DISMISSED

Jets Part Ways With Aaron Rodgers After Two Seasons

The 41-year-old’s recent controversies may have contributed to his dismissal.

The New York Jets have decided they will move on without quarterback Aaron Rodgers this offseason, FOX Sports reported Sunday.

This brings Rodgers’ two-year stint with the Jets to an end after he was traded to the team by Green Bay in 2023. He had played his first 18 seasons for the Packers.

According to Fox Sports insider Jay Glazer’s report, Rodgers, 41, met with the Jets in New Jersey last week when the team told him they were moving on without him.

In light of the recent changes in the team, like a new general manager, Darren Mougey, and head coach, Aaron Glenn, Glazer writes that the decision to cut Rodgers loose isn’t completely surprising. Although when he first joined the team, the four-time MVP provided hope to the Jets franchise, which must continue its search for a franchise quarterback, the New York Post reported.

Not everyone is pleased with Rodgers' dismissal. Jets defensive tackle, Quinnen Williams, took to X to subtly indicate his outrage by posting a thumbs-down emoji.

Rodgers only got to play four snaps before suffering an Achilles tendon injury in 2023 that put him on the bench for much of the season. It is still unclear if Rodgers will continue his NFL career on a different team or retire after 20 seasons. Multiple teams are currently in the market for a veteran quarterback this offseason, which might be a glimmer of hope for Rodgers, PackersWire reported.

But Rodgers' problems extended well off the field.

The quarterback appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show,” a three-hour daily sports talk show on ESPN, almost weekly, where his bizarre opinions often made headlines. He revealed his anti-vaccine views after testing positive for COVID in Nov. 2021 and then made a series of comments downplaying the effectiveness of the jabs generally.

In one November 2021 episode of the show, Rodgers claimed he had an “allergy to an ingredient that’s in the mRNA vaccines” and said that he was in “the crosshairs of the woke mob” after expressing his vaccine viewpoints.

“So before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I think I’d like to set the record straight on so many of the blatant lies,” Rodgers said at the time, before clarifying what he meant when he said that he was previously “immunized” by the virus in August.

“I wanted it to go away,” he explained. “Everyone on the squad knew I was not vaccinated. Everyone in the organization knew I wasn’t vaccinated. I wasn’t hiding from anybody. I was trying to minimize and mitigate having this conversation going on and on.”

That same month, the NFL reportedly fined Rodgers $14,650 for attending a Halloween event while unvaccinated. His vaccine controversy also ended his sponsorship deal with Prevea Health, a Wisconsin-based health company, that he had had a partnership with since 2012.

The quarterback also had a feud with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a seven-minute-long roast that soon became a legal battle. Then, in March 2024, Rodgers was rumored to be under consideration to be Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vice president when he was running as an independent in the election. This in, turn, sparked a CNN story that claimed Rodgers, like Trump ally Steve Bannon, denied that the Sandy Hook school shooting was real. He denied this claim.

In a 2024 Netflix docuseries on the athlete, Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, the quarterback also divulged more details on his famed ayahuasca usage, sharing that he’s participated in nine ayahuasca ceremonies. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage that has become popular for trauma healing and the treatment of other mental health disorders. Rodgers claimed he was searching for “where people in life are finding deep peace and centeredness and presence” in the docuseries.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Nandika ChatterjeeBreaking News Intern

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.