The New York Jets have received news they were hoping to avoid. Tom Pelissero reported on Tuesday morning that quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a complete tear of his left Achilles tendon. He can recover from the injury, but his 2023 season is done and he will spend the rest of the year on injured reserve.
The Jets acquired Rodgers via trade with the Green Bay Packers in late April. With the trade, they inherited a contract that included $59.465 million guaranteed in salary and bonus for the 2023 season. The deal included a $58.3 million bonus due no later than Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Rodgers worked with the Jets to restructure his contract, per Over The Cap.
Aaron Rodgers agreed to a revised contract with the Jets that is worth $112.5 million for three years. $75 million of the contract is fully guaranteed. Rodgers has a $35 million bonus paid in 2023 and his 2023 and 2024 base salaries are fully guaranteed. In 2024 there is also a guaranteed option bonus worth $35 million. In 2025 there is another $35 million option bonus that can be exercised. The final years of the contract are effectively void years for salary cap purposes.
Rodgers is due $1,838,888 in base salary for the 2023 season and $3,161,112 in base salary for the 2024 season. With the guaranteed $35 million option bonus, that effectively leaves him under contract with the Jets for 2024 unless there was some kind of restructuring. They could release him as a post-June 1 cut, to avoid a big 2024 hit, but they’d have to carry $49 million in dead money on their 2025 salary cap. If they did that, they would still carry $17.1 million in dead money in 2024.
The Jets had roughly $9.8 million in cap space prior to the injury. They’re currently projected to have $23.2 million in cap space in 2024.