For a brief moment Thursday, Aaron Rodgers and the Jets showed everyone what change looks like.
After a few opening series during a scrimmage on the first day of Jets training camp, Rodgers fired the ball to second-year wide receiver Garrett Wilson on a quick route. Wilson hauled in the burn, stumbled briefly, then sprinted down the sideline for a healthy gain, drawing cheers from his energetic teammates.
It was the kind of offensive dynamism the Jets have sorely missed over the years as the team struggled to find a long-term answer at quarterback, the game’s most important position. The addition of Brett Favre in 2008 failed to deliver a playoff appearance, and the early-round draft picks after him led to mixed results.
But the arrival of Rodgers, a four-time most valuable player, has brought high expectations this season — and an unfamiliar level of excitement around a team whose name is synonymous with impotence. more than a decade.
“There’s a lot of positivity around, which I think is a good thing,” Rodgers said after practice.
After a lengthy negotiation, the Jets agreed to acquire Rodgers in a trade with the Green Bay Packers on April 24, adding another level of spectacle to the team’s following. The league has scheduled the Jets in five prime time matchups this season, from one appearance in 2022, including a Week 1 contest against the Buffalo Bills on “Monday Night Football.” Camera crews from “Hard Knocks,” the HBO documentary series, will follow the team throughout the season, and the Jets will headline the NFL’s first Black Friday game, on Amazon.
The attention was far from expectations ahead of last season. The Jets got off to a surprising 6-3 start behind a top-ranked defense before shaky quarterback play derailed the fledgling hope. Zach Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, favored backup quarterback Mike White, and the team went 1-7 to finish the season.
By adding Rodgers, the Jets are looking to accelerate an organizational rebuild. The team is nurturing young talent, including the reigning offensive and defensive rookies of the year, Garrett Wilson and cornerback Sauce Gardner.
“When you have a lot of good players on rookie deals, it’s exciting that you know you can do something, you have a good window,” Rodgers said. “It’s not just a one-year thing where you can compete, which is fun.”
As players reported to camp Wednesday, some talked about reaching the Super Bowl, a lofty goal for a franchise that last made the postseason in 2010.
“Bringing a guy like him into the building is exciting for everybody in general because the résumé that he has, the character that he is, the person that he is, that brings a spark to everything,” the defensive tackle said. that Quinnen Williams, who said he was already there. Rodgers was bombarded with questions about the best defensive players he’s ever faced.
But even with the arrival of Rodgers, there is reason for any optimism to qualify.
Rodgers, who turns 40 in December, is against the age clock in football: Few quarterbacks — except Tom Brady — have surpassed that stage in their careers. And after winning back-to-back MVP awards in 2020 and 2021, Rodgers had the worst season of his career as a full-time starter, posting his second-highest interception total and his most lowest quarterback rating since 2008.
Rodgers brings more than a Hall of Fame résumé to the Jets. He was criticized in 2021 for criticizing the league’s Covid-19 vaccination policy after testing positive for the coronavirus. Despite admitting ahead of time that he was “vaccinated” against the virus, Rodgers was fined for violating the league’s Covid-19 protocols for unvaccinated players by attending a Halloween party.
The end of Rodgers’ tenure in Green Bay was also marred by his battles with coaches and team management over roster decisions and play-calling, as well as his public criticism of the Packers’ young receivers.
For now, he said, he is happy with his new team.
“There’s been a lot of fun stuff going on with this time in my life, and I’m just enjoying every minute of it,” he said Thursday.
For their part, the Jets seem to be trying to build the team in Rodgers’ image. They have Garrett Wilson, the kind of explosive young wide receiver that Rodgers complained about missing in Green Bay. They brought in some of Rodgers’ friends and former Packers teammates, such as receivers Randall Cobb and Allen Lazard and offensive lineman Billy Turner, and they hired Nathaniel Hackett, Rodgers’ offensive coordinator from 2019. until 2021, in the same role.
Lazard, who played five seasons with Rodgers in Green Bay and signed with the Jets in March, thinks he can help some of the team’s young receivers, acknowledging that “the Aaron Rodgers offense” can present a learning curve. .
“When he’s on the field, the whole playbook is open at any time,” Lazard said of Rodgers. “Even on Day 1 of practice, he can pull a signal, do something we haven’t talked about yet.”
It certainly isn’t what the Jets are used to.