Aaron Rodgers appears to be on his path to creating a legacy with the New York Jets. He recently surprised a lot of people after sacrificing $35,000,000 from his contract which simply shows that he is not settling down for anything less than a Super Bowl this time. Rodgers’ leadership is now becoming a matter of talk in the NFL world, so much so that even Patrick Mahomes lauded the new Jets QB for his exceptional skills.
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In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Patrick Mahomes confessed that Aaron Rodgers, at this point of his career, has developed a great game sense which allows him to predict what opposition is trying to do, just as did Tom Brady. This is something that even Patrick Mahomes aspires to do as he stated that as a quarterback, one needs to evolve as the career goes on.
Patrick Mahomes on Aaron Rodgers’ Evolution as a QB
Mahomes, during the interview, mentioned how much evolution is needed from the quarterback’s end which translates into a wholesome growth of the team. This is something that Aaron Rodgers has done over the years. Mahomes said, “You saw it with Aaron Rodgers in this part of his career.”
“When he was younger, he moved around a lot more and ran and made the throws. Now he has the answers before the snap; he doesn’t have to do that type of stuff. He still has it. Obviously, Tom is the same way. He never was a big scrambler, but even in the later part of his career, he got the ball out even faster, was still able to take the deep shot when it was there,” Mahomes added.
#Jets QB Aaron Rodgers agreed to take a whopping $35M paycut in a new adjusted contract, per @TomPelissero. The Jets inherited a 2-year, $110M deal and Rodgers is dropping it to a 2-year, $75M contract.
Gives them a 2-year window to try to win it all — and now with more money… pic.twitter.com/28Oh69p3DV
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) July 26, 2023
Aaron Rodgers certainly took a leap of faith with the Jets and is already taking the mantle to lead the Jets to the Super Bowl. His sacrifice was appreciated by many and for a very good reason. However, even the Jets played a big gamble after signing a 39-year-old quarterback. But it was well calculated since Aaron Rodgers’ skills as a passer certainly overpowers most of the quarterbacks in the league.
Story of Aaron Rodgers’ $35,000,000 Pay-Cut
Aaron Rodgers moved to the Jets while still being on his Packers contract which would have reaped him $110 million in the next two seasons. Following his trade, Rodgers showed his true intentions by sacrificing his own contract to free up $35 million of the Jets’ salary cap for future signings. Now, he is set to earn $75 million in the next two seasons.
Rodgers’ $35 million paycut was seen as a respectful measure by many NFL veterans and analysts. One such veteran was Rob Gronkowski who stated that Rodgers needs to be given a lot of respect for his non-selfish move. It will be interesting to see how the veteran performs in the coming season.
