2024's unique brand of dysfunction:

“Jets. There is complete disarray over there. Look at how they’ve handled Aaron Rodgers. Has one player had more power than him? He skipped minicamp. They have been unable to convert him into a team player. The vibe inside the building is terrible.”

The "vibe inside the building" excerpt links to an article from earlier in the summer that includes this somber note:

Never before has a team been more dependent on a 40-year-old Achilles tendon healing. As he enters his 20th season, Aaron Rodgers carries the fate of everyone else. Even people within the Jets’ building have to be shaking their heads and wringing their hands. They all know what’s at stake.

Not to further shake the Jets' heads and wring their hands, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out something discussed a few paragraphs ago: That Achilles tendon is 41, not 40. Just to correct the record. 

Anyhoo, sounds like the ideal situation. A checked out, barely there franchise savior that at least one head coach thought didn't look good before he was carried off the field last September. Some other executive who saw Rodgers up close in practice called him "fragile" and says he won't make it to Week 6. Agents are hearing from their clients that the work environment all around him is toxic. And Jets staffers are shaking and wringing various body parts because they know their professional fate is tied to a 41-year-old with a bum leg who's in his own bubble while calling all the shots. 

Other than that, the future of Rodgers and the Jets is rosy. Obviously I say all of this as a Patriots fan who knows he's in the middle of a major rebuild. But even when all about you is dark and hope is in short supply, it's comforting to know that while your team might be down a season or two, the misery of the Jets is something you can always count on. Let's hope these insiders are right once again.