The Big Lead

Jets parting ways with Davante Adams, Allen Lazard proves they wasted 2 years on Aaron Rodgers

By Sam Westmoreland

Jan 5, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) and wide receiver Davante Adams (17) walk on the field after the Jets win over the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) and wide receiver Davante Adams (17) walk on the field after the Jets win over the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images / Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
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The New York Jets are cutting their losses from the Aaron Rodgers era, allowing wide receiver Allen Lazard to seek trade partners, according to ESPN's Rich Cimini.

On top of that, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Davante Adams was released on Tuesday, saving $29.9 million towards the salary cap.

However, given the size of Lazard's contract, it's much more likely that he'll be released, according to Cimini. Lazard's deal pays him $11 million next season.

The moves are the latest in a long line of signs that the Jets have utterly wasted the last two seasons of football on trying to bend to the whims of Aaron Rodgers.

RELATED: Breaking up with Sam Darnold is the right move for the Vikings

When the Jets traded Rodgers two years ago, they immediately started re-crafting the franchise in the veteran quarterback's image. They signed Lazard, brought in Nathaniel Hackett as the team's offensive coordinator, traded Elijah Moore to the Cleveland Browns, and, eventually traded for Adams, giving up a conditional third-round pick to get him.

They derailed their entire rebuilding plan in an effort to keep Rodgers happy and surrounded by familiar faces, and all they got out of it was 17 starts and five wins.

Looking at New York's roster today compared to two years ago, there's little doubt that they are worse off than they were before. They still desperately need a quarterback, but have a thinner wide receiver corps, a shakier offensive line, and a defense that looked awfully shaky against the run last season.

They weren't even bad enough last season to land a high enough draft pick to get Cam Ward, and likely won't be in a position to take Shedeur Sanders, either, even with reports that many teams don't view him as a first-round quarterback prospect.

The NFL remains one of the most punishing leagues in sports in terms of missing windows and wasting time. Squandering two years of building and accomplishing nothing in that span is a great way to continue to atrophy for far longer. And make no mistake: the Jets accomplished virtually nothing in the Rodgers era.

Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson are virtually the same players now that they were two years ago; we've seen no statistical growth from Wilson, while Hall's stats stagnated in two seasons with Rodgers under center, and actually got worse this year than they were last. Your talented defenders like Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams, and Will McDonald are all closer to free agency (and Williams appears every bit as disgruntled now as he was two years ago).

There's been no real growth anywhere on this roster; you've done everything you can to appease a quarterback who's gone now, and have nothing to show for it.

The path forward in New York is murky and uncertain, and given how the last decade-plus has gone for the Jets, there's no indication that they're going to handle that uncertainty in a way that will show tangible improvement.

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