Aaron Rodgers And New York Jets Discussing A Pay Cut Possibility To Keep QB On Team

NEW ORLEANS – The NFL is a terrific magician. While we're all marveling at the shiny object in one hand, there's something significant going on in the other hand. And that's the case now with the New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers.

While the country's attention is on Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, there's  been important work done by the Jets and Rodgers' representation to figure out if the 41-year-old quarterback's future will be with the team or not.

Aaron Rodgers wants to know the vax status of all of his critics before they talk about him. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Talks With Rodgers Include Pay Cut

And let's jump ahead to the bottom line: It's not a definitive yes or no yet.

That's why there are talks going on, per a league source.

If Rodgers had already decided he is retiring, that would not require ongoing discussions that last days. If the Jets had already decided Rodgers won't be on the team in 2025, that also wouldn't require ongoing discussions that last days.

So the possibility Aaron Rodgers runs it back with the Jets next season is real.

But …

There is stuff to work out. Thus the negotiations.

The first thing is money. Always money.

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It's Always About Money In NFL

Rodgers is scheduled to make $37.5 million in the form of base salary and signing bonus in 2025 and that simply is too much for the Jets. So they would like Rodgers to take a pay cut. It is not an option for the team, but rather a must-have.

Rodgers may be amenable to some pay cut if he decides he'd like to avoid moving on to another team or retiring altogether. But the question would obviously be where the right number for both sides lands.

That's not all.

Rodgers is going to have to learn a new system in New York and that is a departure from how things have been his first two seasons with the Jets, when they installed a system he was familiar with from his Green Bay days to make him comfortable.

New coach Aaron Glenn isn't going that route.

FLORHAM PARK, NEW JERSEY - JANUARY 27: New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn is introduced to the media at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on January 27, 2025 in Florham Park, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images)

Aaron Glenn May Opt For Free Agent

Glenn may also demand that Rodgers take a back seat to the new coach as the team's ultimate voice. Rodgers has been that in New York, and to an equally large degree in Green Bay before that.

Rodgers may not be eager to do this. Then again, he might not find a team elsewhere that would do that on his behalf, either.

And these talks ultimately also have to weigh what benefit the two parties receive from avoiding a divorce.

For Rodgers, the benefit is having a chance to put a different spin on his time in New York, in that his first two seasons there were disappointments. Is that the way he will accept going out?

For the Jets, the benefit is Rodgers is no longer playing at his MVP height. But there is still meat on the bone. He threw 28 TD passes with 11 interceptions in 2024 and played his best ball later in the season – throwing 8 TD passes and 3 interceptions in his final four games.

Rogers played well enough that he finished seventh in the Comeback Player of the Year voting after missing the 2023 season with a ruptured Achilles.

FLORHAM PARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 21: Aaron Rodgers #8 of the New York Jets speaks to the media during the New York Jets OTA Offseason Workout at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on May 21, 2024 in Florham Park, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Jets Outside Options Not Promising

The Jets also don't have an easy path to finding a quarterback better than Rodgers if he exits. The club has the No. 7 overall selection in the draft, which likely won't be high enough to draft either Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders.

And the free agency class of quarterbacks – which will include Kirk Cousins (yes, free agency), Trey Lance, Marcus Mariota, Cooper Rush, Jimmy Garoppolo Jacoby Brissett, Andy Dalton, Mac Jones and others – doesn't guarantee the Jets will have even good QB play in 2025. 

Rodgers is probably a better option than all of them. 

So not having Rodgers would signal a significant rebuild for the Jets that likely includes a lot of losing. And for Rodgers, not returning probably leads him to retirement, which is always an option at his age.

A downtrodden Jets fan might argue the team has done a lot of losing with Rodgers. And that's true. And that's another reason a pay cut is currently a topic of conversation and neither a split nor an ongoing relationship are certain.