Looks like NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers won’t be following (somewhat eerily) in the footsteps of onetime mentor Brett Favre, after all.
Rodgers, the longtime Green Bay Packers star, played the last two seasons with the New York Jets, and was released earlier this offseason. Rodgers had been rumored to sign with either the Pittsburgh Steelers or the New York Giants.
Instead, apparently Rodgers preferred the Minnesota Vikings, his NFC North division rival for all those years he was a Packer.
But the Vikings drafted a quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, out of Michigan last year, and on Wednesday, broke off talks with Rodgers’ representatives, meaning they are apparently not getting into, as they say, “the Aaron Rodgers business.”
Favre, of course, left Green Bay when his time there was through, landing briefly for a forgettable time with the Jets, then signed with Minnesota, whom he helped lead on a near Super Bowl run before losing to the New Orleans Saints.
McCarthy missed all of 2024 with a knee injury he suffered in the preseason, and the Vikings’ quarterback situation is somewhat up in the air. Last year’s starter, Sam Darnold, wasn’t re-signed, wasn’t franchise-tagged and was allowed to walk in free agency. He signed with the Seattle Seahawks (who traded Geno Smith to the Raiders – did’ya get all that?)
So right now, Rodgers is playing free agent musical chairs; he’s the man without a team, but not a man without suitors.
The Football Beat is hearing that both the Giants and the Steelers still have interest in bringing Rodgers on. At least one of those teams, the Giants, looks more than a player away from contending for a championship – Rodgers, 41, is likely hoping to do so for one more contract before his retirement.
The Steelers’ quarterback situation is clear as mud: last year’s starters, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, look to have been given their walking papers. Wilson is shopping himself around the league, including to the Steelers’ AFC North division rival Cleveland Browns, while Fields recently signed with Rodgers’ old team, the Jets.
You cannot make this stuff up.
Rodgers really only played one season with the Jets. His 2023 season was cut short in the season opener at home against Buffalo on the very first series; he dropped back to pass and suffered a torn Achilles.
His second season, though, was not bad, numbers-wise: 63 percent completions for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. But the Jets didn’t SNIFF the playoffs.
In his career, solely as a passer, Rodgers has a 65-percent completion rate, 62,952 yards, 503 touchdowns and 116 interceptions. And, oh yeah: a Super Bowl win over…
…The Pittsburgh Steelers, back in 2010 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
