Did New York Jets & Giants Make Same Franchise-Crippling Mistake?

Did the New York Jets and Giants both whiff on the NFL's most important position?

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers stands on the field. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The NFL is a quarterback-driven league. It's very difficult to win consistently without a reliable signal-caller, which is why many fans consider it the most important position in sports.

A good quarterback can carry a franchise for years, sometimes decades. A bad quarterback, on the other hand, can single-handedly crush a team and set it back for years, especially if he has a fat contract.

The New York Jets and New York Giants are familiar with both sides of the equation. They've won Super Bowls with good quarterbacks before (Joe Namath and Eli Manning), but now both franchises are wondering whether they've committed to the wrong guy under center.

Aaron Rodgers and Daniel Jones are both in the second year of their massive contracts with the Jets and Giants, respectively. Rodgers is on a three-year, $112.5 million deal ($75 million guaranteed), while Jones has a four-year, $160 million extension ($92 million guaranteed).

So far, the results haven't been great. In fact, they've been objectively awful.

Daniel Jones has thrown THREE PICK-SIXES and only TWO TD's since signing his 4-year, $160M deal 😬 pic.twitter.com/RSZG3EUjW4

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 9, 2024

After coming over in a trade with the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers played all of four snaps in 2023 before going down with a season-ending Achilles injury, dooming the Jets' campaign from the start. Forced to rely on Zach Wilson, Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle in his absence, they went 7-10 and missed the playoffs.

Rogers finally played a full game for the Jets on Monday, but his performance was far from inspiring. He completed 13 of 21 passes (61.9%) with one touchdown and one interception in the Jets' ugly 32-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Statistically, he wasn't much of an improvement over Wilson, who posted eerily similar numbers against the Seattle Seahawks in his Denver Broncos debut.

Zach Wilson, 2023 Week 1:

14/21, 140 yards, 1 TD 1 INT, win vs. BUF

Aaron Rodgers, 2024 Week 1:

13/21, 167 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, loss vs. SF pic.twitter.com/SleTSmgTD5

— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) September 10, 2024

Meanwhile, Jones' contract has been a disaster for the Giants since the minute the ink dried. He suffered a season-ending injury last year as well, playing just six games before tearing his right ACL.

Jones was abysmal when he did play, going 1-5 with a 2:6 TD/INT ratio and getting sacked 30 times. His 2024 debut wasn't much better, as he completed just 52.4% of his passes while getting picked off twice by the Minnesota Vikings in a 28-6 blowout loss at home.

Suffice it to say, the Jets and Giants are not getting their money's worth. They're a combined 13-23 since signing their star quarterbacks to megadeals, partly because Jones and Rodgers have played only nine games combined. They've both been massive disappointments when they have suited up, combining for a woeful 3:9 TD/INT ratio.

The season is still young, of course, so both franchise QBs have time to turn things around. After a tough road matchup against the reigning NFC champs in primetime, Rodgers has a much easier draw this week against the rebuilding Tennessee Titans.

Meanwhile, Jones and the Giants get to face the re-tooling Washington Commanders, who are also coming off a Week 1 blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New York sports fans aren't known for their patience, however, especially since neither franchise has been a legitimate Super Bowl contender in years. They've already waited long enough, and they're not willing to wait much longer.