Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers helped take care of an important piece of business for the team last eek when he restructured his contract. So now, instead of making about $110 million over the next two seasons, Rodgers will make $75 million in that time and can also make another $37.5 million in 2025.
So, in a sense, Rodgers took a pay cut of about $35 million for the next two years. Rodgers talked about the importance of doing that in a recent interview with Peter King of NBC Sports.
“What it comes down to, it was the right thing that made me feel best,” Rodgers told King. “I thought it was important they knew how committed I was. And in my conversations with Joe, he has made it very clear the vision for the football team.
“You probably agree with this. This year, compared to like 2005, the amount of transactions that happen now with guys getting cut and the amount of trades—way more than before. Big names move at the trade deadline now. I wanted to make sure that if somebody valuable came available that we’d be able to get him. I’m very happy with the contract. I feel great about it.”
Rodgers will make almost $36.9 million this year ($35 million signing bonus plus a base salary of $1,838,888) and about $38.1 million in 2024 ($35 million option bonus plus a base salary of $3,161,112). The Jets can also exercise a $35 million option bonus for 2025.
Rodgers’ salary cap for 2023 is just $8,888,888. As a friendly reminder, Zach Wilson’s cap hit is about $9.6 million. Per Over the Cap, the Jets have about $16 million in cap space for 2023 and about $16 million in space for 2024.
