Aaron Rodgers needs a great offensive line to win a Super Bowl with the New York Jets
Now that Aaron Rodgers is a New York Jet (or at least he “intends” to be one), it’s time for Joe Douglas to ramp up his aggressiveness toward building a championship-caliber roster around the four-time MVP.
The Jets, who looked like the quintessential “just a quarterback away” team in 2022, do have a lot of pieces in place around Rodgers that can help him lead the team to a Super Bowl. Their defense is top-notch and the skill-position weaponry has the potential to be stellar when given the opportunity to work alongside a great quarterback.
But what about the offensive line?
It goes without saying that it is imperative for the Jets to provide excellent protection in front of the soon-to-be 40-year-old Rodgers if they want to have a serious chance of competing for a Super Bowl title this season. Everyone knows this.
What makes this point even clearer, however, is the stark difference between Rodgers’ performance when pressured and his performance when throwing from a clean pocket.
Rodgers’ pressured-versus-unpressured splits make it abundantly clear that New York should be pursuing at least one big-time addition on the offensive line, if not two. Hopefully, the Jets’ analytics staff has shown Douglas the staggering numbers below.
Great Point. The O-line has to built around Rodgers in order to get his best. His output should then help the receivers and long drives keep the defense and the opposing teams offence off the field.
The great thing about building a great offensive line is how it makes so many other problems go away or at least lessen them: the QB, the receivers, the running backs all get better with a great O-line, such that you might not even have to replace some players who were struggling with a bad O-line. Even the defense gets better because it is on the field less because a great O-line allows for longer drives. I get annoyed when I see teams getting all entangled with other concerns before they straighten out their O-line. That should always be job one.