Aaron Rodgers is coming off arguably the second-worst season of his career. His lone full campaign with the New York Jets only eclipsed his final year with the Green Bay Packers in 2022. He will turn 42 during the stretch run of the 2025 campaign. If this was nearly anyone else, it wouldn’t even be a question: hang ’em up, buddy, it was a good run. But, this is Aaron Rodgers we’re talking about here.
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And—no offense to the Jets—one would think that nearly any other franchise he joins would be less dysfunctional than Gang Green. That is, unless he simply goes cross-town to the New York Football Giants, who are also in the mix for the most dysfunctional organization in the league right now.
But maybe dysfunction attracts dysfunction. The Giants are the only team still being seriously linked with Rodgers at this point just a few days away from the start of the new league year. But a 41-year-old QB going to a rebuilding franchise just doesn’t make much sense, and Damien Woody explained why.
“The Giants!? Nooooo! You’re talking about going out sad. That’s what we call going out sad. Like, going to play for the New York Giants!? If I’m Aaron, it’s either wait it out for an injury, or walk away. I’m trying to wait for a situation that’s favorable to me. I’m not walking into a dead man situation like the Giants! I’m not doing that!” the former offensive guard said on Get Up.
Woody—along with many other reasonable people in the NFL world—believes that Rodgers should not sign with a rebuilding team in his 40s. That might seem the only option because there aren’t many quality teams looking for a bridge QB. But it’s not.
As Woody and the panel pointed out, Rodgers might be better served to wait until a top QB on a contending team suffers a major injury. That tends to happen at least once or twice a year. He can then pounce on that opportunity.
Nonetheless, there are still some very well-informed insiders—Peter Schrager and Mike Garafolo—who believe a Rodgers-Giants pairing is more likely than not. Schrager thinks Rodgers and Giants head coach Brian Daboll could bond over the chips they carry on their shoulders after both endured disastrous 2024 seasons.
Garafolo, meanwhile, notes that Rodgers’ potential low salary shouldn’t be overlooked. However, he’s unsure whether Rodgers would actually be willing to go to New York — for obvious reasons.
Last year was a down one for Rodgers by his standards. But, he was still top 10 in both passing yards and passing TDs. He’s still got a little something left in the tank. He just needs the right group around him. The Pittsburgh Steelers were previously linked with Rodgers, as they have something of a win-now mentality and are in the veteran QB market. That interest has since seemingly fizzled out.
Perhaps the most intriguing, however, would be a trip to the Twin Cities to join the Minnesota Vikings, major rivals of his former team, the Packers. It would be interesting not only because of that Packers-Vikings connection but also the parallels it would draw with his Green Bay predecessor Brett Favre’s career.
Star for the Packers for two decades, winning multiple MVPs and a Super Bowl ring, left on a sour note, then joined the Jets for a down year. After that, Favre joined the Vikings and had an MVP-caliber season.
He nearly led them to the Super Bowl, too. And this Vikings team might be even more stacked than that 2009 squad. After allowing Sam Darnold to test free agency, Minnesota isn’t exactly set at QB right now either, so the door is open.
