Aaron Rodgers and New York Giants: An Unlikely Fit at Crossroads

A Rodgers-Giants union would be the most stunning result for the 2025 off-season should it come to pass

The New York Giants find themselves at a crossroads when it comes to the quarterback position.

After striking out on a very unlikely marriage with Matthew Stafford, who after using both the Giants and Las Vegas Raiders as leverage to get a bigger and better deal from the Los Angeles Rams, the G-Men are still in search of a veteran signal-caller, and for the past several days speculation has run rampant that the Giants desperation could lead them right into the hands of none other than Aaron Rodgers.

Can you imagine?

Yes, the same Aaron Rodgers whom the Jets kicked to the side just a few weeks ago, could end up staying in the Big Apple, should the Giants deem him the best fit if they keep striking out on landing a veteran quarterback via free agency.

It would be a wild fit, at possibly the most crucial time for the Giants.

In a way it would eerily mirror (although slightly) what the Jets went through in 2023 when they brought Rodgers in to be their quarterback. At the time, Jets GM Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh needed to address the position after Zach Wilson flamed out his first two years.

The Jets thought process was that Rodgers would come in, make Gang Green an instant contender all while serving as a mentor to Wilson, who was still under contract in 2023.

We all know the plans went sideways fast. Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into the 2023 season opener, forcing Wilson back into action. We never really got to see Rodgers at his best in Green and White.

The 2024 season saw the Jets win only five games with a 40-year-old Rodgers, at times looked like a shell of the Hall of Famer we had grown accustomed to seeing in Green Bay.

Sure there were moments of brilliance like his three-touchdown effort against Jacksonville on December 15, and his four-touchdown performance in his final game as a Jet in Week 18 against Miami. But those fleeting moments of brilliance were few and far in between.

We got a lot of games like the one against Seattle where Rodgers tossed a pick-six into the hands of lineman Leonard Williams. Or games like the one against the Vikings in London where Rodgers threw two interceptions, and missed Mike Williams badly on a potential route for a game-winning score.

While Rodgers had been complimented by teammates as being a good clubhouse presence, it wasn't always sunshine and rainbows. Even Garret Wilson, reportedly grew annoyed when Rodgers fed the ball more to his old Green Bay teammate Devante Adams, rather than he.

Would a Rodgers return to New York only in Blue, Red, and White be a bigger difference? Keep in mind, like Saleh and Douglas, both Giants GM Joe Schoen and Head Coach Brian Daboll are on the hot seat.

They need to win, and/or find the right quarterback to take this team into the future.

Would a 41-going-on-42-year-old Rodgers be the elixir the Giants need now? Would Rodgers be willing to serve as a mentor, which might include getting benched for a rookie quarterback like Cam Ward or Sheduer Sanders?

Would Rodgers demand the Giants bring in 'his' guys like Devante Adams and Adam Lazard the way he did with the Jets?

Can co-owner John Mara, Daboll, and Schoen stomach Rodgers going on the Pat McAfee show every week to pontificate about the team, and everything else under the sun?

These are all reasonable questions to ask.

Yes, Rodgers would come cheap. The Jets would be footing most of the bill for Rodgers. They owe him roughly $49 million not to play for them. That would mean at the bare minimum the Giants would owe him $1.25 million were he to sign there after his Jets release.

And yes, Rodgers still has the arm, but is it really worth it?

It's not like the Giants have a team that is close to competing in the NFC East. At best, the Giants might be third best in a division that is home to the Super Bowl Champion Eagles, and the NFC runner-up Washington Commanders, who just acquired receiver Deebo Samuel.

The Giants could sign Kirk Cousins or Russell Wilson for the same amount of $1.25 million, and deal with less of a headache then they would with Rodgers. Or they could look to the secondary quarterback market, sign a Marcus Mariota, or Carson Wentz, and let either serve as a bridge to potentially a Cam Ward or Sheduer Sanders.

If the Giants are convinced that either Ward or Sanders can be a franchise quarterback, then that already is a step in the right direction.

Rodgers? Yes, he's probably the best available right now, but he would be better suited for a team closer to winning than the Giants are right now.