Fox NFL color analyst Jonathan Vilma understands as well as anyone what it takes to perform at the highest level in the NFL. And unfortunately, Vilma seems to believe that it would be best for the legacy of New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers to call it a career before his skills diminish even further.
Vilma, who is of course best known to football fans for his ten-year NFL career where he made it to three Pro Bowls, has worked in sports media since 2015, starting out as a college football studio analyst at NBC before moving to ESPN in 2016.
In 2019, Vilma made the move to Fox as a color analyst for their NFL coverage, a role that he now holds alongside Kenny Albert each and every Sunday.
As a fellow NFL player, Vilma understands why Aaron Rodgers would want to give everything he has left in the tank into his NFL career by sticking around for the 2025-26 NFL season.
However, as an analyst, Vilma detailed in a recent interview with Kyle Odegard of SportsLens why he believes Rodgers should retire in order to maintain the memory many fans hold of him being one of the best quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL.
“The fan in me says yes, he should retire because I want to remember Aaron Rodgers when I went against him as one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game,” said Vilma. “I just remember staying up late at night, shaking my head because you can’t stop him. You can slow him down. You can hope he would have an off day. But you couldn’t stop him. And it was the most frustrating thing because playing against guys like him, Tom Brady in his prime, Drew Brees when I practiced against him, it’s so frustrating because you are literally trying your best and it’s still not good enough and you have to hope that his best is not there that day in order to win.
“So that’s how I want to remember him. I don’t want to remember him as this guy who doesn’t look like himself. Everyone’s saying he doesn’t look like himself. I don’t know what the issues are, but as a fan, I always want to remember the greatness of that guy, of that player. As an athlete being in his shoes, I’ve had friends, myself where there’s part of me that said – I had my daughter at the time, she was young, it’s time to move on and get off the train, think about family life, hanging out with my daughter, enjoying it, had a great career.
“I don’t think he has any kids, so there may not be anything as motivating for him to say, ‘You know what? Let’s take this other path in life. Get off the train and go from there.’ So now you say, well, why wouldn’t he go until he can’t go anymore, until someone doesn’t pay him, right? Why wouldn’t he do it? Again, his 80 percent is still better than some others’ 100%. You kind of look at it from that angle and say, ‘Okay, I could see why Aaron Rodgers wants to keep playing.’ As a fan, I don’t want to see it, but as an athlete, if you can keep going and you have nothing else that’s bigger than football that’s really pulling you, then have at it.”
As Vilma alluded to, the current iteration of Rodgers is still playing at a level that is likely capable of maintaining a starting spot on an NFL team next season should he opt to continue playing.
But the days of Rodgers competing at the MVP level he once played at appear to be over. So it really depends on whether Rodgers is comfortable with his abilities as an average to below-average starting quarterback moving forward, or is ready to accept the fact that his best days are likely never coming back.
