Packers, Jets Slowly Bridging Gap in Rodgers Trade

During his appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," Aaron Rodgers tried to push trade talks forward between the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made the obvious official on Wednesday. His “intention” is to play for the New York Jets.

With the Packers ready to pack Rodgers’ bags so they can start the Jordan Love era, the question is when, not if, a trade will be finalized.

“I haven’t been holding anything up,” Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show. “At this point, it’s been compensation that the Packers are trying to get for me and kind of digging their heels in.”

Of course the Packers are digging in their heels. This is a monumental decision to trade a four-time MVP quarterback. The Jets think Rodgers can put them over the top. The Packers need whatever’s coming their way to substantially help their rebuild.

With Rodgers speaking for an hour on McAfee, a source said Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and his counterpart, Joe Douglas, narrowed the gap at least a little in their ongoing trade talks.

“Sounds like the goalposts moved a little this afternoon,” he said.

Now that everyone knows the end game, there is not a great sense of urgency. Rodgers is going to the Jets and they can build their team accordingly. Same for the Packers as they move forward with Love at quarterback and an even-tighter salary cap.

Rodgers, though, tried to politely prod Gutekunst to seal the deal.

“We’ve just got to look at the reality,” Rodgers said. “They want to move on. They don’t want me to come back, and that’s fine. They’re ready to move on with Jordan. That’s awesome. And I think Jordan is going to be a great player. He’s a fucking great kid. He had a really good year this year, getting better on the look team. He’s got a bright future in front of him.

“They have a good young team. I have so many great friends on that team that I’m still going to be great friends with. But the fact of the matter is you got an aging face of the franchise for the last 15 years that it’s time to do right by. Just listen to your language. Mark Murphy said it the other day.”

Deadlines spur action and there are no immediate deadlines. NFL offseason programs will begin on April 17 – about a month away. Ten days after that, the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft will be conducted on April 27. Four weeks later, it’s the start of offseason practices.

That’s plenty of time for Gutekunst and Douglas to figure out the appropriate trade compensation. The Jets own the 13th pick of the draft. As they target a championship, they’d rather not give up the pick.

There are alternatives. As one executive said, you can put together enough picks to make it a first-rounder. 

According to a trade-value chart, the Jets’ second- and third-round picks are the equal of a low first-rounder. To sweeten the pot, the Jets could throw in a quality player on a rookie contract or an additional Day 2 pick in 2024.

If Green Bay has its heart set on a first-rounder, the other solution would be to take the Jets’ first-round pick in 2024.

The drawback is the Jets, presumably, will have a much better record in 2023 so that pick might not be anywhere near as good as this year’s No. 13. An additional pick in the 2024 draft, which could range up or down based on whether Rodgers decides to play a second season in the Big Apple, could make it work. The upside is the Packers have salary cap issues, so getting the pick in 2024 would keep about $4 million off this year’s cap.

Another executive said the Jets have the leverage in the negotiations – they’d practically be doing the Packers a favor by helping them escape the contract – but not overwhelming leverage because they’ve painted themselves into a corner. It’s Rodgers or bust. And now that Rodgers is publicly onboard, the Jets absolutely, positively have to seal the deal.

Both execs thought the Packers would get a first-rounder.

“I think it is interesting at this point to step back and look at the whole picture,” Rodgers said. “My side, love, appreciation and gratitude for everything Green Bay has done for me. So much love and gratitude and heart open for the Packer fans and what it meant to be their quarterback, and also the reality of the situation. It is what it is.

“The Packers would like to move on. They’ve let me know that in so many words. They’ve let other people know that in direct words. Because I still have that fire and I want to play and I would like to play in New York, it’s just a matter of getting that done at this point.”

Good-Bye (Soon), Aaron Rodgers; Hello, Jordan Love

I've got a lot of fresh Jordan Love material. New story tomorrow and another later this week. But here's the Senior Bowl's Jim Nagy from after the 2020 draft.https://t.co/WpwZqOoclX

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) March 16, 2023

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