Getty Image / Megan Briggs
For the first time since the 2005 season, Aaron Rodgers is not a member of the Green Bay Packers. Just because Rodgers is gone, though, doesn’t mean there aren’t any quarterbacks left in Green Bay.
While Jordan Love, who the team drafted in the first round a couple of years ago, is expected to be the team’s starting signal-caller this year, the QB room also includes former Penn State University product Sean Clifford, who the Packers selected in the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft.
According to Clifford, Rodgers was actually nice enough to leave him a housewarming present: a signed jersey and a photo of himself. Forever humble, that Aaron Rodgers.
Not a bad a house warming gift…thank you! @Fanatics @AaronRodgers12 #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/CfhyejVOHn
— Sean Clifford (@seancliff14) June 30, 2023
At this time, Clifford — who was the starter for the Penn State Nittany Lions from 2019 to 2022 — is slated to be the Packers’ backup QB for the 2023 season, as he’s currently ahead of third-stringer Danny Etling on the team’s depth chart.
Rodgers and the Jets will be hoping to make immediate waves this season, as Gang Green is currently the seventh-biggest betting favorite to win this year’s Super Bowl, which trails only the Kansas City Chiefs (the defending champions), Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals, and Dallas Cowboys.
If Rodgers does manage to lead the Jets to the postseason, it will break the longest postseason drought in the National Football League as the franchise hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2010.
Rodgers and the Jets will certainly have their work cut out for them though, as they’re not only not even the favorites to win their own division (the AFC East, which has been won by the Bills for three straight years) but they find themselves in the absolutely loaded AFC that’s dominated by elite quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, and more.