The Aaron Rodgers experiment with the New York Jets emphatically did not work, and it might be over.
Vikings Have Official Odds in Aaron Rodgers Sweepstakes
Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer tweeted Sunday: “Big scoopage: Aaron Rodgers flew back to New Jersey last week to meet with the Jets about his future with the team, only to be told that the team was moving on from him.”
“That means that he will be a June 1 designation that allows him to sign with any team in the league on March 12, if he decides to continue to play. Given that Aaron made the effort to fly back to discuss his future, all signs point to him continuing to play. It just won’t be for the Jets.”
Rodgers, 41, will now decide on retirement or free agency. And if he chooses the latter, the Minnesota Vikings are evidently the fourth-likeliest team to procure his services for 2025.
After the Glazer reporting, Draft Kings posted these odds for Rodgers’ next team:
- Pittsburgh Steelers: +200
- Las Vegas Raiders: +300
- San Francisco 49ers: +350
- Minnesota Vikings: +400
- Indianapolis Colts: +650
Minnesota drafted quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the 10th overall pick last April, and most expect the 22-year-old to start in 2025, especially if Sam Darnold joins a new team via free agency or franchise-tag-and-trade. Darnold guided the Vikings to the postseason in 2024 but vanished in the season’s final two games — not unlike Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LIX.
In all likelihood, the Vikings will prepare McCarthy for QB1 in 2025, let Darnold join a new team, and that’ll be that. However, because Brett Favre did it 15 years ago — grew disgruntled in Green Bay, briefly became a New York Jet, and signed with the Vikings in 2009 — the Rodgers-Vikings theories won’t die that easy.
Anything regarding Rodgers and the Vikings for the next several weeks will remain afloat per legitimacy because of what Favre did in 2009. It’s the “history repeats” angle.
If Minnesota had no McCarthy attached to the roster for the future, perhaps exploring Rodgers for a year could make sense. However, that’s not the reality, and adding Rodgers might turn the Twin Cities into a circus, potentially detrimental to McCarthy’s development.
Rodgers’ personality consumes everything in a locker room and on a football team, and that just doesn’t seem like the Vikings’ current leadership’s way of conducting business.
Bleacher Report called the Vikings the best landing spot for Rodgers last month.
Here’s his quarterback efficiency ranking in the last five years:
Aaron Rodgers,
EPA+CPOE,
NFL Ranking:
2020 = 1st
2021 = 1st
2022 = 20th
2023 = n/a
2024 = 22nd
Rodgers will turn 42 in December.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His MIN obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.