Cal Sports Report

Aaron Rodgers' Introductory Press Conference With the Jets

Former Cal star says he's "excited about going back to my college number" in the video of the press conference shown in this story

Jake Curtis

Aaron Rodgers made his first official appearance as a member of the New York Jets on Wednesday with his first press conference with the New York media, a video of which is displayed below.

"I'm not here to be a savior." the former Cal star said at the press conference. "I'm just here to be the best quarterback I can be, to lead authentically and to inspire the guys around me to raise their level of play."

However, the Jets fans and the New York media may be expecting Rodgers to be a savior for a team that has not been to the playoffs since 2010, the longest current postseason drought of any team in the four major pro sports.

The most noticeable aspect of Rodgers' press conference was his appearance.  The long hair, man bun and scraggly beard of last season and the offseason were replaced by neat, closely cropped hair.

For Cal fans, the most important part of the press conference may have come in the final few minutes when he noted that he will not be wearing the No. 12 he wore at Green Bay, but will wear the No. 8 he wore at Cal.

Joe Namath agreed to have his No. 12 unretired if Rodgers wanted to have it, but Rodgers said this toward the end of his group press conference:

"But to me 12 is Broadway Joe and I didn't want to go down that path, and I'm excited about going back to my college number."

Rodgers said several times the presence of Nathaniel Hackett as the Jets offensive coordinator is one of the reasons he wanted to join the Jets. Hackett was the Packers' offensive coordinator when Rodgers won MVPs in 2020 and 2021.

Rodgers also said he will participate in voluntary offseason workouts, something he seldom did while at Green Bay.

He sidestepped questions about whether he will play beyond the 2023 season, saying only that he is focusing on this season.

"I've always dreamed about being a starter at 40," said Rodgers, who will turn 40 in December.

For now every step he takes with his new team is being closely watched.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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