What Does the Aaron Rodgers Trade Mean For the Green Bay Packers?

The wait is finally over. Earlier today, April 24th, a trade between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets was finalized that sent Aaron Rodgers to the East Coast in exchange for draft picks.

With this trade coming just days before the start of the NFL draft, there is plenty of time to speculate what the Packers will do with the slew of picks at their disposal. Let’s take a look at the details of the trade and discuss what this trade means for the near future of the Packers.

The trade details are as follows:

Green Bay Packers Receive	New York Jets Receive
13th overall pick Second round pick (42 overall) Sixth round pick (207th overall) Conditional 2024 second round pick Becomes a first round pick if Rodgers plays 65% of offensive snaps	QB Aaron Rodgers 15th overall pick Fifth round pick (170th overall)

Firstly, and most obviously, this trade makes it official that Jordan Love is QB1 of the Green Bay Packers for the foreseeable future. The front office has seen enough out of him in practice and in the games he’s played in to feel confident in going forward with him captaining the offense.

Secondly, this trade means the Packers now have 11 picks in the draft this weekend, plenty of picks for GM Brian Gutekunst to use to build the team around Love. Additionally, that conditional second round pick in next year’s draft will likely become a first round pick, barring an injury to Rodgers or a massive drop off in performance from last season.

These 11 picks could also be used in a potential trade-up on draft night as well. Gutekunst has a history of trading up on draft day; last year he traded both second round picks the Packers owned to move up the draft and select Christian Watson, and more infamously traded up in the 2020 draft to select the now QB1 of the Packers in Jordan Love.

If the Packers do trade up, it will likely be to secure the selection of WR Jaxson Smith-Njigba. A number of mock drafts had Smith-Njigba falling to Green Bay at 15 prior to this trade; however it’s not out of the question another team higher up, such as the Atlanta Falcons at pick eight, the Philadelphia Eagles at 10, or the Houston Texans at 12, to select the Ohio State stud.

With 11 picks in this draft and possibly two first round picks next year, Gutekunst could use a couple of them to trade up a couple picks and make sure they get the guy they want, whether that be Smith-Njigba (and I hope it is), or another high value player.

The third, and final point this trade means that I’ll discuss today is cap space. While nothing is official on who is taking on most of the burden of Rodger’s hefty contract. Rumors have surfaced that Rodgers will “sign a revised contract with the Packers to facilitate the trade and help Green Bay’s cap” per Tom Pelissero (Twitter: @TomPelissero).

We won’t know for sure the terms of this contract revision for a couple days but this could be a huge weight lifted off the Packers’ shoulders in terms of cap space, cap space they can use on the upcoming rookie draft class as well as extensions on key players whose contracts are up after this season, such as Rashan Gary, AJ Dillon, and Jordan Love.

The Aaron Rodgers era in Green Bay is over, and Packers fans should never forget what he did for the franchise in his 16 years with the team. The Packers absolutely got a bargain for a QB who was never gonna play for them again, and Packers fans should rejoice at the terms of the trade and have a positive outlook on the near future of the franchise.

What Does the Aaron Rodgers Trade Mean For the Green Bay Packers?

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What Does the Aaron Rodgers Trade Mean For the Green Bay Packers?

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