On Tuesday, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers tried to characterize his team’s glass as 10-percent full. After Friday’s loss to the Dolphins, which dropped New York to 4-7, it’s maybe five-percent full.
Rodgers apparently still intends to keep trying to return in 2023.
“When we get a doctor’s note that says he’s clear, he’ll be cleared for practice then,” coach Robert Saleh told reporters on Saturday morning.
Saleh had no update as to when that might occur. Last Sunday, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that Rodgers hopes to return to practice on December 2, which is both Rodgers’s 40th birthday and the day before the Jets’ next game, against the Falcons.
It makes no sense for Rodgers to hold out hope for returning in 2023. The better play would be to use the next appearance on his weekly in-season platform with Pat McAfee to say he’s not coming back this year but he is coming back next year, and that everything he and the team do for the rest of the season should be done with the full knowledge that, no matter what happens this year, he’ll be a Jet next year.
Although anything can happen, nothing is currently happening for the Jets. Tim Boyle isn’t the answer. Trevor Siemian can’t even earn a chance to be the answer. And Zach Wilson is only the answer to one specific question: Which quarterback currently on the roster has a less-than-zero-percent chance of being on the team next season?
The sooner the Jets pivot to 2024, the better off they’ll be. The sooner Rodgers abandons his pipe dream about playing in 2023, the sooner they all can pivot to 2024.