Football
Related: About this forumA hypothetical.
Let's suppose you're an NFL General Manager, and it's the off season after Super Bowl XIL (that's the next one). Your team needs a quarterback, kind of badly. You'd like to draft one, but this isn't a good year for QBs in the draft. The best thing you can do pick one, hope for the best, and get one through free agency while your draftee learns.
You have to choose between one of these two (admittedly awful) options:
Aaron Rodgers
Daniel Jones
Which one do you take, and why?
Angleae
(4,642 posts)He's younger, cheaper, might be salvageable, while Rogers is a washed-up, egomaniac, headcase that would cost way too much.
RockRaven
(16,307 posts)As you point out, both options are terrible.
But Jones will be a good teammate overall and to the rookie QB in particular, and accept coaching even if he isn't capable of executing it properly. The only disruption he will cause is contribute to losing by sucking, unlike Rodgers who does that and more/worse. Also Jones might still stick in the league as a backup even after a bad year with your team (whereas after another bad year with a different bad team absolutely nobody will sign Rodgers even as a water boy) -- which means the following year you might get a lowish round comp pick for Jones leaving for elsewhere.
multigraincracker
(34,105 posts)True Dough
(20,364 posts)This is probably the wisest answer rather than watch your career go up in flames.
True Dough
(20,364 posts)It's akin to: You must shoot yourself in the foot. What caliber weapon do you chose?
I'll agree with the DUers above who side with Jones due to him being more manageable. Rodgers saddles you with all kinds of headaches due to his wanting control. Plus, he really seems to have hit the wall, whereas Jones might be able to recover in a new system.
Out of curiosity, I took a look at the free-agent QBs for 2025. Justin Fields and Sam Darnold will be available. So allow me to flip the question back to you, OP. Would you take either of them over Rodgers and Jones?
Being a Bears fan, I know Justin Fields well. I think the Bears set him up to fail, but I notice that he was no success in Pittsburgh. Still, I'd take him over Jones. Fields is an outstanding athlete with a good arm, even if he doesn't seem to know how to use it wisely. And Sam Darnold has proven he can play the position with a good coach and good receivers, so I'd take him over Fields. And I would take pretty much anyone over Aaron Rodgers, who's a bona fide jerk past his prime.
So, Darnold > Fields > Jones > Rodgers.
True Dough
(20,364 posts)that Rodgers is bottom of the barrel for everyone who has answered so far.
lastlib
(24,935 posts)But that's me.
underpants
(186,745 posts)Good luck trying to just keep or get quality at other positions.
True Dough
(20,364 posts)$17.1 million is what he's costing the Jets this year.