The Las Vegas Raiders have sent Geno Smith back to the New York Jets in a trade.

The Jets sent their sixth-round pick to the Raiders. The Raiders will absorb most of Smith’s salary.

Smith was drafted by the Jets in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Starting quarterback Mark Sanchez tore his labrum in the preseason, leading to Smith being named the starter. Smith had an up-and-down rookie season. He threw 21 interceptions, but led the league with five game-winning drives. 

The Jets believed in Smith’s potential heading into the 2014 season. He cut his interceptions down to 13, but saw a decline in most other aspects of the game. 

Ryan Fitzpatrick was signed by the Jets in the 2015 offseason. He was the Jets’ starting QB for the next two seasons. Smith played in just three games. After his rookie deal expired in the 2017 offseason, he signed with the New York Giants. 

After the Seattle Seahawks traded Russell Wilson in the 2022 offseason, Smith was given a chance to start. He threw 30 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, which got him his first Pro Bowl appearance.

After three strong seasons with the Seahawks, the Raiders traded for him in the 2025 offseason. He led the league in interceptions last season with 17.

Frank Reich was named the Jets’ offensive coordinator this offseason. Reich runs a West Coast-style offense that emphasizes speed. 

This is different from the offensive system he was in when he shone with the Seahawks. Seahawks’ offensive coordinator Shane Waldron prefers outside runs and pre-snap movement rather than speed. 

Smith has had on-and-off problems with interceptions throughout his career. A fast-paced system could possibly make these issues worse.

Smith will compete with Justin Fields for the starting QB job during training camp. 

The bond hearing for former New York Jets linebacker Darron Lee revealed some new information. 

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Detective Brian Lockhart told the court he saw blood on the handrails, walls, floors and hallways. He revealed this to the court during Lee’s bond hearing. Lee was denied bond. 

Lee was arrested on Feb. 5 for allegedly murdering his girlfriend, Gabriella Carvalho Perpetuo, and tampering with evidence. Police immediately arrested him upon arriving on the scene. 

It was not revealed how long Lee and Perpetuo had been dating. However, it was stated that the two had moved in together into their Tennessee home just 10 days before the alleged murder. 

In 2025, Lee pleaded guilty to attempted assault of a different person. Court records also indicate a history of alleged abuse before the alleged murder.

Lee was a first-round pick by the Jets in the 2016 NFL Draft. He played in 40 games in his first three seasons, including starting in three of them. He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2019 offseason. He was not a starter but still found his way into all 16 regular-season games. The Chiefs went on to win the Super Bowl. He played his final NFL season in 2020 with the Buffalo Bills. 

Lee is currently being held in the Hamilton County Jail in Tennessee. He will report back to court on March 9 for a preliminary hearing.

The prosecution is considering the death penalty for this case. There are currently about 42 people on death row in Tennessee. The state plans to continue executions this year after a brief pause. There are four executions scheduled for 2026. 

Aaron Rodgers didn’t mince words when he recently appeared on the Pat McAfee Show.

“I’ve flown across the country, and 20 seconds in, I’m talking to the GM, and [New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn] leans to the edge of his seat and says: ‘You’re sure you want to play football?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’ And he said, ‘We’re going in another direction at quarterback.’”

Rodgers, who’s been a primary subject of offseason speculation since his announced release by the Jets in February, said he was “kind of shocked” by the firing. He had assumed, despite a hugely disappointing two years in New York, that Glenn had asked to meet with him to discuss directions for the team going forward. Again, he repeated, he “flew across the country on [his] own dime.”

Rodgers went on to detail his hostile conversation with Glenn following the announcement, deriding the Jets’ leadership and Glenn’s character. He discussed the possibility of signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers – he’s spoken to head coach Mike Tomlin “many times” – and called New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll a “beautiful football mind.” Rodgers, 41, said that he was willing to play for $10 million, less than any other quarterback except those on rookie contracts.

But the headline, really, is how Rodgers has decided to handle the end of his tenure with the Jets.

Rodgers’ arrival to the Jets two offseasons ago conjured hope in the hearts of a fanbase that’s still nursing the longest ongoing playoff drought in North American professional sports. He promised a revamp, surrounding himself with coaches and players that he had liked in the past, including Dalvin Cook and Allen Lazard.

The Jets went 7-10 in 2023, a season in which Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury in the first game. With his return in 2024, a team that many had projected to win the AFC East limped to a 5-12 finish.

And Rodgers hasn’t just failed to deliver on the field. He’s made headlines for other reasons, whether that’s parroting conspiracy theories or hinting that he would be back from his ACL tear by the end of the 2023 season (he wasn’t).

