Aaron Rodgers appears to finally be the quarterback of the New York Jets, after the team reportedly agreeing a trade with the Green Bay Packers for the four-time NFL MVP.
ESPN reported on Monday that the Packers agreed to trade Rodgers along with their 2023 first-round pick (No 15 overall) and a 2023 fifth-round pick (No 170). In return they will receive the Jets’ 2023 first-round pick (No 13 overall), a 2023 second round pick (No 42), and a 2023 sixth-round pick (No 207). The Packers will also receive a conditional 2024 second-round pick that will become a first-rounder if Rodgers plays 65% of the Jets’ offensive snaps this season.
The Jets will also acquire Rodgers’ contract, which includes nearly $60m in salary and bonuses this season. However, that can be spread across the next two seasons, meaning it will count a manageable $15.8m and $32.5m against the Jets’ cap in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The Packers must eat $40.3m in dead money on their salary cap.
Rodgers said in March that he wanted to join the Jets, and the two teams have been locked in talks to agree terms since then.
It had been reported that Rodgers gave the Jets a “wishlist” of players he wanted alongside him, many of them former Packers teammates. One of those players, receiver Allen Lazard, has since joined the Jets. His former back-up in Green Bay, Tim Boyle, also joined the Jets in recent weeks. Rodgers has said reports of a wishlist are “ridiculous” but added the Jets had asked him about former teammates. “My only demand is for transparency,” he said.
Rodgers, one of the most talented quarterbacks in history, is a four-time NFL MVP, an honor he won twice when Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was part of the coaching staff in Green Bay. However, he recorded his lowest passer rating for a full season in 2022 as the Packers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018. In mitigation, Rodgers played much of the season with a broken thumb and had lost his best receiver, Davante Adams, to the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Jets, meanwhile, have a talented young roster boasting both the offensive and defensive rookies of the year, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner. Their failure to reach the playoffs last season was widely blamed on poor quarterback play, a problem that should theoretically be solved by Rodgers. The Jets are also understood to be looking at offensive linemen in this week’s draft to give Rodgers more protection as he approaches his 40th birthday. With Rodgers’ arrival, the Jets will be expected to make the playoffs, something they have not done since the 2010 season, the longest drought in the NFL.
Rodgers will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor in Green Bay, Brett Favre. Favre joined the Jets in 2008 after 16 seasons with the Packers. He threw 22 touchdowns and a league-leading 22 interceptions in his only season with the Jets, which was hampered by injury.
Jordan Love, who was drafted in 2020 to eventually replace Rodgers, will now step in as Green Bay’s starting quarterback. He will replace a future Hall of Famer, who led the Packers to 11 playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title. Rodgers leaves as the franchise’s leader in touchdown passes (475), completion percentage (65.3) and passer rating (103.6). He also made 10 Pro Bowls and was an All-Pro first-teamer on four occasions.
