At a time when some eagle-eyed dot-connectors in league circles are wondering whether Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers will partner up with Bill Belichick in 2025, Belichick gave such talk a boost in the newest episode of the Let’s Go! podcast.
“[Rodgers] could easily rebound from that and be ready to play and have a good year next year,” Belichick told Jim Gray. “You look at all the quarterbacks in the league that are kind of on their second teams and they’re doing pretty well, Russell Wilson and Geno Smith and [Sam] Darnold, Baker Mayfield, you go right down the line, [Matthew] Stafford for that matter, Jared Goff. These guys that switch teams, they get in a different system, things are a little bit different for them, maybe they learn some things from whatever it was their previous experiences were. It changes. When a guy has a long career and a good career, sometimes one season is just a bump in the road. It’s not necessarily the end of the road.”
That road could continue in the place wherever the highway leads Belichick, in theory.
Belichick acknowledged the challenge of figuring out when it’s time to move on from a player. That’s something he got wrong nearly five years ago, when turning the page on Tom Brady.
“I think that’s one of the toughest things to do as a coach in professional football, is to figure out when that right time is or isn’t,” Belichick said. “One thing you run into sometimes with players as they age in their career is the injury factor. And sometimes players can have an injury at the later point in their career and make it look like maybe it’s an age problem when actually it was an injury problem. And then once that injury clears up, then there’s a lot more good football left in that player.
“And I think that was kind of the case with Rodney Harrison. Rodney Harrison in San Diego was really a tough football player. He is very, very competitive. So he played through an injury, didn’t have a great year. And then when we signed him at New England he was healthy and he had multiple great years and helped us win Super Bowls.”
Rodney was only 30 when he joined the Patriots. Today, Rodgers turned 41.
On Sunday, Seahawks defensive lineman Leonard Williams said Rodgers, as an older guy, “doesn’t want to take big hits anymore.”
A source with knowledge of Rodgers’s performances in recent years echoed that sentiment after hearing what Williams had to say.
“[He] can still throw it, but I think the hits hurt more than they used to,” the source said.
If Belichick is thinking about acquiring Rodgers if/when Belichick returns in 2025, Belichick will have to figure out whether one of Rodgers’s worst seasons ever is the result of injury or age, whether Aaron is willing to take big hits and, if not, what his plan is for avoiding them.
If Belichick is willing to roll the dice — and if Rodgers is will to play for Belichick — things could get very interesting. Especially if they end up in the stadium where Rodgers currently plays his home games, as employees of the New York Giants.