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A lot of people believe Aaron Rodgers is going to make some noise with the New York Jets in 2024.
None perhaps is more emphatic than former Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre.
“If Aaron’s healthy, I expect what everyone else expects, that he leads that team to potentially a championship,” Favre said on the August 22 episode of “The Zach Gelb Show.” “Their defense — I don’t think anyone can question, whether you’re familiar with the Jets or not — their defense is pretty darn stout. When you got a really good defense, you got a chance. Now you throw Aaron into the mix and you know there is probably not a better playmaker at quarterback starting in the league right now.
“Even at his age … look at how he moves and gets rid of the ball and his football knowledge. He’s got the highest football IQ of anybody that I’ve ever been around,” Favre said. “So I expect that they compete for not only the division championship [AFC East], but the conference championship.”
Favre’s Endorsement of Rodgers Is Somewhat Surprising
The relationship between Favre and Rodgers wasn’t always peaches and cream. Or at least that is how it’s portrayed in Ian O’Connor’s new book, “Out of the Darkness.”
“Ninety seconds after Favre watched his team draft his replacement, his agent called Packers VP Andrew Brandt and set the tone for the next three years with these three words: What the [expletive],” O’Connor wrote on page 122.
Rodgers idolized Favre growing up, wearing No. 4 in high school in honor of Favre.
“Aaron did tell us a few things about how [Brett] wasn’t very welcoming,” Aaron’s father, Ed, told O’Connor, via Yahoo Sports’ Daniel Trainor. “He’d have the other quarterback go on hunting trips and fishing trips and Aaron would never get invited. Another person close to Rodgers described Favre’s treatment as ‘actually cruel.'”
Despite what others said in the book, Favre said that narrative was “news to me.”
“No, I thought we had a great relationship, to be honest with you,” Favre told Gelb. “I felt like we had a great relationship. We watched a lot of film together and, you know, we didn’t hang out. I was quite a bit older than him, I went home to Deanna [Favre’s wife] and the girls. We played golf together. Anytime that he, you know, he would ask, ‘Hey, do you mind if I watch extra film with you?’ I had no problems with it.
“I’m a little taken aback by that. But, first of all, I don’t read anything, I don’t watch anything. So the only time I hear something is if I’m doing a show like this or I’m somewhere where I’m in, you know, familiar territory with people that I played with. … I have thought that we had a great relationship, to be honest with you.”
Rodgers Has Entered Uncharted Territory
Throughout the offseason, I’ve spoken to coaches and Rodgers’ teammates about what we’ll see in 2024. The answer is always the same: no idea.
Rodgers will turn 41 on December 2. He is coming off of a torn Achilles injury. When you combine the age and injury variables, it’s impossible to know what version of Rodgers the Jets are going to get.
However, he looks like the same old Rodgers, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
“He does not look like a 40-year-old quarterback coming off Achilles surgery,” Cimini said August 22 on Instagram. “He moved really well in camp [and] he threw exceptionally well. [Rodgers] had over 800 practice snaps this summer, according to [head coach] Robert Saleh. He looks good, he looks like last summer before the injury, so that’s a positive.”
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