Proposed Trade Sends Jets a $12 Million Former Highly Touted QB

Getty New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh cracking a smile during an NFL game.

The New York Jets could find their long-term quarterback via the trade market.

On the Wednesday, December 21 episode of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast, the idea of trading Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love came up.

“I think a team could offer a second-round pick for him,” Trevor Sikkema of PFF stated on the show.

The two co-hosts then started discussing which NFL teams could be interested at that price point when Sikkema asked out loud, “the Jets?”

“I mean who would have more info on him than the Jets,” Jets analyst Connor Rogers asked out loud. “The LaFleur brothers. It’s fascinating.”

Jordan Love Would Be a Cost-Effective Option for the Jets

Jordan Love initially entered the NFL as the No. 26 overall pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft.

The former Utah State product redshirted his rookie season and was cryogenically frozen as the third-string backup quarterback.

In 2021 he appeared in six games but only started in one of those contests. This season he has appeared in three games primarily in mop-up duty.

In an extremely limited sample size Love has put up some interesting statistics:

• 597 passing yards
• 7.5 yards per attempt
• 60 percent completion percentage

Love is still only 24 years of age and has two years left on his $12 million rookie contract through 2024. Whoever owns his rights will have to make a decision on his fifth-year option in May after the upcoming NFL draft.

If they exercise it he will be under contract for the next two seasons. If that team were to decline it, Love would be scheduled to be a free agent in 2024.

In this scenario, the Jets wouldn’t have to give up franchise-altering draft capital in a trade nor would they have to pay a ton of money either.

Aaron Rodgers is on the Packers’ roster and if he returns in 2023 it appears Love would be destined for another season practicing his clipboard-holding skills.

Jordan Love Could Be a Sneaky Option for Gang Green

Acquiring a player like Love wouldn’t win many headlines around the league, but it could be a sneaky dart throw by the Jets.

He is an immensely talented and gifted quarterback at 6-foot-4, 219 pounds. While we haven’t seen a ton of tape on him in the NFL, the Jets would have an inside track on the young man.

Gang Green’s offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur is the younger brother of Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. Mike admitted earlier this season that the brothers communicate on a week-to-week basis talking gameplans, life, and football.

With the Jets in dire need of a new quarterback after the latest implosion by Zach Wilson, Love could be an interesting answer to the problem.

In theory, heading into 2023 the Jets could have a quarterback room that consists of Wilson, a newly acquired Love, and maybe another low-cost veteran to round out the room. Everyone competes for the starting job and the best man wins the gig.

If the Jets don’t want to swing for the fences on a blockbuster trade or sign someone to a mega contract in free agency this would be an excellent pivot option for the team to consider.