Anonymous head coach shows that Aaron Rodgers will have to prove the NFL wrong again
For the first time since NFL columnist Mike Sando started doing the Quarterbacks Tiers in 2011, Aaron Rodgers fell out of the first tier. Even when he had a relatively tough stretch in the final part of the 2010s, most of the NFL still saw him as an elite player. Now, at 40 years old […]
For the first time since NFL columnist Mike Sando started doing the Quarterbacks Tiers in 2011, Aaron Rodgers fell out of the first tier. Even when he had a relatively tough stretch in the final part of the 2010s, most of the NFL still saw him as an elite player.
Now, at 40 years old and coming back from a serious Achilles injury, the New York Jets quarterback will have to prove people wrong.
He was ranked as the seventh best quarterback in football, the fourth one in tier 2. Even though he still received 23 tier 1 votes, Rodgers got 18 tier 2, seven tier 3, and even two tier 4 votes. An anonymous NFL head coach even used the only four plays in which Rodgers played for the Jets before the injury to base his opinion.
"You go back and watch those first four plays before he got hurt, he did not look good," a head coach placing Rodgers in Tier 3 told Sando. "He looks old. If they can't protect him and they can't run the football, it'll be just what you saw late stages in Green Bay. He became ineffective. I'm looking at what he is, not who he is."
To be fair, there are a lot of people who still trust Aaron Rodgers can bounce back. Only Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen received more tier 1 votes, but these tier 3 and 4 votes dropped his position on the rankings.
Last year, his first one with the Jets, Rodgers had received 30 tier 1 votes and 20 tier 2 votes.
The veteran quarterback did regress a little bit in his final season in Green Bay. After having two MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021 with PFF grades 94.5 and 89.6, he was graded at 77.5 in 2022, his final season with the Packers — at the same time, it was a year in which the Packers were rebuilding the wide receiver room after trading Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders and losing Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency.
In 2023, the sample size of four plays is just too small. He had four snaps and was pressured twice, finishing it up with a 39.4 PFF grade and no completions.
Now, the Jets' plan is Rodgers can go back to a high level with a better offensive line in front of him and with a group of pass catchers that includes Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams — the Packers' leading receiver in 2022 was Allen Lazard, who is WR3 now and didn't play well last season, but presumably can get better with Rodgers back.
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