Of course, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams walked through that door on Sunday. Of course, the grumpy old man’s portrayal morphed into the dynamic duo when the postseason is no longer on the line, but draft positioning certainly is. Of course, it happened when everyone important has been fired and the only ones fighting for the second marriage of Rodgers and Adams’ careers are the quarterback and their favorite wide receiver.
Of course. Because they are the New York Jets.
That’s what I thought late in the fourth quarter of the New York Jets’ 32-25 comeback win against the Jacksonville Jaguars, when Rodgers took advantage of a clean pocket and threw a stunning 71-yard touchdown dart to Adams. It was typical Green Bay Packers lore: Rodgers effortlessly tossing a wrist rope across the middle of the field while Adams ruthlessly split a pair of defenders in coverage. The ball landed lightly on Adams’ left shoulder and perfectly into a two-handed stand, with his full stride. The two defenders on either side of Adams couldn’t stop him, and not even a third angled defender who got a clear shot to tackle him at the 5-yard line could stop the touchdown.
At midfield, Rodgers was running, screaming and pumping his fists, capturing what might be his happiest moment of this lost season. In that highlight moment, maybe 30 seconds, everything became possible again and nothing else mattered. Not the 10 defeats when there are three difficult games left on the schedule. Not the upper levels of the organization that have already been blown up. Team owner Woody Johnson reportedly didn’t raise the idea of benching Rodgers a few months ago. Not the guillotine looming next offseason, when the decision will be made to blow this team up even further and start over… or possibly keep it together and hope for different results.
Instead, in this game, Rodgers and Adams took everyone into the time machine and reminded us that who are they it can still be who were. To the tune of nine completions for 198 yards and two touchdowns. It was the most prolific performance between Rodgers and one of his Jets receivers, an outing capable of stirring up some emotions that could have been between the quarterback and wide receiver.
“Yeah, yeah, he did (it felt like old times), except he dropped one,” Rodgers said afterward with a smile. “And I missed him on the next big third down. But yeah, (Davante) is a fantastic player. He dropped one and said they took off his dreadlocks. Whether true or not, it seemed like an excuse.”
This was Rodgers in his happy, playful mode. In a season that has produced only four victories, when you achieve it, you have the wind at your back. Even if it does raise the question about where this type of performance has been since the Jets acquired Adams two months ago, in the hope that his connection with Rodgers can turn the season around. Rodgers has also asked himself.
“Yeah, sure,” he said Sunday. “You know, it’s too little too late. But it’s still special. It doesn’t contaminate it at all. It doesn’t take away any of his joy. That doesn’t take away from the fun that will be on the bus now, and then on the plane… it will still be special. They are always special. But this was a year for things where we were close, but we let it slip away in the middle of the season.”
That reality might have defined the message Rodgers and Adams sent Sunday: Yes, the season is dead. No, as a tandem, we are not. All this prepares a kind of audition, in which both Rodgers and Adams want to play next season, together. Whether with the Jets or somewhere else. Maybe with the Tennessee Titans, who are getting closer to needing to move away from turnover machine Will Levis and may need a one-year bridge quarterback to have better draft options in 2026. Maybe it’s a role one-year bridge for New York. Giants or Las Vegas Raiders, if either franchise plays with the idea of redshirting Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward in 2025. Or maybe just camp out for another season and move forward with this same Jets team . to have one last chance to achieve something, anything, better than the crushing disappointments of 2023 and 2024.
Given what has happened this season for the Jets (and an upcoming regime that will likely want to set the record straight), it’s hard to see this latest development happening. Of course, that’s before considering the other options the Jets have available. Barring a trade that would be unwise in this weak quarterback draft, they probably won’t have anything better than the third or fourth best quarterback on the draft board available to them. And that quarterback might not even be worthy of a first-round pick. Unless hell freezes over, top free agent quarterback Sam Darnold will not play for the Jets again. Veterans’ trade options are not good. And while Rodgers isn’t cheap to keep (he’s owed a $35 million option bonus at the start of the 2025 season, along with $2.5 million in base salary), there could be a way to negotiate for both he and Adams to take pay cuts. to maintain. around and play together.
Even for Rodgers and Adams, playing with the Jets again could be their best and only chance to continue playing together. Which seems to be a priority for both in 2025.
There aren’t a lot of quarterback depth charts around the league that make the addition of Rodgers, let alone Rodgers, sensible. and Adams. And if they somehow manage to pull a rabbit out of a hat in the remaining three games, including winnable home games against the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins, and a terrifying road game against a Buffalo Bills team that is probably the best in the NFL. Right now, some attitudes could change within the Jets.
Finishing 7-10 and on a four-game winning streak isn’t exactly good. But a sales pitch could include an offseason in which Rodgers and Adams work together, along with a roster polish with a new general manager and head coach. There is some fresh air to sell. Whether anyone buys it will depend on how the next three weeks play out.
For his part, Rodgers seemed to move better against the Jaguars. Not only was he sliding into the pocket, he accessed his running ability. He was a far cry from most of the season, when it looked like he might have lost a lot of his athleticism from the waist down. Instead, Rodgers had an unexpected mood and used it to create a handful of tantalizing moments with Adams. He finished with six carries for 45 yards, after having just 56 total rushing yards in the first 13 games of the season.
This embedded content is not available in your region.
“Today was one of those days in the second half, it definitely felt very similar to the way we used to do it,” Adams said. “You can never feel this, but even being in the group with Aaron, it felt very different. Obviously, with him moving now, not having that (hamstring) bothering him the same way it did when I got here, being able to be running like that, I think teams are starting to play us like they used to. when he was not (mobile). He will make you pay. He’s not going to run 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, maybe not even 4.6 (40-yard dash), but 10-yard bursts, he still has it.”
In a season mostly made up of storms, it was a ray of sunshine peeking through a gray roof. A selling point in a final act of this 2024 Jets tragedy, complete with uplifting moments that come when there really isn’t much left to lift. All that remains now is to see how this develops and if there is still something that can be saved by 2025.
Both for the Jets and for the future of their too-little-late stars.