The New York Jets need a franchise quarterback, but the weak QB class in the 2025 NFL Draft may have saved Aaron Rodgers job for 2025. Rodgers actually put up decent numbers in 2024 and played a lot better down the stretch. However, most of the NFL world can se that Rodgers is just not the QB he once was.
Since winning the NFL MVP award last in 2021, Rodgers has since thrown 54 touchdowns against 23 interceptions for a 90.7 passer rating. He is clearly a declining QB, but also does clearly have something left in the tank, and that something might be enough for the New York Jets to bring him back in 2025.
Rodgers' return?
But when you look at the 2025 NFL Draft; the quarterback class is just flat-out bad. It's not good, and there may not be a single, legitimate, franchise QB anywhere. The Jets are currently set to pick seventh overall in the NFL Draft, and if this was last year, the Jets would have had all of Michael Penix Jr, JJ McCarthy, and Bo Nix to choose from.
Well, the top two quarterbacks in this class seem to be Shedeur Sanders from Colorado and Cam Ward from Miami (FL). And if they were put into the 2024 NFL Draft class, both Sanders and Ward probably would have gone lower than the six QBs taken in the first round.
The Jets absolutely cannot reach for a QB for the sake of drafting a QB. This might mean that Aaron Rodgers actually returns to New York in 2025 for one final season. This could buy the Jets some time to figure out what path they want to take with the QB position, and perhaps another year would help the offense build more chemistry together.
It does not sound like the best situation ever, but the Jets may also have no other viable choice. The four-time MVP does have some football left, but he's probably only the 20th-best QB in the NFL at this point.
It's not an ideal situation for the Jets, who traded for Rodgers prior to the 2023 NFL Season. Rodgers tore his Achilles just a handful of plays into 2023 and did return to start all 17 games in 2024. And if you asked Rodgers, I bet he would want to return. If the feeling is mutual, it should happen, but the poor QB class in the 2025 NFL Draft should also be a driving factor in this decision.