The Aaron Rodgers Dream

 Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh should be auditioning for their jobs with the New York Jets. In year three of a new General Manager and Head Coach the team on the field should be contending for a Super Bowl. The Jets where well on their way to doing so and, poof, those hopes lasted 75 seconds. Now, they find themselves in the same position that they were in last year. Yearning for average quarterback play with a failed number two overall pick as their signal caller as the team around the quarterback is ready to compete with the best in the league.

Zach Wilson is again the captain of this ship that is primed for the playoffs but won’t get there because Wilson is not good enough to get his squad to the postseason. Again, Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh find themselves in the same position that they were in last season backing a player that could ultimately get them both fired. But both will be back next season in their same positions. This time it’ll be in a do or die season.

Aaron Rodgers gone for the season bought Douglas and Saleh an extra year to get it right.

If they cannot deliver on a gifted year, next season, then they will then be gone. Along with Aaron Rodgers and Zach Wilson. If 2024 cannot deliver on the expectations that were placed on them this season, then the Jets will rebuild yet again!

No amount of losing will cost the General Manager and Head Coach their jobs. Even if the Jets go 1-15 and are in contention for the number one overall pick. Aaron Rodgers has saved them. The reason is because if New York Jet Owner Woody Johnson decides to overreact to poor quarterback play from his number two pick he will doom his franchise for the next decade. If Joe Douglas is gone, Robert Saleh in turn will also be packing his belongings into boxes because the new General Manager will want to bring in his own head coach. Doing that might scare Aaron Rodgers off into retirement because one of the only reasons he is in Gotham is because the new Offensive Coordinator Nathanial Hackett. Not many good football people worth their salt would take either the General Manager or Head Coach position with a demand that Hackett stays. Further, if Robert Saleh is the sacrificial lamb for a poor season, even with Aaron Rodgers coming back, if Nathanial Hackett is next in line as the Head Coach, that would destroy majority of the legitimacy based off the way Hackett was thrown out of Denver just a season ago. This unit as constructed must stay in place.

The position next year for Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh is not an enviable one. 55 years of pent-up aggression and disappointment poured into one season with a 40-year-old Quarterback coming back from a major injury is a lot to ask for.

Looking slightly further into the future if the odds are not Jets favor for next season, the organization is between a rock and a hard place for 2025. Next year Aaron Rodgers has already guaranteed, but nothing beyond that. Does this organization want to hand the keys for a fourth time to Zach Wilson? The Jets would have two choices; go with Zach Wilson or look to free agency or the draft. With the first option, Zach Wilson would be playing on a 5th year option with the pressure of his NFL career as a starting quarterback and the window of an aging Super Bowl contending roster laying in the balance. Free Agency doesn’t guarantee anything magical. The draft is always a roll of the dice and with two quarterbacks that could be transcendent coming out this year, the next crop is not likely to produce a “once in a generation” talent.   

This season is not all for lost. Seeing what Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner can do for an encores in their sophomore season is important. Giving Joe Douglas one more go-around to solve the offensive line problem not only has to happen if the Jets want to cash in on Aaron Rodgers’ talent, but it is also important for future of this team overall. Getting the answer on whether Robert Saleh can learn from his faults and be a good head coach is important. Seeing if Nathanial Hackett can bring the Jets offense into the 21st Century is important. Getting a clear answer about whether Zach Wilson can be an adequate backup quarterback in the NFL is important.

In another lost season the Jets can still learn a ton and get better while waiting for the return of their golden ticket and four-time MVP under center in 2025. This is the bed that the Jets made for themselves before the season. Now they must sleep in it with whatever dream lies ahead. Be it blissful or a nightmare.

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