At best, Aaron Rodgers has failed to transform the New York Jets into anything other than the New York Jets. At worst, he was a hindrance to the Jets’ attempts to avoid their own fate as the most consistently losing franchise in the NFL. Last Sunday brought what may or may not prove to be a low point: a 25-22 loss to the New England Patriots, leaving the Jets 2-6. the Patriots for last place in the AFC East. On Thursday they play the Houston Texans, an almost certain playoff team. Things probably won’t get any better tonight, but whether the Jets emerge with a 2-7 record or 3-6, their trajectory is the same.

Rodgers’ tenure with the Jets, since a trade in April 2023, has resembled a circus. He tore his Achilles tendon on his first ride as a Jet and couldn’t stomach a season in which he wasn’t the main character of his team. The quarterback claimed all year that he was working toward a return before the end of the season, an outrageous and perhaps impossible interpretation of the recovery timeline for his injury, but one that gullible NFL insiders helped promote him all year. The story only died blessedly when the Jets eliminated themselves from playoff contention and allowed Rodgers to save face, only staying away because returning wouldn’t be worth it.

The Jets’ entire last season was about a quarterback who wouldn’t play for them, and who regularly created negative news cycles for the team with his weekly appearances on ESPN’s. Pat McAfee Show. (A highlight was Rodgers’ on-air inference that Jimmy Kimmel, perhaps the biggest star at NFL broadcast partner Disney, had flown on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane. Rodgers meekly denied that he had made it.)

It was all a farce, but you could understand the Jets bringing back Rodgers this season as a piece of football realpolitik. The NFL is a quarterback-drunk league. Rodgers is Rodgers. Maybe at forty the old man still had something left in the tank. It was worth it for the Jets to put up with his bullshit so they could have a renaissance and high-level production in 2024. But it’s now clear that Rodgers doesn’t have it. in him to save this version of the Jets, which could be a detriment to the team. He is comfortably having the worst season of his career and is ranked 25th^e in the competition in QBR that started last weekend. Rodgers was fine — 233 yards on 17 of 28 passing, including two touchdowns — against the Pats, and his performance wasn’t a game-changer for New York. One problem was that he used valuable timeouts as he struggled to get his offense going his way before the play clock expired. He’s probably better than 25^e-best quarterback in the league. A ranking of about 11^e seems fair, but he’s also a shell of what he used to be.

The Rodgers saga could soon culminate in enormous social relief. The QB has been an inescapable cultural figure since a few months into the pandemic, when he became one of the country’s most prominent vaccine skeptics. Rodgers had already been a celebrity for over a decade at the time, but he was suddenly much more famous. Google searches for him soared to unprecedented levels, and numerous media outlets met that demand by aggregating his frequent posts on McAfee’s show. Long before he suggested Kimmel was a pedophile, he was already at it McAfee using a quote from Martin Luther King to defend his views on the vaccine. We have all learned a lot of about Rodgers, more than even those who agree with him on politics or vaccines expected. For example, we know that he uses ghee to cleanse his intestines. Why do we know that? These are things we don’t know about most NFL players and are certainly not trying to learn about them former NFL players. Rodgers is no longer a world-changing player and sooner or later that will provide an opportunity for so many people to turn the page. The Jets are getting a new QB. We will all think less about their last.

Let’s be careful not to exaggerate our coming freedom when we hear about Rodgers. He will always have fans and a platform. Such is life for one of the greatest signal calls of all time. But most of Rodgers’ beliefs and bombastic public statements wouldn’t be news if he weren’t an NFL quarterback, and an elite quarterback at that. Many athletes play footsie with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s political views. Only one emerges as a vice-presidential possibility for him. Many athletes use unconventional body care techniques, most of which remain unknown to the public. Even great former QBs are allowed to make high-profile political endorsements and appearances. But you would only know that Brett Favre appeared at a Trump rally in Wisconsin this week if you followed political news closely. It would be easy not to know! Rodgers’ every statement becomes national news because he’s still trying to recapture his quarterbacking magic, and because his attempt to do so has ramifications for an NFL team in the New York area.

It’s hard to overstate how much less impact Rodgers’ words would have if he no longer played, or even if he continued to play another year after being so habitual. He’s still capable of elite throws, and he has the same elite football mind as ever. But his mediocrity this season for a terrible team threatens his potential as a Libertarian-style influencer because it threatens his longevity on the field.

Normally, a player like Rodgers having a year like this for an organization like the Jets would be reason to blame the team and assume the QB is being pushed aside. However, that does not matter in this case, because the Jets have so transparently reoriented themselves to Rodgers’ wishes over the past two years. They hired Rodgers’ old Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, to run their offense, even though Hackett was having a disastrous year as head coach of the Denver Broncos and his main qualification was that Rodgers liked him. They brought in a handful of Rodgers’ friends to play wide receiver, and only one of them, the great Davante Adams, is anything special. Even the Adams trade, no doubt done because Rodgers thought it would be a great idea, was ill-advised. The Jets, who are bad, will fall out of the third round next year so Adams’ talents can go to a non-playoff team. The Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 8, a move Rodgers denies influencing, but it happened just before Saleh reportedly fired Rodgers’ favorite offensive coordinator. It’s fair to criticize Rodgers as both QB and quasi-executive.

Many NFL teams are desperate for a glimmer of hope that they can find a good quarterback. Next year’s draft class at the position is not enticing. Rodgers could have options in the league for a few more years, including with the same Jets. But at some At this point, enough general managers and owners will come to a consensus that Rodgers is done. That day is coming for everyone, and Rodgers’ recent playing and injury history suggest it is fast approaching for him. There isn’t an endless supply of teams that will allow Rodgers to continue to hold such a large place in the national consciousness.

After all, it’s hard to argue that the Jets are in a better place now than when they traded for Rodgers. The 2022 team lost its last six games, missed the playoffs and finished 7-10, so that wasn’t the case. Good. They never are Good for a team that is in the league’s worst playoff drought of a whopping thirteen seasons. Zach Wilson, the No. 2 draft pick who came before Rodgers, wouldn’t be the guy either. The bar for Rodgers to improve that situation was not high, but he did not reach it. At best, the Jets traded water. They own a set slate of draft picks next year, not the expanded menu that would come from a more classic rebuild. They have the 21^st-the most salary cap space available through 2025, though NFL teams can always fiddle a lot on that front as long as they accept that a bill will come due at some point. The franchise doesn’t have a clear path to a touted rookie QB. Would the team still jettison Rodgers to try one?

Rodgers has always been worth it, no matter what pain he caused. In his final Packers years, it was a no-brainer for Green Bay to tolerate frequent retirement speculation (which Rodgers happily invited), Rodgers’ input on the roster and even his own trade demand, which the team at one point rejected and then smoothed out to keep him close. The list of superstar quarterbacks who don’t bring drama is short, and dealing with what Rodgers brought was worth it. A great quarterback is worth an afterthought, just as a great quarterback is worth reporters and bloggers breathlessly reporting, even if the story isn’t about football. If the quarterback is no longer great, he’s less worth those things. And if he’s not a quarterback at all, everyone will eventually stop hearing about it it.