In the 47 seasons since Joe Namath left New York for his final NFL campaign with the Los Angeles Rams, the Jets have posted a 318-408-2 record and gone to the postseason 12 times.

By losing their final six games in 2022, the Jets finished 7-10 and missed the playoffs for the 12th consecutive season, the longest current drought in the league.

At 79 years old, Namath wants to see the Jets winning again, as they did when he led New York to a 16-7 victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III to cap the 1968 season, when Namath won the AFL Player of the Year Award.

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Namath has a way in mind to make that happen.

“I hope it can come true, but it’s farfetched,” Namath said during a Thursday appearance on “Tiki and Tierney” on WFAN in New York. “I know (Jets owner) Mr. (Woody) Johnson’s trying to get a quarterback, and if there’s a way he can get (Aaron) Rodgers. … And I’m a big Rodgers fan, 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.”

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

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When asked if he would extend the same courtesy to Tom Brady if the Jets could land him in the offseason, Namath said he thought that was “unrealistic,” but: “Are you kidding me? Yes, of course. Would I let him? It’s not what I want, but I respect that, hell, that’s his number for his life as a ballplayer. Sure, I wouldn’t deny that.”

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl winner and three-time NFL MVP, will become a free agent on March 15 unless he signs a contract extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before then.

Rodgers has three seasons remaining on his contract with the Green Bay Packers, but the four-time NFL MVP’s offseason talk touched on retirement and changing teams last year, and he sounded similar themes on Tuesday during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

“I think you have a feeling where you’re leaning, but there’s a lot of things that come into play,” Rodgers said. “I think just some on my side, it’s the physical part, it’s the emotional part, it’s the spiritual part. It’s the ability to go back out there and give it 100 percent. It’s also the situation and where the team is at and the focus moving forward, short-term, long-term. Then it comes down to intuition and what it feels like in your body and what it feels like in your mind. Once you commit, then you commit. You move forward, whatever the decision is, so you know, I just need some time right now. I don’t need to ask anybody to respect my time or whatever. That’s going to be the answer until I’m ready, and when I’m ready to give my opinion, like I was last year, I’m either all in or I’m out. …

“Do I still think I can play? Of course. Can I play at a high level? Yeah. The highest. I think I can win MVP again in the right situation. Right situation — is that Green Bay or is that somewhere else? I’m not sure. But I don’t think you should shut down any opportunity. But like I said during the season, it’s got to be both sides actually wanting to work together moving forward.”

The Jets used the second selection in the 2021 NFL Draft on BYU quarterback Zach Wilson. In both of his seasons, Wilson has finished last in the league in passing-efficiency rating among the NFL’s qualifying quarterbacks.

In 2022, Wilson missed the first three games because of an injury. He returned to start seven in a row before the Jets benched Wilson after he completed 7-of-22 passes for 77 yards in a 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Nov. 20. Wilson started two more games in December after his replacement, Mike White, got hurt.

“I was open-minded, certainly, knowing that he was young and he could improve a lot of things,” Namath said about Wilson. “The thing is I don’t know Zach. I’ve never met him, and I don’t know how he operates between the ears or whatever. But the guys who are closest to the situation, starting with coach (Robert) Saleh understand, and I’ve got to defer to whatever they decide because I like what the team has transitioned to defensively, at least, and barring injuries, the offense would have been even better for the running back and the offensive linemen, so Lady Luck plays a role. But I have to agree: We need a change there.”

Before becoming Broadway Joe, Namath played quarterback at Alabama from 1962 through 1964. The Crimson Tide won the AP and UPI national titles for the 1964 season.

Namath told the show’s hosts that he remained in good health and had had his right shoulder replaced on his birthday, May 31.

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