Getty At the end of an NFL game, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning met at midfield to have a chat.
There has been a palpable buzz inside the New York Jets building since they acquired Aaron Rodgers via trade.
A lot of folks believe the team can do something special in 2023. Count Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning among the believers.
“I’m excited for Aaron and the Jets. Let me tell you why I think it’s going to work. The fact that he has the same system that he ran in Green Bay with [Nathaniel] Hackett calling the plays,” Manning explained during a surprise appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, May 2. “He is going to be able to play so much faster. I mean Pat having to learn a new offense in your [No.] 18 or [No.] 19 year is almost impossible because you have to unlearn your old offense.
When I went to Denver they took my playbook and said hey we’ll run all the plays that you like and we’ll add some new ones but we’ll work together. So the fact that Aaron doesn’t have to learn a new offense, a new snap count, a new formation, [so] he’s going to play fast. He can use his incredible athletic ability. I see him playing well early next year and it should be fun to watch.”
.@ProFootballHOF QB Peyton Manning said he’s ‘excited for @AaronRodgers12 & the #Jets’ + he pointed to Nathaniel Hackett & system familiarity as the reason he thinks it’ll work, ‘I see him playing well early & it should be fun to watch’: 🎥 @PatMcAfeeShow #PMSLive #TakeFlight
Manning reiterated later in the interview that he believes the Jets have a “good setup with Hackett” running the offensive operation.
Peyton Manning Is Speaking From Experience on Jets-Rodgers Situation
Manning was 36 years of age when he changed NFL teams for the first time in his career. The Indianapolis Colts released him after he had complications from serious neck surgery.
It was unclear if Manning was going to be able to continue his football career or at the very least compete at the same level prior to the injury.
Despite some uncertainty, there was a bidding war in free agency for his services. Ultimately he landed with the Denver Broncos after a mini-free-agency tour.
The former Tennessee product spent four years with the Broncos and registered some great individual success.
Manning threw for 17,112 passing yards, had 140 touchdowns to just 53 interceptions, and he completed 66.5 percent of his passes.
However, he didn’t win the Super Bowl until his final season with the team in 2015. Interestingly enough Manning accomplished that feat at 39 years of age.
Rodgers will attempt to do the same with New York in 2023.
Manning and Tom Brady are the only two starting quarterbacks in NFL history that have successfully managed to win Super Bowls for two different organizations in history.
Jets Fans Have Trust Issues With Peyton Manning
Normally it’s a good thing when a Hall of Fame quarterback with Manning’s credentials applauds a move and thinks it’ll work. Especially from someone that has successfully won a championship for two different teams.
However, Jets fans are a little uneasy with things that come out of Manning’s mouth recently.
It all started back in 2019 as the Jets were seeking to hire a new head coach. NFL Network Insider Peter Schrager said a final call from Peyton Manning to Jets ownership “helped sway” the team to hire Adam Gase.
Gase only lasted two years with the Jets and finished with a 9-23 record as the head coach. A columnist called him the “worst coach in modern NFL history” during his tenure with the Jets.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the Jets held the No. 1 pick in the 1997 NFL draft and it looked like they would land Manning.
Instead the youngster at the time decided to return to Tennessee for his senior season and left the Jets at the altar. It changed the course of history for at least two teams with the Indianapolis Colts being the beneficiary in 1998 and the Jets being sent to the abyss.