It’s not hard to see why Rodgers may not fit into the culture the Jets hope to build – and Rodgers’ segment on the Pat McAfee Show doesn’t do much to disprove that.

New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, wide receiver Garrett Wilson and defensive end Jermaine Johnson, who were the Jets’ first-round picks in 2022, will have their fifth-year options exercised, according to general manager Darren Mougey.

“Yeah, we have time to make that decision, but I do anticipate exercising those fifth-year options on those players,” Mougey said in a press conference along with Jets first-year head coach Aaron Glenn.

Gardner and Wilson have been arguably the two most productive players for the Jets over the past three seasons. Gardner is a two-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro selection. Wilson has gone for over 1,000 yards in three straight seasons. The questions lie with Johnson, who, despite being a Pro Bowler in 2023, is coming off a torn Achilles tendon.

The options for Gardner, Wilson and Johnson are $20.2 million, $16.8 million and $13.4 million, respectively, according to Over the Cap. These salaries are fully guaranteed.

Fifth-year options can often lead to contract extensions, however, Mougey didn’t comment on a possible extension to any of the former first-round picks. He did say that Gardner and Wilson are eligible for long-term extensions.

“I’m going to get through the draft, but in terms of contracts and extensions on any players, I’ll always keep that in-house, and we’ll keep those dealings in those discussions in-house,” Mougey said.

Any extension would likely be lucrative.

Following a rough 5-12 season and harsh criticism, Jets owner Woody Johnson promises to turn things around in 2025.

“Absolutely, I have to look in the mirror, and I have to be a better owner,” Jonson said following the introductions of head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey. “And I’m trying to be better.”

Johnson took a more active role last season, making an in-season coaching change for the first time in his 25 years as owner, firing Robert Saleh in Week 6 after three-plus seasons. Six weeks later, he also parted ways with GM Joe Douglas.

The Jets failed to improve after firing Saleh, finishing just 3-9 under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich.

Johnson, frustrated by the team’s struggles and believing he had built his best roster yet, took part in some personnel moves, leading to tension within the front office and coaching staff.

When questioned about taking a step back in 2025, Johnson brought up a report highlighting internal issues with the organization.

“You don’t believe those reports do you?” he fired back. “It was a lot of exaggeration and hyperbole, it really was. You really have to take all that stuff with a grain of salt because you don’t know how much – nobody knows how involved I was.”

When reflecting on his approach moving forward, Johnson made it clear he’d step back from the day-to-day operations.

“Yes, I want Aaron Glenn to coach the team. I want the general manager to manage the assets and the players, and I’ll take the owner’s position.”

In Johnson’s first 11 seasons as owner, the Jets made the playoffs six times, but they’re now experiencing a 14-year playoff drought, the longest ongoing streak in North American sports.

In discussing how he can be a better owner, Johnson emphasized the hiring of Glenn and Mougey, calling them “the two leaders of this team.”

“That’s part of it,” he added. “The second is just to have – I’ve got to have patience or whatever. I’ve got to let them evolve in these positions, which I think they will. I think it’ll be quick, but I think they’ll evolve.”

The New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 8 while sitting at 2-3, with ugly losses to the 49ers, Broncos and Vikings. Nearly three months later, the Jets have won just two more games under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, landing them at 4-12 with one game remaining in the regular season.

The Jets started the season out with high expectations. Nearly every news outlet took them to improve on their 7-10 record from the previous season, with many picking them to win the AFC East. Starting with signing experienced superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers and extending to fortifying the offensive line, leaning on Breece Hall, and even signing Davante Adams, the Jets made a promise to their fanbase: that they were serious about pursuing a Super Bowl.

Instead, when the team began to underperform its lofty expectations (with a preseason over/under of 10.5 wins), Saleh was the first to go. General manager Joe Douglas soon followed.

In the weeks that followed, it became abundantly clear that this iteration of the Jets never stood a chance. The team most predicted to win the AFC East has gone 1-5 against divisional foes, with another game against the Dolphins on Sunday, and was eliminated from postseason contention for the fourteenth season in a row three weeks ago.

Another shake-up is imminent. Most importantly: a new head coach.

Credible reports have linked the Jets to former Jets coach Rex Ryan and former Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera. The team is reportedly interviewing Rivera on Thursday, while Ryan has said that he expects to interview following the season. Remarkably enough, Ryan remains the most recent head coach to lead the Jets to a playoff berth.

Both men have decades of coaching experience in different organizations, and won the PFWA Assistant Coach of the Year in consecutive years (2005 and 2006). Rivera was also named AP NFL Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2015.

