Jets should welcome another Aaron Rodgers season

Manzano’s view: Fiction

Now that the Jets’ 2024 season is essentially over, conversations have picked up about whether Rodgers, who turns 41 next month, will retire or return for a third season with the Jets.

Perhaps the Jets shouldn’t give him a choice with Rodgers not being owed guaranteed money for the 2025 season. (The team would need to deal with $49 million in dead money if they were to cut Rodgers, according to OvertheCap.com.) It’s been two disastrous seasons with Rodgers. He has looked his age this year and only played four snaps in 2023 after tearing an Achilles.

Also, committing to Rodgers would require his input for the general manager and head coach vacancies. And the team probably would have to figure out a way to rework Davante Adams’s outdated contract, which could be risky with a soon-to-be 32-year-old wide receiver. The new GM and coach probably want to construct the roster their way without having to add Rodgers’s former teammates in Green Bay.

A third year with Rodgers could stunt the future of the Jets, but maybe there’s a world in which Rodgers doesn’t make roster demands and is content with being a bridge quarterback for a rookie signal-caller. But the Jets might be better off exploring the veteran market to pair with a young quarterback, just don’t expect a reunion with Sam Darnold, the former Jets QB who’s now thriving with the Minnesota Vikings.

It’s tough to see Rodgers taking a backseat and not meddling with the Jets’ personnel decisions if he were to stick around in 2025. It’s time for a change because of what has occurred over the past two seasons.

Someone other than Lamar Jackson will win MVP

Manzano’s view: Fact

Many have argued that Joe Burrow shouldn’t be a candidate for MVP because the Cincinnati Bengals have a 4–7 record. But with that argument, we’re probably two plays away from Lamar Jackson not being an MVP candidate had the Ravens (7–4) lost the two close games against Burrow’s Bengals.

Both Burrow and Jackson deserve MVP consideration, regardless of record. But you can also argue that those quarterbacks have benefited from playing with elite playmakers Ja’Marr Chase and Derrick Henry, respectively. For strange reasons, Chase, the Bengals’ star receiver, and Henry, the Ravens’ workhorse running back, won’t be strongly considered for MVP and will battle for Offensive Player of the Year.

But maybe Barkley has a strong chance of competing for the award that favors quarterbacks because Hurts hasn’t played as well as Burrow and Jackson. Barkley carried the team when the Eagles were without A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and has been the team’s best player throughout the season. You could also argue that Barkley’s signing is why the Eagles quickly returned to being Super Bowl contenders after a meltdown ending to the 2023 season.

Barkley has a strong case, but again, he doesn’t play quarterback. Maybe this is the year Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen breaks through. Allen had a signature moment when his 26-yard rushing touchdown helped the Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Allen can help his case by delivering more MVP moments in upcoming high-profile games against the San Francisco 49ers and Lions.

It will be tough for Allen, Barkley, Burrow, and even Goff, to take the award from Jackson, but he shouldn’t be the strong favorite, not when the Ravens lost to the Las Vegas Raiders and Cleveland Browns. Also, Jackson won his two MVPs when the Ravens had the best record in the AFC. Baltimore might not win the AFC North this season because of the Pittsburgh Steelers (8–2), the team Jackson struggled against last week.

Falcons will hold on to win NFC South

Manzano’s view: Fiction

The Atlanta Falcons have been too inconsistent to expect them to win the NFC South just because the three other teams in the division currently have losing records.

The Falcons gave the other teams hope by ending the New Orleans Saints’ seven-game losing streak in Week 10 and getting crushed by 32 points against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. The Saints (4–7) are now two games behind the Falcons (6–5) for the division lead thanks to a two-game winning streak after firing coach Dennis Allen and replacing him with interim coach Darren Rizzi.

But maybe the favorites in the division should be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4–6), losers of four consecutive games. Many thought their season was over after the Buccaneers lost wide receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans to significant injuries. But the Buccaneers were competitive vs. the Chiefs and 49ers before the bye week. Now, Baker Mayfield’s Bucs get the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and Raiders the next three weeks. Don’t be surprised if Tampa Bay wins its fourth consecutive NFC South crown.

Heck, maybe the Panthers (3–7) have a chance after winning back-to-back games against the Saints and Giants.

The Falcons have two tough games against the Los Angeles Chargers and Vikings after their bye week. Atlanta needs to find consistency with Kirk Cousins and the offense. Also, surprisingly, coach Raheem Morris’s defense has struggled most of the season. The Falcons are allowing an average of 357.1 yards and 24.9 points per game.

The NFC South race is far from over after the Falcons gave the other divisional teams hope for the final two months of the season.

Cowboys will free fall into the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft

Manzano’s view: Fiction

The Cowboys have played so poorly in their past two games that Jerry Jones is now being asked whether coach Mike McCarthy has lost the team.

It does seem that way after blowout losses to the Eagles and Houston Texans, but the Cowboys have been a bad team all season and stand little to no chance of being competitive against playoff teams without Dak Prescott, who sustained a season-ending hamstring injury.

The Cowboys (3–7) are still playing for McCarthy and that effort will probably show in games against the Giants (3–7) and Panthers (3–7) later this year. But winning those games won’t be easy because those two teams don’t seem interested in earning the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft. Giants coach Brian Daboll might be coaching for his job down the stretch, and the Panthers probably wouldn’t mind seeing quarterback Bryce Young produce a few more wins this season to give them hope for the future.

There’s a strong chance the free-falling Cowboys will end up picking first for the upcoming draft, which not many saw coming for a team that won 12 games in each of the past three seasons. But that No. 1 pick probably belongs to one of the two-win teams in the AFC (Raiders, Browns, Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars). I’m willing to bet at least one of those bad AFC teams won’t win a game again this season.