Packers Trade Aaron Rodgers to Jets for Haul Including 2023 First-Round Pick
News 4/24/23
After months of gridlock, the New York Jets finally have their new franchise quarterback. The Jets acquired Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers for pick No. 13, a 2023 second-round pick (No. 42), a sixth-round pick (No. 207) and a conditional 2024 second-round pick that becomes a first if Rodgers plays 65 percent of the plays, ESPN reported on Monday.
The Jets are also getting pick No. 15 and a 2023 fifth-round pick (No. 170).
This is a fair compromise, Packers can get a first round pick, but the Jets have reasonable downside protection. https://t.co/NHDoClhsTA
— Mike Tannenbaum (@RealTannenbaum) April 24, 2023
“If you look at the New York Jets… they were a playoff team last season, absent the quarterback," said Rich Gannon, an analyst for The 33rd Team. "The quarterback position is ultimately what held back Robert Saleh and the New York Jets last year, and they were smart enough to know that. So right after the season, they went looking for their next quarterback.”
Jets brass remained confident all offseason despite little movement in trade talks following Rodgers’ March 15 announcement that he wanted to play for the Jets in 2023.
At an appearance on April 8 for WFAN Sports Radio’s “Morning Show with Boomer & Gio,” general manager Joe Douglas said, “He’s gonna be here,” to a crowd of cheering Jets fans.
During the NFL owners’ meetings in late March, coach Robert Saleh was equally optimistic.
“I’m not hitting the panic button,” Saleh said. “I’m confident that things are going to work out. You guys know me. I’m a very positive person and optimistic, so I’m confident that things will go the way we’re hoping. But at the same time, it’s not going to eat at me.”
The Jets not hitting the panic button seems to have worked out, as they’re getting the new quarterback they wanted all along. Trade talks reportedly stalled after the Jets started asking for protections on future draft picks in case Rodgers decided to retire after 2023.
Talks centered around the Jets sending a second-round pick in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Draft. In the end, the Jets had to trade their first-round pick for the four-time MVP.
The compensation package took at least a couple of factors into account. First, Rodgers will turn 40 on Dec. 2. Second, the Packers gave Rodgers a complicated three-year, $150.8 million extension after the 2021 season that includes more than $58 million in guaranteed money in 2023.
The Jets have already made an effort to surround Rodgers with players and coaches he knows this offseason. The team hired Rodgers’ one-time offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and signed former teammates WR Allen Lazard and QB Tim Boyle.
The move closes a dynamic chapter in the Packers’ history while opening up possibilities that the Jets could contend for their first trip to the Super Bowl since the 1968 season.
But first, the Jets will have to make the playoffs, something they have not done since 2010 and have managed just six times in the 21st Century.
"The Jets just became relevant," said Marty Mornhinweg, an analyst for The 33rd Team. "Elevating their team into legitimate contenders with the acquisition of Aaron Rodgers. That’s how good of a quarterback Rodgers is. Defense, special teams and now a tremendous talent at the most important position — quarterback."
Rodgers struggled last season to the tune of an 8-9 record while finishing with 12 interceptions, the second most of his career. The Jets are hoping he can regain the form he showed during the 2020 and 2021 seasons when he won NFL MVP.
The veteran quarterback should have a strong team around him in New York. The Jets’ defense finished fourth in total yards allowed per game last season, and Rodgers has reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson to target.
As for the Packers, they’re giving Jordan Love the keys to the offense. Packers brass has been bullish about Love the entire offseason.
“We have a lot of confidence in him [Love]. We drafted him and developed him. A lot of credit goes to our coaches and to Jordan. We do think he’s ready,” Packers president Mark Murphy said in March.
The Packers traded up to draft Love 26th overall in 2020. The Utah State product apprenticed behind Rodgers for three seasons, playing in 10 games and showing enough progress that the team decided it was time for him to take the reins of coach Matt LaFleur’s offense.
The irony of the trade is Love followed the path of a Hall of Famer into a starting role, and Rodgers, whom the Packers drafted 24th overall in 2005, followed Hall of Famer Brett Favre’s path out the door to the Jets.