Both, however, were also rather unceremoniously relieved of their most recent coaching duties – Rivera was fired by the Washington Commanders following a 4-13 season in 2024, while Ryan led the Buffalo Bills to 7-8 in 2016 before being dismissed and deriding the team for quitting on him.

The Jets have already looked to winning experience for help. It’s interesting to see them return to that strategy, given it yielded an ailing Rodgers, high expectations, and two seasons of mediocre to downright awful play.

Now, even as they move on, they look to the past again. Given their track record, though, no small dose of luck may be required to make the Jets contenders.

New York Jets wide receiver Davante Adams said Wednesday that he is unsure if he will return to the team in 2025. The Jets acquired Adams in a trade earlier this season with the intention of pairing him with his old quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. The team has gone 1-5 since he stepped on the field.

“That’s a great question, and I truly don’t have an answer to it right now,” Adams said when asked about returning to the Jets next season. “I would love to be a part of this football team. I love these guys. Came in, like I said, Day 1 I was welcomed…. I’d love to go to war with these guys, but it’s a business. There is a lot of pieces contractually and obviously with Aaron’s future and a lot of things that I can’t control, so we’re just going to finish this year off strong and hopefully we do enough to where everybody is feeling like it’s the right thing to do for us to stay here. But after this year, we’ll assess and figure it out.”

Adams implied that his future in New York depends on that of Rodgers, his longtime quarterback in Green Bay. The wide receiver embraced the Jets as an opportunity to reunite with Rodgers, but with the 41-year-old passer seemingly on his way out, it is likely that Adams would depart in free agency as well. 

The Jets traded for Adams at a low point in a lowly 2024 season, shortly after the team fired head coach Robert Saleh. Since then, New York has only regressed, losing close games to inferior rivals, suffering horrendous miscues on offense, and generally failing to capitalize on a loaded roster of young talent. The team is 3-9 and will soon be eliminated from playoff contention.

None of this is necessarily Adams’ fault, who has performed solidly while often being the victim of Rodgers’ poor play, alongside fellow star receiver Garrett Wilson. But when the Jets made the trade, many speculated that it did absolutely nothing to fix the Jets’ issues. That assessment has been validated over the last six weeks.

At 31, Adams could still have something to offer teams in free agency and will likely attract several potential buyers. His days of securing a massive long-term deal are likely over, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to land with a playoff-caliber team and positively contribute. Unless Rodgers returns, the Jets, who will likely be in search of a clean slate, would be unlikely to retain Adams’ services.

In the span of a week, Aaron Rodgers’ fate in New York has gone from uncertain to sealed. With Joe Douglas out as the team’s general manager, it is almost certain that owner Woody Johnson will look to rebuild with entirely new leadership, including the man under center.

A rumor this week suggests that Johnson called for Rodgers to be benched as early as Week 4, when the team was 2-2 and still had a fighting chance at a playoff spot. Since then, the team has fired head coach Robert Saleh, traded for Davante Adams and ended Hasson Reddick’s holdout. None of it accomplished anything, as the team is now 3-8 and well out of the playoff hunt.

In an attempt to build a winning system around Rodgers, an attempt that has become increasingly desperate and flailing over time, the Jets revealed that Rodgers himself was the common denominator in the team’s misery. No acquisition or termination would have helped matters. The future Hall-of-Famer has simply not performed as advertised, failing one of the youngest and most talented teams in the league. 

Without a new general manager named, it’s very difficult to nail down what the Jets’ 2025 rebuild will look like. The team may not have a chance at a first-round quarterback, which could allow a journeyman like Tyrod Taylor to step in and help the team gather and limp through another season. Taylor is Rodgers’ backup, and was rumored to be Johnson’s preferred choice early this season.

Entering a Week 12 bye, Rodgers said that it would be a good chance to “clear our heads.” Douglas’ termination is sure to keep the team on edge, however, putting the vast majority of players in an uncertain position. No one responsible for acquiring any player on the current roster is still with the team. Changes under a new regime may be dramatic and unforgiving in some areas. It will likely start at quarterback.

Reporters asked quarterback Aaron Rodgers if he intended to return to the New York Jets for the 2025 season this week.

“I think so, yeah,” Rodgers said.

Most Jets fans have been ensnared in a thousand-yard stare for weeks and presumably didn’t react to the news.

To say that the Jets’ 2024 season has not gone to plan would be like saying that the Titanic came up a little short. With an army of young talent on both sides of the ball and a four-time MVP under center, New York is 2-8 and eliminated from playoff contention. Head coach Robert Saleh was fired and scapegoated for the team’s struggles, but the team hasn’t improved since his departure. It has been an unmitigated disaster.

