In his first game for the Jets, quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon. According to a report, the team waived insurance for the 39-year-old before the season.

To protect themselves from potential losses, some NFL teams purchase insurance for their highest-paid players. In the event of a prolonged absence due to injury, this provides at least partial salary reimbursement.

As Sportico reports, the New York Jets reportedly turned down several offers for such insurance for their new quarterback superstar Aaron Rodgers before the season.

The Jets equipped him with a three-year contract worth 112.5 million US dollars in the spring. Rodgers will receive a guaranteed salary of around 37 million dollars this year – according to the report, the Jets would have been reimbursed around 20 million dollars by the insurance company after the playmaker’s serious injury.

The insurance plans offered would have cost between one million and four million US dollars, according to the report.

This type of insurance, called “total temporary disability policy” or “TTD”, is mandatory in the NBA and NHL for the best-paid work papers, while NFL teams are free to do so.

Jets waive insurance

The handling of TTD insurance apparently varies from franchise to franchise. According to “Sportico”, about two thirds of the teams take out at least one such insurance policy per year. Some teams, such as the Philadelphia Eagles, probably even insure more than a dozen players with TTD coverage.

The New York Jets are not one of them: The franchise arguably hasn’t carried TTD insurance for more than a decade under owner Woody Johnson, who took over the team in 2000.

For Johnson, who according to “Bloomberg” has a fortune of 7.3 billion dollars, the minus amount of 20 million dollars should, however, be quite bearable.