With the Packers season being over, let the Aaron Rodgers drama start back up again for the 3rd year in a row. Rodgers is without a doubt the best player in Packers history, and he deserved better teams around him while he could still perform at a GOAT level. Sadly, that’s in the past, and now it seems more evident than ever that his time is up in Green Bay. The lead suitor for Rodgers has come out to be the New York Jets, and it makes all the sense in the world for Rodgers to get shipped off there.
Following Farve’s Footsteps
Rodgers has been very vocal about his feelings towards literally anything in the world as shown in his weekly drop-ins at the Pat McAfee Show. He’s been vague towards the whole situation recently, but the Packers haven’t been. Adam Schefter has reported that the Packers would like to move on from Rodgers this offseason, and the Jets quickly jumped on that train by having reports come out they’d give up two first round picks for him. This whole situation is nearly identical to Farve’s last year in Green Bay, where Farve came off of a somewhat solid season for his standards by throwing 28 touchdowns to 15 interceptions. He also had way more success that year compared to Rodgers, as they went 13-3 but lost to the Giants at home in the playoffs, but that was still better than missing the playoffs entirely. The Packers ended up dumping Farve that offseason for a 4th rounder due to it being Aaron’s time to shine. This whole repeated scenario is giving fans hope since there is a possibility that Jordan Love could be the next Hall of Fame quarterback that graces the Packers, but that is a huge if.
Do The Jets Really Make Sense?
The Jets started off hot this year, with a 5 and 2 record going into week 8, but then soon dropped off immensely and only going 2 and 8 for the rest of the year. The monumental factor of that was the horrible quarterback play from all three guys, but there were flashes of greatness on the offensive side of the ball. Stud Breece Hall will be coming back after tearing his ACL, and the receiving corps has immense potential led by Garrett Wilson. The only major question mark is the offensive line, but even there it has shown improvement over the few years due to Joe Douglas’s aggressiveness in improving that area. The main reason that this makes sense, is the defense that the Jets have built. They were statistically the 4th best defense this year and they only have room to improve from there. Robert Saleh is a defensive mastermind, and can give full offensive control to Nathaniel Hackett who has proved he can succeed like that given his time in Green Bay. The last time Rodgers had a top 10 defense, he won the Super Bowl. Everything is in place for a perfect championship run with the Jets.
The Trade Package
A trade realistically would need to happen before the draft, so the Packers can get a nice draft haul from the Jets. It would end up centering around the 13th overall pick, a future first, and a mid round pick. The Packers have a lot of wiggle room with this trade though, where they could get the Jets to pick up more Rodgers dead money instead of receiving the later round picks. This is a win-win scenario, as the Packers can use the two first rounders to help retool around Love instead of a full blown rebuild. Drafting another receiving threat for the future and hopefully some offensive line help with the other first rounder. JSN, Michael Mayer, or Jordan Addison would all be great pick ups for the Packers. The Jets get their championship quarterback for the next two years with a golden opportunity to go all the way. All they’d need to do is load up on offensive line talent and truly commit to winning similarly to how the Rams did it a year prior.
Conclusion
An Aaron Rodgers trade seems almost inevitable, unless they can find a way to restructure his contract to give the Packers room to sign free agents and give him a real chance of winning a Super Bowl. If they do go down the trade route, the Jets make the most sense. They’re just a quarterback away from making a deep playoff run and could reenact the success that the Rams found a year ago. The only problem is that nothing with Rodgers is a guarantee, and that everything could get flipped on its head if he ends up retiring or ends up staying in Green Bay. Realistically, it’s time for the Packers to move on and build around Jordan Love instead of trying to win with the same team for the 4th year in a row. Cap restrictions really have the Packers with their hands tied and truly it should only be a matter of time before Rodgers gets traded, whether or not it’s to the Jets.
As long as Aaron doesn’t end up sharing d pics or back in a Vikings uniform I’m ok with it.