Rodgers announcing a vague, non-committal intent to return certainly doesn’t feel like good news. It’s not just his poor performance this season, which has been a consistent issue. In 2023, the Jets’ front office made every accommodation to secure Rodgers, signing many former teammates and even notoriously shaky offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. 

It all turned out to be dead weight—even newly acquired star Davante Adams has been underwhelming—but Rodgers was supposed to be the foundation and carry it. It simply hasn’t worked out, and it will take an entire offseason to untangle the mess of young stars and washed-up former Packers and get back to square one. That offseason will apparently be delayed now, as Rodgers claims not to be done yet.

On the other hand, what’s the rush? The Jets haven’t done anything previously to prove that they can move on from Rodgers. The problem isn’t that the team can’t pick quarterback prospects. Geno Smith and Sam Darnold both turned out to be highly capable NFL quarterbacks. The problem is that they only realized their potential after leaving New York and developing in more competent hands. At this point, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before Zach Wilson finds a forever home and makes a playoff appearance or two while the Jets wallow in the AFC East.

Worse than Rodgers, the failure of the month for a team in perpetual meltdown, the Jets have issues on a systemic, organizational level. They have made it an insidious habit to waste young talent, blame the wrong people and invest in misguided solutions.

So when Rodgers took the stand Wednesday and announced that he might chill in East Rutherford for another season, it was difficult to get too broken up about it. Sure, things are bad now, terrible even. But the only difference between this season and every Jets season of the last decade is that there was hope for improvement. 2025 feels like more of the same either way.

The Tennessee Titans released safety Jamal Adams this week, at the defender’s request. Adams joined the Titans to reunite with defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, but he only appeared in three games in a limited capacity.

Wilson, who worked with Adams as an assistant for the New York Jets, was courteous in his comments toward the safety after his release.

“At this point, wish Jamal all the best going forward, it just didn’t work out here,” Wilson told reporters. “He’ll have great success wherever he goes.”

When Adams was preparing for his first appearance with the Titans after overcoming numerous injuries in past seasons, he claimed to be eager to contribute to an improving defense. After just one start and three total appearances in six weeks, however, it became clear that he would not contribute nearly as much as he intended. This is reportedly what motivated him to request his release.

At age 29 and with an extensive injury history, Adams is not the player that made three straight Pro Bowl appearances for the Jets and Seahawks between 2018 and 2020. Still, he had enough to offer for the Titans to give him a chance in July, and he will likely earn more opportunities in the future.

Several early playoff contenders, like the Commanders and Buccaneers, have managed to compete well this season despite obvious weaknesses on defense. Adams could be a worthwhile addition for both teams. It’s also possible that the safety’s former teams come calling, as both the Seahawks and Jets are dealing with injures in their secondaries.

The exact details of Adams’ tenure with Tennessee, which included a trip to the reserve list, will likely be a red flag for some teams. The stint could have gone sour for personal reasons or regression on the field. Adams’ past success will earn him another chance, but his time with the Titans was a misstep for both parties.

After three games, the New York Jets are 2-1 and in a comfortable position in the AFC East division. Aaron Rodgers has remained healthy and delivered one of the best performances of Week 3 in a commanding win over the Patriots. So far, so good.

For most Jets fans, the report on the team’s season to this point is that there hasn’t been a disaster — yet. Heading into the season, the Jets received national attention as fans and insiders waited to see if Rodgers could effectively lead an alleged Super Bowl contender at age 39. The answer appears to be yes, and for the first time in more than a decade, the Jets seem to be in a good place.

Stressful, isn’t it? For fans who are accustomed to chaotic, hopeless quarterback shuffling, crushing injuries, anemic offenses and plain bad luck, prosperity might feel strange. It may feel instinctual for some to hold their ear to the ground and listen for the other shoe. But in a team interview earlier this week, Rodgers said that this mentality has to go.

“I think, you know, it’s easier when you’re kind of getting kicked in the teeth to kind of come together, ‘it’s us against the world, it’s us against the big bad media whose saying how bad we are,’ you know?” Rodgers said. “We can kind of come together, but can you still come together and have the same approach when everybody’s kind of starting to sing your praises a little bit. I think that’s the mark of a great team, just can you handle the success part, with the same focus, the same mentality, the same mindset, the same energy, when you’re starting to get on a little bit of a roll.”

