Could Jets hire of OC Nathaniel Hackett help them land Aaron Rodgers?

The New York Jets have hired Nathaniel Hackett as their new offensive coordinator, the team announced Thursday.

Hackett, 43, was fired in his first year as head coach of the Denver Broncos after starting 4-11 this season.

However, Hackett does have an impressive résumé as an NFL coordinator, having fielded a top-10 scoring offense three times and helping guide three teams to conference championship games (2017 Jacksonville Jaguars, 2019 and 2020 Green Bay Packers).

Hackett’s arrival comes at a pivotal time for the Jets as the organization struggled mightily this past season.

The Jets averaged 318.2 total yards per game during the 2022 campaign, which ranked 25th among 32 NFL teams. What’s more, their offense put up just 17.4 points per game, which was the third-worst mark in the league.

The Jets finished 7-10 on the season, last in the AFC East, after a turbulent campaign that featured four different quarterbacks under center — Zach Wilson (nine games), Joe Flacco (five), Mike White (four) and Chris Streveler (two).

As soon as news broke of Hackett’s hiring, football fans couldn’t help but link Hackett to star quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Hackett previously spent time with the Packers from 2019-21 as the team’s offensive coordinator. During his tenure, Green Bay had a top-10 passing offense in 2020 and 2021 and led the NFL in scoring in 2020, averaging 31.8 points per game.

Rodgers, 39, is coming off one of his worst statistical seasons of his career. This past season, the four-time NFL MVP threw for the fewest yards (3,695) in any season in which he played at least 15 games. He also threw 12 interceptions, which was his highest total since his first year as a starter in 2008. Rodgers was dealing with a broken thumb, as well as rib and knee injuries throughout the season.

Rodgers recently said that he hasn’t made any concrete decisions about whether he plans to play in 2023, or beyond.

“There’s been a lot of fun dreaming about retiring as a Packer, because there’s something really special about that,” the 18-year NFL veteran said on “The Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday. “But if the competitive hole still needs to be satiated, and it’s time to move on, I hope everybody would look at that with a lot of gratitude.”

As it currently stands, Green Bay has limited options, even if Rodgers opts to play next year. The Packers can’t release him, as the dead cap hit would be catastrophic — more than $40 million — but they could trade him.

Any trade would most likely come after June 1, and the Jets would be inheriting initial cap hits of roughly $15.8 million in 2023 and $32.5 million in 2024, per The Athletic.

That said, would a Hackett-Rodgers reunion makes sense for the Jets?

Rodgers would be reuniting with Hackett, who was his offensive coordinator for both of his recent MVP seasons (2021-22). What’s more, Jets general manager Joe Douglas has been known to be aggressive and could be willing to pay the hefty trade price for Rodgers amidst the uncertainty in N.Y.’s QB room this offseason.

“I’m open to all honest and direct conversation and if [the Packers] felt like it was in the best interest of the team to move forward, so be it,” Rodgers added.

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