The New York Jets may have been legitimate Super Bowl contenders with Aaron Rodgers.
Without him, they are longshots.
The Jets’ Super Bowl odds unsurprisingly took a nosedive on Tuesday morning, the day after their star quarterback suffered a season-ending torn Achilles against the Buffalo Bills.
Rodgers was seen as the missing piece for an ascending team with a great defense and impressive skill players, but he didn’t even complete a pass before going down early in the contest.
The Jets now have +6600 odds to win the championship, according to BetMGM on September 12th. They opened the season at +2500, and would have climbed higher following the overtime win over the Bills.
However, Zach Wilson is now expected to take over as the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, and he has been a massive disappointment since entering the NFL in 2020.
The Jets still have a great defense, but the team went only 7-10 last year and finished 29th in points scored with Wilson at the helm.
The quarterback issues cap the ceiling, which is why the Jets now sit near teams like the Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots in terms of Super Bowl odds.
Before the season, the Jets were grouped with other potential contenders like Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins.
The Jets are listed as 9.5-point road underdogs against the Dallas Cowboys for Week 2, a game that was expected to be much more competitive with Rodgers in the fold.
There was hesitancy to put New York in the top tier of Super Bowl candidates since Rodgers was switching teams, but if he found success with the offense there was major upside waiting for the group.
There has been a lot of conjecture about what the Jets will do at quarterback, and if they can pull off a trade for someone like Matthew Stafford or Ryan Tannehill, these Super Bowl odds could improve once again.
But for now, the injury to Rodgers was a crippling blow, as their Super Bowl odds went to the turf alongside Rodgers on Monday.
