If Sunday stands as Aaron Rodgers' final game with the New York Jets, he left a little history behind.
Rodgers connected with tight end Tyler Conklin in the second quarter of Sunday's 32-20 win over the Miami Dolphins for his 500th career touchdown pass, becoming just the fifth player in NFL history to hit the milestone.
The 5-yard TD toss put the Jets up, 7-6, their first lead of the day, but Rodgers didn't stop there. He finished with four touchdowns to bring his career total to 503 and his season total to 28.
"Yeah, it was good, that was good," Rodgers said of the scoring pass to Conklin, via The Associated Press. "It was kind of like old-school red-zone touchdown like we did for so long in Green Bay where a play breaks down, move up in the pocket, guys keep working."
Playing in his 248th career game, Rodgers got to 500 faster than anyone but Peyton Manning (244 games).
Sitting in fifth place all-time in career TD tosses, Rodgers is now in the 500 club with all-time leader Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571), Manning (539) and his former teammate Brett Favre (508). Favre and Manning are already enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and will surely be joined there by Brees, Brady and Rodgers eventually.
His first TD pass of the day was also the 25th of the season for Rodgers, tying him with Brees at 14 seasons with 25 or more TD passes, which is third all-time.
For now, the 41-year-old Rodgers has lent a snapshot of greatness in an otherwise forgettable campaign with the Jets, who fell far short of grand expectations prior to the season.
Following a disappointing 2024 campaign, what the future holds for Rodgers is very much uncertain. Whether he plays at all remains undetermined. Whether he plays for the Jets again seems unlikely, though he's open to mentoring a young QB of the future for Gang Green. However, on Sunday he delivered a statistical prompt of just how stellar his career has been.
"One of the greatest that has ever played this game," Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. "He put that on full display again."