Will Jets bring back Joe Namath’s 12 for Aaron Rodgers?

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on Wednesday that he’s “debatably the best player” in the Green Bay Packers’ history.

Quarterback Joe Namath is debatably the best player in the New York Jets’ history, and it might be less of a debate about Namath than it is about Rodgers.

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With the impending trade of Rodgers from the Packers to the Jets, the two quarterbacks’ histories will overlap, and it raises the question of which number the new New York QB will wear on his jersey.

Throughout his 18 seasons in Green Bay, Rodgers wore No. 12. That’s also the number that Namath wore with the Jets from 1965 through 1976.

No player has worn No. 12 for the Jets since Namath, and the team retired the jersey in 1985, the same year that the former Alabama quarterback entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The AFL Rookie of the Year in 1965 and the AFL Player of the Year in 1968 and 1969, Namath led the Jets to their only championship to cap the 1968 season, when New York upended the Baltimore Colts 16-7 with the quarterback winning the MVP Award for Super Bowl III.

Namath was selected for five AFL All-Star games and NFL Pro Bowls as New York’s quarterback. All the other Jets quarterbacks combined have had five such selections.

During a January radio appearance on “Tiki and Tierney” on WFAN in New York, Namath said if the Jets landed Rodgers, he would be happy for incoming QB to wear No. 12.

“I’m a big Rodgers fan,” Namath said, “and I noticed that he wears No. 12, of course, so I’m thinking, ‘Man, if we get him on our side, is he still going to be wearing No. 12?’ because that number was retired many years ago.

“This is what I’m saying: It’s on ownership, and it’s different ownership, it’s different people, and I sure like Rodgers. If he’s there, yeah, I want him to wear his number. We establish ourselves and we got a real respect for our numbers. And Aaron Rodgers — God almighty, yeah, it would be great to have him in New York.”

During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday during which he talked about his hopes for continuing his NFL career with the Jets, Rodgers was asked about wearing Namath’s number in New York.

“With respect to the emotions, I think there’ll be time for all those conversations down the road,” Rodgers said. “Today was about talking about the past and the love I have for the team and then giving an update on what’s going to today, and so that’s a great question. I’ve seen what Joe said. There’ll be time to talk about that down the road.”

Like Namath, Rodgers is a Super Bowl MVP, winning the award for his performance in Green Bay’s 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL championship game for the 2010 season.

Rodgers also has won The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award four times, been named first-team All-Pro four times and received 10 Pro Bowl invitations.

In talking about his place in Packers’ history, Rodgers mentioned another former Alabama quarterback Bart Starr among the great Green Bay players of the past.

An alumnus of Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Starr played for the Packers from 1956 through 1971, then served as the team’s coach from 1975 through 1983 and also was the general manager for six of those seasons.

From the 1960 through the 1967 seasons, Green Bay played in the NFL Championship Game six times, winning their final five appearances, with Starr at quarterback. The Packers went on to win the Super Bowl after the 1966 and 1967 seasons, too, with Starr earning the MVP awards for the first two AFL-NFL world championship showdowns.

Starr was the NFL MVP for the 1966 season, and he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977 in his first year of eligibility.

“I’m debatably the best player in franchise history,” Rodgers said. “I’m in the conversation, for sure. What’s not debatable is I’m the longest-tenured Packer in history. You can debate the first part. Obviously, Bart, Brett (Favre), a number of names have been incredible. But you can’t debate that anybody has been there longer than I have. And nobody has bled Green and Gold like me.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.