Report: Time Running Out on Rodgers Trade Between ‘In-Fighting’ Packers, Jets

Then again, maybe the Packers and Jets have agreed to the trade and it’s just waiting on the NFL Draft to begin on April 27.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Is the presumed trade that would send Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets on ice thinner than what remains on the Bay of Green Bay?

Yes … if you believe New York sportstalk personality and FS1 host Craig Carton.

On Monday’s edition of The Carton Show, Carton told his co-host, former Packers receiver Greg Jennings, if Rodgers is not traded to the Jets before the 2023 NFL Draft, “He will not be a New York Jet. He won’t be.”

On Friday, during a live event hosted by the New York radio station that employs Carton, WFAN, former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason asked Jets general manager Joe Douglas if the Rodgers trade would get done.

“He’s gonna be here,” Douglas said to cheers.

Douglas using such certain language could mean one of two things. One, he’s confident but is guilty of putting the cart before the horse. Two, the deal really is done and is just waiting until the draft begins on April 27.

For instance, what if the teams have agreed to swap picks – the Jets’ No. 13 and the Packers’ No. 15 – if the board falls to the liking of one or both teams? That could be part of one agreed-to trade scenario. And if the board doesn’t fall that particular way? Then the teams could execute an altered version of the trade.

However, if Douglas is guilty of boasting about a trade that really hasn’t been settled, then time is running out. Carton said if the deal isn’t finalized before the start of the draft, then the Packers are “going to open it up” to other teams. The San Francisco 49ers, who pursued Rodgers two years ago and, like the Jets, have a high-quality roster in need of a quarterback, could enter the fray.

Allegedly, the 49ers have offered multiple third-round picks in this year’s draft and a first-rounder in 2024.

According to Carton, the Packers-Jets trade would have been done two weeks ago if it were up to Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst. That’s when Packers President Mark Murphy allegedly intervened and “in-fighting” ensued.

Murphy, in Carton’s words, told Gutekunst: “Do you like your job because I like my job. We are not making a trade for what’s on the table.”

For what it’s worth, Murphy will retire on July 12, 2025. That’s when he will turn 70 – the mandatory retirement age. With 27 months left on a job he’s held for more than 15 years, job security probably isn’t front and center in his thoughts.

The Packers and Jets have been negotiating for about a month. On the March 15 edition of The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers said it was his “intention” to play for the Jets. By that time, the Packers had been notified of Rodgers’ desires through his representatives at Athletes First.

“You come out of the season, you have a lot of conversations not only with Aaron but with the rest of the team, coaches and everybody,” Gutekunst said at the NFL meetings on March 27. “As you go through that process, you get an idea where you’re going to move to as a team, how you’re going to go forward.

“I think I was really looking forward to the conversations with Aaron to see how he fit into that. Those never transpired. So, there came a time where we had to make some decisions so we went through his representatives to try to talk to him (about) where were we going with our team and that point, they informed us that he would like to be traded to the Jets.”

With more than two weeks until the draft, time is on the side of the Packers and Jets to get something done – assuming it’s not already done.

But, as Carton said, “It’s not done until it’s done.” And, as of April 10, it’s not done – no matter the intentions of Rodgers, the desires of the Packers to hand the offense to Jordan Love and the hopes of Jets owner Woody Johnson and Douglas to land the four-time MVP.

“Well, he better be coming here because you’re done if he’s not,” Carton said of Douglas. “You can’t dance this dance and now not deliver the franchise, even if it’s for one year.”

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Young and inexpensive doesn't necessarily mean bad. But it is rather incredible looking at the receivers and tight ends that presumptive #Packers starting QB Jordan Love will be tasked with winning with this season.https://t.co/aPTgeOxXF7

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) April 10, 2023

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