Though March Madness is about to kick into high gear, the biggest sports headline of the week was Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers announcing that he wants to play for the New York Jets. He is still under contract with the Packers, so the Jets and Packers need to work out a trade, but at this point, it seems like a foregone conclusion that he will be swapping bay green for hunter green. But will this make a difference for the Jets’ title chances? Let’s see what the odds makers think.
After the conclusion of Super Bowl LVII a month ago, the Jets opened at +2500 to win next year’s Super Bowl, according to odds posted by FanDuel. This put them well behind favorites Kansas City (+600), Buffalo (+850), Philadelphia (+900), Cincinnati (+900), and San Francisco (+900).
FanDuel has bumped the Jets up to +1500
But now that it looks like the future first-ballot Hall of Famer will be a Jet, FanDuel has bumped the Jets up to +1500 (some other books have them at +1400, but we’ll try to stay consistent). Still not among those five leaders, but definitely next in line.
Interestingly, Rodgers’ announcement of his intentions on “The Pat McAfee Show” did not actually move the needle much, if at all. On Wednesday, before the show, the Jets were anywhere from +1400 to +1800 to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, which means that a trade for Rodgers was already baked into the odds. Jets brass had already met with him, so it was assumed that an eventual trade was inevitable.
With Rodgers, even nearing the end of his career, a stout defense, and both the reigning AP offensive and defensive rookies of the year, the Jets look primed to at the very least make their first playoff appearance since 2010.