Mike Sielski: Aaron Rodgers, the anti-Jalen Hurts, to the Giants? The Eagles should be so lucky.

Mike Sielski, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 9, 2025

Published in Football

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PHILADELPHIA — The true value of the NFL scouting combine, which wrapped up last week, is not in the world of 40-yard dash times and hand widths. The combine also serves, of course, as an annual convention of the league’s executives, coaches, and cognoscenti.

Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni, and their fellow executives and coaches say some interesting and relevant things in public. Then, over shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo’s or old-fashioneds at a few downtown Indianapolis watering holes, gossip and newsy tidbits are traded, backs are scratched, and rumors and reports materialize out of the ether. And it was within this world that this year’s combine was a source of immense amusement — and of an important insight into the quarterback position, vis a vis the Eagles and Jalen Hurts — thanks to one revelation:

The New York Giants are reportedly interested in signing Aaron Rodgers.

There are two ways in which this idea reflects poorly on the Giants, and considering the lengths to which they have gone to embarrass themselves in recent years, two ain’t bad for them. At least the second is instructive, but let’s consider the first one, first.

One, whatever QB-developing muscles existed within the Giants’ organization must have atrophied over Eli Manning’s 16 years there. He hasn’t taken a snap for them since December 2019, and they still haven’t found a proper successor. Daniel Jones, Tommy DeVito, Tyrod Taylor, Davis Webb, Drew Lock: Even the Giants’ backups have barely been backups, and there’s no more damning indictment of the franchise than its inability to fill the most important spot-on an NFL roster with a competent player.

Two, that the Giants would consider acquiring Rodgers is reason to wonder whether their entire front-office staff should be fired. (And Giants general manager Joe Schoen, as the guy who let Saquon Barkley walk away before building a 3-14 team, is already treading on unsteady ground.) No NFL player has been the source of more off-field controversy and “distraction” in recent years than Rodgers. No NFL player has done more to suggest that he’s less interested in contributing to his team’s success than he is in satisfying his own ego.

Even if the Giants just want a veteran to act as a bridge to any prospective franchise QB they might draft next month, Rodgers is the last kind of quarterback they — or any team that, like them, has to rebuild — should bring in as a starter. But he’s a future Hall of Famer with a big name and gaudy stats, and the Giants are desperate, so they’ll think about it.

Which brings us to the Eagles and Hurts. As terrific as Hurts’ performances in the Super Bowl and NFC championship game were, he has enhanced his reputation most over the last month through the anecdotes about and evidence of his leadership, his demeanor, and his interactions and relationships with his teammates. Hurts needed to improve in those areas ahead of the 2024 season, to make himself more approachable and accessible, and they might now be the strongest aspects of his game.

Those qualities matter in a quarterback. They matter a lot, and they’re a great equalizer for Hurts when comparing him with his peers and counterparts around the league.

Rodgers is the quintessential example of a QB who dazzles coaches, executives, and fans with his physical and intellectual traits — and often for good reason. When he was in his prime, he could do everything any other quarterback could do and several things no other quarterback could. And now that coaching footage is available for everyone to review and so many NFL aficionados fancy themselves as savants who can evaluate players just by breaking down film and grinding tape, it’s easy to fall into the trap of judging a quarterback solely by what can be seen. Or by what a talent evaluator might want to see.

In his final few years with the Packers and his brief time with the Jets, Rodgers became a corrosive presence for his off-the-field nuttiness and attention seeking.

A culture thermostat within the locker room? He was hardly setting a serious tone during those weekly chats with Pat McAfee. A model for younger teammates? Sorry, he was skipping a mandatory minicamp to take a trip to Egypt. Once he entered the twilight of his career and his skills started to erode, he didn’t have much positive left to offer.

What Hurts seems to understand, and what Rodgers and the Giants seem to have forgotten, is that there’s more to being a franchise quarterback, or even a stopgap for a floundering team, than just throwing pretty passes. If Captain Conspiracy ends up in East Rutherford, N.J., the Eagles will have a blast sitting back and watching their bumbling rivals relearn that lesson.

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