Desperate people make desperate decisions. Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen are desperate.
With the New York Giants losing out on Matthew Stafford, they have reportedly pivoted to Aaron Rodgers. From Rodgers’ point of view, this makes sense. The future Hall of Fame quarterback would get to stay in the Greater New York area, where he bought a home in 2023. Rodgers, a California native, has developed a love for the East Coast. He would have a chance to redeem himself with the other team that plays in MetLife Stadium.
If Rodgers could get the Giants to the playoffs, that would alter the narrative at the tail end of his career. Many people now see Rodgers as an unhinged egomaniacal conspiracy theorist. However, as Kyrie Irving has shown us, if you win enough games, people tend to focus less on the controversial things you say.
Most franchises are steering clear of the Aaron Rodgers experience for a good reason. Forget the baggage he comes with. The fact is that Rodgers hasn’t been a great quarterback since 2021. In the NFL, that’s a long time. For any team to put up with Rodgers’ frequent and weird appearances on The Pat McAfee Show and his quirks, he would have to be closer to the back-to-back MVP Rodgers of 2020 and 2021 and not the New York Jets version.
Buyer beware. And yet, the Giants might kick the tires on a 41-year-old. That’s the kind of move made by desperate men trying to save their jobs. Daboll, the coach, and Schoen, the general manager, came close to being fired after a disastrous 2024 and will be ousted if New York has another terrible season. That’s why they went after Stafford. That makes more sense since Stafford, even at 37, remains a good quarterback. With limited options, Daboll and Schoen could try Rodgers on a one-year flyer. It’s a short-term solution that only benefits current management and not the organization’s long-term health.
The Aaron Rodgers we saw with the Jets is probably the Aaron Rodgers we would see with the Giants. He can occasionally still make incredible plays and throws. He’s also less mobile and more turnover-prone. His 11 interceptions were tied for the third-most in his career, and he fumbled five times (losing two). The Giants’ roster might be worse than the Jets’ roster from last year, so the idea that Rodgers could pilot them into contention in 2025 is hard to believe. Not in what could be the NFL’s toughest division with the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders, and the Dallas Cowboys.
The NFL fined #Jets QB Aaron Rodgers $11,255 for unnecessary roughness — a late hit out of bounds after throwing an interception last week.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 4, 2025
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In a dream scenario, Daboll and Schoen would somehow squeeze some success out of Rodgers, draft a quarterback (Shedeur Sanders?), and then have the rookie take over full-time in 2026. If this happens, then Daboll and Schoen would indeed deserve praise for navigating this transition. But that’s asking a lot to go right.
A nightmare scenario would be Rodgers playing worse and the rookie being overwhelmed. The result: Daboll and Schoen being fired.
The Giants are a proud franchise, having won four Super Bowls. They are usually not impatient. However, keeping two desperate men to try and solve a problem by bringing in washed Aaron Rodgers seems ill-advised.
