NFL: Aaron Rodgers returns to New York Jets for Pittsburgh Steelers debut
“The hype was off the charts,” says New York-based sportswriter Ian O’Connor.
He already felt that Rodgers was the “most compelling and polarising figure” in the NFL and his bid to win a championship for “a loser-ville franchise in the NFL’s biggest market” inspired him to write a Rodgers biography., external
O’Connor had followed the Jets’ sorry search for a successor to legendary quarterback Joe Namath, which had turned them into a laughing stock. They have failed to reach the post-season since 2011, the longest current play-off drought in the NFL.
But, after 18 years and a Super Bowl win with the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers was ready to swap the NFL’s smallest market for the Big Apple and relished his new lifestyle.
He made numerous public appearances and Jets fans warmed to their new star after seeing how he was portrayed in the Hard Knocks series, which followed the Jets’ training camp.
“I’ve been covering sports in New York for almost four decades and I’ve never seen a superstar athlete from another market embracing New York like Aaron Rodgers did,” O’Connor told BBC Sport. “It was a total love-fest.
“Jets fans couldn’t get enough of it. New Yorkers really embraced him and didn’t care about his vaccine views or conspiracy theories.
“They didn’t care about anything except his football talent and the chance to see the Jets reach the Super Bowl for the first time since Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon (1969).
“To have that ripped away four plays into the season, it was a tough night. I was in the building and I’ve never been more heart-sick for an athlete and a fanbase.”
Without Rodgers, the Jets finished the 2023 season with a 7-10 record and although he returned last year, head coach Robert Saleh was sacked as the Jets slumped to 5-12.
O’Connor said that Rodgers planned for “two healthy seasons with the Jets”. He got just one as, in February, new coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey said they wanted to go “in a different direction”.