With the arrival of Aaron Rodgers in New York, the Jets now have lofty expectations. Fans aren't just hoping for their first winning season since 2015, they are hoping for a Super Bowl. We saw Tom Brady accomplish this in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Can Rodgers do the same with his new team?
Jets safety Jordan Whitehead was a member of the Buccaneers when Brady hopped aboard their pirate ship in 2020. He says Rodgers joining the Jets is "kind of like deja vu."
"It was kind of the same situation I fell into when I was with the Bucs," Whitehead said. "We had a great defense the year before and we just needed one piece that was missing."
Rodgers is the best quarterback to join the Jets. He has 10 4,000-yard seasons, while the Jets as a franchise have zero since the 1970 merger. Rodgers has won four MVPs, while no Jets quarterback has ever won the award.
There is one notable difference between Brady's and Rodgers' situations. The former chose his new team in free agency, while the latter was traded. If Rodgers wants to accomplish what Brady did in winning a Super Bowl with his new team, he will have to defy NFL history. Of the previous eight Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks who were traded by the team they won the Super Bowl with, none of them ever made it back to the Super Bowl. Only one of them even won a single playoff game (Joe Montana).
While no quarterback has accomplished what Rodgers is after and the AFC East is one of the toughest divisions in the NFL, Whitehead says Rodgers' presence has already made a big difference.
"On the field, he's making us better, we're getting the best we can get," Whitehead said about Rodgers at OTAs. "He's making us checkdown and communicate on another level. In the locker room you see and hear him. He's a funny character. He's a good guy, open to everything. A real great guy."