Like Rodgers, Favre led the Packers to a Super Bowl championship and won multiple MVP awards (three in a row from 1995-97). Favre spent 16 seasons in Green Bay — two fewer than Rodgers — before being traded to the Jets on Aug. 7, 2008, for a conditional fourth-round draft pick. Favre, who had openly flirted with retirement for a half dozen seasons, led the Packers to the NFC Championship Game the previous January, retired in April, then “unretired” three days before he was traded.
Green Bay had won 13 games in each of LaFleur’s first three seasons but fell short of reaching the Super Bowl each time. In 2022, they did not make the playoffs. The Packers went 8-9 and looked out of sync for much of the season. Rodgers, who dealt with thumb and rib injuries, had as much to do with that as anyone.
Rodgers' 3,695 passing yards were his fewest in a full season. He completed 64.6 percent of his passes, the lowest mark since 2008, the year he replaced Favre as the Packers’ starter. His 26 touchdown passes were his second-fewest in a full season.
The trade also means the Packers are turning the page on the most prolific quarterback in their storied history.
Rodgers’ 475 touchdown passes, 65.3 completion percentage and 103.6 passer rating are franchise records. The touchdown total is fifth in NFL history, and the passer rating is second only to Patrick Mahomes. Rodgers’ 59,055 passing yards are second only to Favre’s 61,665 (and ninth in NFL history), and his 31 game-winning drives are second to Favre’s 37. Rodgers also owns the top two passer rating seasons in NFL history — 122.5 in 2011 and 121.5 in 2020.
Rodgers possesses four of the five highest season passing yards totals in Packers history, including a record 4,643 yards in 2011, and seven of the top 10. All told he passed for more than 4,000 yards 10 times in Green Bay.
Only Peyton Manning with five has won more NFL MVPs than Rodgers’ four. Rodgers guided the Packers to the playoffs 11 times in his 15 seasons as starter. Six times the Packers reached the NFC Championship Game, but they only won it once in 2010 when they captured the franchise’s most recent Super Bowl title after making the playoffs as a wild card.
The Jets, whose defense allowed the fourth fewest points per game (18.6) and yards per game (311.1), struggled to score points. Their 17.4 points per game ranked 29th. An offense filled with young playmakers such as Wilson and running back Breece Hall never found a consistent answer under center.
Zach Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, again struggled during his second season, completing just 54.4 percent of his passes and compiling a 7-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Backups Mike White and Joe Flacco each went 1-3. Ensconced in the playoff hunt through late November, the Jets dropped their final six games to finish 7-10.
The trade also reunites Rodgers with Hackett, a combination that worked well in Green Bay. Rodgers won his two most recent MVPs under Hackett’s guidance as offensive coordinator.
The impetus for the Packers beginning to consider a succession plan for Rodgers might have begun in 2017 when he missed nine games because of a broken collarbone. The next season, the Packers went 6-9-1, the second-worst full-season record of Rodgers’ career, and fired coach Mike McCarthy with four games remaining.
The Packers hired LaFleur in 2019, but Rodgers’ statistics declined. His completion percentage (62.0) was the second worst of his career, and he passed for the second-fewest touchdowns (26) of any of his full seasons.
Green Bay moved up to pick Love, and Rodgers responded with consecutive MVP seasons in 2021-22. He led the NFL in passer rating and TD/interception ratio both seasons. His 2021 season was particularly strong as he also led the league with 48 TD passes and a 70.7 completion percentage.
The Packers secured home-field advantage in the playoffs after both seasons but lost both times, first to the eventual champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2021 NFC title game and then the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round one year later. That dropped Rodgers’ career playoff record to 11-10. He is 1-5 in conference championship games.
The Jets are banking on Rodgers being the missing ingredient to propel them to an AFC Championship Game and beyond.
The Packers are venturing into the great unknown after a remarkable 31 consecutive seasons with a Hall-of-Fame-caliber player under center.