Aaron Rodgers Takes A Page Out Of Tom Brady's Playbook With A $35 Million Pay Cut So The Jets Can Load Up Their Roster Even More
One of the keys to the New England Patriots dynasty was Tom Brady's willingness to be paid less than the GOAT has any business being paid. Whether Bill Belichick fully capitalized on that especially in terms of adding playmakers is another matter. LOL. Mostly kidding about that. They won six Super Bowls together. Haters of greatness can shove it.
Brady's modest salary also played a part in allowing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to keep their excellent roster together when he landed there. Several veterans took bargain contracts just to play with TB12. Gronk came back. Hello seventh Super Bowl for Tom Terrific.
...And now we have Aaron Rodgers — without the immense wealth of his spouse to fall back on — voluntarily giving up material wealth so that he can maximize his chances at a second Lombardi Trophy. To bring the New York Freaking Jets a Super Bowl would basically be the equivalent of LeBron winning a title with the Cavs. Only it'd be happening in the greater New York City area. The scale of this can't be understated. I think Rodgers realizes that.
What's wild is, Rodgers squeezed every bit of money he could out of the owner-less Packers, which hamstrung Green Bay from building the best possible roster around him toward the end of his tenure. Not that the Cheeseheads are historically proactive in free agency, but if Rodgers had this mindset over the past few years, perhaps that missing piece or two could've brought another championship to Titletown.
Interesting development in the wake of this Rodgers news: free-agent tailback Dalvin Cook is paying a visit:
With Breece Hall coming off a torn ACL, I get why the Jets would want some backfield insurance, but Cook isn't exactly that. This dude has been a stud feature back for several years and is easily among the top-10 players at his position. Since 2019, he's ranked 10th, second, fifth and seventh in rushing yards each season. Pretty damn good.
Whatever. Fuck it. This is dope. Nice uptown problems to have with two top-10-caliber backs on your roster. If you combine that potential two-headed monster (whenever Hall is cleared), with an excellent Gang Green defense, Rodgers becomes all the more dangerous.
As a personal fan of the Bengals, I'm not exactly thrilled to see shit like this. Joe Burrow's contract extension is coming up soon. While I'm confident they'll keep everyone they need to keep — blog on that coming soon — it's interesting how Rodgers is changing the game by sacrificing so much money. He's already made fuck-you money, so at this stage of his career, I get his line of thinking. It's one thing to talk about this in theory. It's another to actually do it. Rodgers actually did it. And it's gonna help the Jets into 2024, too!
This really seems like a new Aaron Rodgers. I'm sure I'm not the only fan of an AFC contender who's ever so slightly dismayed by this development. Against all odds, the Jets look like they're going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2023. I don't mean that as a jinx. Or do I? Who's to say? All I know is, from a purely objective standpoint, the NFL is better when the New York/NJ teams are good. And since the Giants are about to crash back to Earth, it's time for Rodgers and the Jets to step up. Pretty confident they will.
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Already had the Jets with the NFL's sixth-best roster. Dalvin Cook by himself would put them in the top-five conversation for sure.