Handling the success, as Rodgers put it, is something that hasn’t come easy for New York teams in this century. The Yankees have been spectacular underachievers since 2009 while the Mets’ innovations in the realm of misery are practically patented. The Knicks and Nets have alternated between nearly there and not even close for 30 years. The Rangers and Islanders never put the pieces together. The Giants stole two Super Bowls, but never did so with the expectation of success behind them. Eli Manning had to prove people wrong; Tom Brady was the one who had to prove them right.

This is the big-market tradition staring Rodgers in the face after a career spent almost exclusively in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In the bright lights, it seems harder to grow comfortable with success. People are more skeptical of greatness and find a perverted sense of justification in failure. The Jets experienced it just last season. Of course Rodgers went down on the first drive of the season, Jets fans said. It’s the Jets, they said.

Separating facts from fears, however, the team’s roster is impeccable. Even after suffering some injuries on defense, star cornerback Sauce Gardner still leads a group of 11 starters that could all make Pro Bowl cases this season.

Rodgers is far from alone on offense. Breece Hall might be the best running back in the league, while 20-year-old Braelon Allen is lighting it up alongside him. Garrett Wilson is the only first-round draft pick to catch a touchdown from Rodgers in the quarterback’s entire career. Allen Lazard and Mike Williams are making themselves known too. In short, the team is clicking.

With a 2-1 record and minimal drama going into Week 4, Rodgers is observing a calm that he likely hasn’t experienced since signing with New York last year. Many questions have been answered and seem to favor the Jets. The young team has to adjust to a new identity now. The veteran will have to be the one that helps them realize it.

As New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers prepares to return to the football field after suffering a season-ending Achilles injury on the fourth snap of the year in 2023, he sat down with NFL Network’s Albert Breer to discuss his emotions on the sideline and his expectations for 2024.

“The low point was not just sitting in the training room at MetLife, after it happened. It was flying home [to California] and then really the first 13 days not being mobile. It was hard. I had surgery out there with Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache. Having people take care of me, and I can’t really move, it’s a whole ordeal to just go to the bathroom and sleep. You’re in pain. I’m not a big pain med guy. There were definitely some low points.”

“Then watching the team struggle was hard, knowing what we built through the offseason and training camp, when people got to see the energy and the enthusiasm through Hard Knocks. There was a lot of excitement around our squad. There were definitely some low moments there.”

The Jets did not reach the playoffs last season and finished 7-10, cycling through multiple quarterbacks as a talented roster floundered. But the team expects to make a deep postseason run this time around, even with a 40-year-old quarterback coming off a serious injury.

“When we signed Tyron [Smith], Morgan [Moses] and John [Simpson], and then we added Mike Williams, that’s when the excitement started to pick up. We added four guys that have played a lot of football. It brings some veteran leadership to the locker room. It’s going to be a different feel. You just kind of knew it in OTAs, that we were a little bit different. That coincided with the amping up on the pressure to win now for all of us, Robert [Saleh] and [GM] Joe [Douglas], too.”

Hard Rock Bet set the Jets’ odds to make the playoffs this season at -175 and their over/under win total at 9.5.

The Jets hoped to take a step forward after they acquired Aaron Rodgers and his long-time teammate Randall Cobb last offseason. However, the bridge collapsed when Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury four snaps into the season. New York started 4-3 but lost seven out of the remaining ten games to finish 7-10.

General Manager Joe Douglas made splashes when he signed star offensive tackle Tyron Smith and wide receiver Mike Williams. John Simpson and Morgan Moses were acquired to complete an offensive line revamp.

Safety Chuck Clark joined the Jets on a one-year contract to serve as a “bridge player” at the position. These moves signal that the Jets are in “win-now” mode as the players acquired are seasoned veterans at their respective positions looking to boost New York’s playoff odds.

In the draft, the Jets traded the 10th pick to the Minnesota Vikings to move down to 11 and select Nittany Lion Olu Fashanu.

Minnesota used the 10th pick to select National Champion winner JJ McCarthy. New York took WKU wideout Malachi Corley in round three to strengthen depth at receiver. Braelon Allen and Jordan Travis were taken for the same reason as Corley, to provide depth.

The Jets meet the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara for week one, Rodger’s childhood team. In week five, the Minnesota Vikings await the Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Rodgers is no stranger to Minnesota as he faced them 29 times during his tenure in Green Bay, owning a 17-11-1 record against them. Other important games include a Sunday night match against the Steelers, a Halloween night game with the Texans, and annual meetings with the Bills and Dolphins.

This season is a make-or-break year for the Jets, as the roster consists of veterans nearing the end of their careers. It also comes down to whether Rodgers stays healthy and plays at a reasonable level since the Jets can’t afford to have a flop at the QB spot, and the defense can’t be on the field most of the time during games.

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