When the Jets made the blockbuster trade to acquire Aaron Rodgers in April, the biggest risk that came with the deal is that the team has no idea how much longer he wants to play.
Over the past few years, Rodgers has spent the early part of the offseason contemplating retirement. As things stand now, the four-time MVP hasn't said whether he's going to stick around for a second season with the Jets, but based on how he was talking on Friday, it sure sounds like he's planning on spending multiple years in New York.
During an interview with 98.7 ESPN Radio in New York, Rodgers was asked if he's planning on spending more than one season in New York.
"I'm not a big cliche guy," Rodgers said. "Most people would say 'I'm taking this one day at a time or one year at a time,' but the Jets gave up a lot for me, so to play just one year would be, I think, a disservice, but if that one year turns out to be a magical year, who knows?"
Based on that sentiment, it sounds like Rodgers is planning to play multiple seasons, but he might change his mind if the Jets win the Super Bowl in 2023.
One other thing that could impact how long he plans to play is how his body feels. At 39 years old, Rodgers knows how physically taxing it can be for a quarterback to survive an NFL season.
"It's how my body feels," Rodgers said of whether he'll keep playing. "I've made some changes this offseason with some training and some diet. ... My body feels really, really good. I think I'm in a good spot. As you get older, sometimes you wake up in the morning and you're thinking, 'Why does this hurt? Why does my knee hurt? Why does my shoulder hurt?'"
Rodgers noted that he's cut out all fruits and processed food from his diet and that he's now mostly eating protein. So if his body feels good at the end of the 2023 season, how long could he see himself playing?
"The last couple of months my body has been feeling really good," Rodgers said. "Now talk to me in three to four months. We'll see how it feels, but the way I feel now, I think I could play a number of years."
That's exactly what you want to hear if you're the Jets.
If Rodgers does play in 2024, and it sounds like he's leaning that way, the two sides will have to rework his contract. Under the terms of his current deal, Rodgers is scheduled to have a cap hit of more than $107 million next season, which would eat up nearly half of the Jets' salary cap. Obviously, that's not feasible, so if Rodgers does return, his contract will have to be restructured.
One other reason Rodgers is likely open to returning next season is because he thinks the Jets have an open Super Bowl window, which he pointed out during a press conference Thursday.
"When you have so many great players on rookie deals, it's pretty exciting, knowing you can do something," Rodgers told the media. "You got a good window; it's not just a one-year thing where you can be competitive, which is fun."
Rodgers has now been in New York for nearly three months, and so far, he seems to like everything about his new team.
"It's the energy," Rodgers said of what he likes. "I love being around the young energy, that excitement. There's a great feel to this team of guys who are young and super talented, on their first contract."
The one thing about playing with young players is that you sometimes have to be open to teaching them, and that seems to be a role that Rodgers is embracing.
"I do know that, being an older player on the team, that's part of the responsibility, to teach a little bit more," Rodgers said.
Although Rodgers is heading into his first season with the Jets, he knows the offense well enough that he can even teach that to his teammates. The former Packers QB said that the offense he'll be running in New York was developed in Green Bay back in 2020. At that time, current Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was Rodgers' OC in Green Bay.
"I know the offense really well," Rodgers said of Hackett's system in New York. "We kind of collaborated in the offseason of 2020 and this is a lot of the stuff that we did in 2020 and 2021, so it's exciting to be back in this style that I know really well."
Rodgers also said that going to work every day actually excites him.
"Every day, I've been waking up since I've been here. It's just been exciting to come down the driveway and to come to the facility because everything is new and exciting," Rodgers said.
The veteran sounds reinvigorated and as long as he can physically handle the 2023 season, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see him back in Jets uniform in 2024. Speaking of his Jets uniform, Rodgers wore his for the first time this week, and you can see the first pictures here.
