The World is Figuring Out What I Said at the Time: The Aaron Rodgers Trade Was a Catastrophe for the Jets. Right Again, Old Balls.

Kevin Sabitus. Getty Images.

Like it says in the Good Book (and I'm paraphrasing here), no one can be a prophet in their own land. The people who think they know you will judge you differently based on their preconceived notions of you, and probably dismiss what you say, no matter how right you might be. 

And to an extent, I get it. It's harder to think someone has supreme wisdom when you know them well. When you've seen them at their best and their worst. Which is why we're inclined to not take advice from our own parents. I'm being 100% honest when I say my sainted mom really wanted me to get into talking about sports for a living, and I thought that was idea was daffy. And yet here we are. 

So when I'm here every day consistently cranking out the sort of content that's worthy of being stored in every available format and kept in the bombproof vaults NORAD has under the Rocky Mountains for future generations to enjoy after civilization destroys itself, I understand people might think my opinions don't count. I'm too biased. Too provincial. To emotionally invested in my football team to see things objectively. And therefore my arguments are often dismissed. 

Well how is this one working out? From the day after the Jets traded for Aaron Rodgers in April of 2023:

The Jets got hosed in this deal. 

I'll concede the painfully obvious: The Jets are significantly better. Frankly, any slightly below average QB would've been a vast improvement, and Rodgers is one season removed from an MVP. …

Still, this was a bad trade by any objective measure. As good as Jets fans feel today, it's just a sugar and caffeine rush, like chugging a quart of Mountain Dew. And when they come down off that high, they'll realize this was an absurd price to pay. :

Especially when they had all the leverage, and squandered it. …  The kind of trade that poorly run organizations make when they're desperate. Which invariably is what causes their desperation in the first place. Which leads to more bad decisions. And it makes the whole franchise a perpetual Ouroboros of suckiness, eating its own tail.

Naturally, this analysis was dismissed as just the ravings of a Patriots fan as the balance of power in the division shifted. A man stuck watching his team fall to irrelevance after two decades of Dynasty. A mere cope. A man whistling past a graveyard. 

When it turns out I was more like the scientist in every SciFi/disaster movie telling you what would happen, and now it's too late. Because you just … wouldn't … listen! And my logic was based on the premise that Rodgers still had some good football in him. I didn't know he'd have missed all but four snaps last year and be having his worst season this year. To wit:

29th in completion %, at 61.6

12th in yards per game, with 237.0

13th in touchdown %, at 4.2 (note his replacement in Green Bay Jordan Love is 1st with 7.5)

13th in interception % at 2.5

21st in passer rating, with 85.1

1st in head coaches fired, with 1

And his last 300-yard passing game came on December 12th of 2021. That's 31 starts ago. So even though I didn't realize just how 41 years old this 41-year-old would be, I still recognized that trade was a fiasco for the Jets that they would soon live to regret. And that "soon" has just arrived. At least in the minds of the global population that is not me:

NY Post - I thought the Aaron Rodgers trade was a good one in April 2023. The Jets had to make a move because Zach Wilson was bust. It was a gamble to bring in a player about to turn 40, but it felt like it could work.

It has not. …

There is nothing the 2024 Jets can do now. They have to ride this out with Rodgers. There may come a point where he needs to sit down because of his injuries but you have no one waiting in the wings to take over as your quarterback of the future. Tyrod Taylor is 35 years old. Jordan Travis is on the non-football injury list and is not playing this season. Rodgers is going down with the ship.

And so it is. Once again I find myself reminding you that if it ever gets boring being right all the time, I'll let you know. Until that day comes I'll just continue riding my hot bat of predicting doom for the Jets. Never go against a streak that's been going since Joe Namath.