Getty Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2022.
The New York Jets are on the doorstep of landing a four-time MVP quarterback via trade, general manager Joe Douglas just has to figure out how to best push the Green Bay Packers across the finish line without overpaying significantly.
Right now, everyone around the NFL is speculating on what an Aaron Rodgers trade might look like for the Jets and Packers but during a fan Q&A with Sports Illustrated, insider Albert Breer detailed what he believes to be “fair and creative” compensation after “calling around” with other GMs and executives on the subject.
Breer relayed: “I’d just say that if the 13th pick was on the table, with maybe a little sweetener, I think the deal would probably be done already. And in calling around, asking teams that are uninvolved what they’d give up, just about everyone said it should be a Day 2 pick this year, fronting a package with a conditional pick or two on the back end. That, to me, is where I think you could get creative.”
In the end, the respected insider came up with a couple of different trade packages (detailed below).
Jets-Packers Trade Proposal for Aaron Rodgers via S.I.’s Albert Breer
“To me, a fair price would be the Jets’ second-round pick (No. 43) and a conditional pick this year or next or both,” Breer began while breaking down his three trade proposals. Here was each option for the Jets and Packers.
Trade Package No. 1
- Jets get Aaron Rodgers.
- Packers get 2023 second-round pick (No. 43), conditional 2024 third-round pick.
The conditional third would “become a second [rounder] if Rodgers makes the Pro Bowl on the original ballot and a first if the Jets get to the Super Bowl (meaning the [2024] pick would be, at most, No. 31 [overall]).”
Trade Package No. 2
- Jets get Aaron Rodgers.
- Packers get 2023 second-round pick (No. 43), conditional 2025 pick.
Breer did not elaborate on where this 2025 pick would start (possibly implying another third-round starting position), but noted that the conditions would apply to whether or not Rodgers plays in 2024.
Trade Package No. 3
- Jets get Aaron Rodgers.
- Packers get 2023 second-round pick (No. 43), conditional 2024 third-round pick, conditional 2025 pick.
Option number three is the richest that Breer suggested for the Jets — and it would basically combine packages one and two as a sort of sweetening of the deal by Douglas.
Breer concluded that “either way, there’s a deal to be done here, and I do think that, with a couple of days to let things settle, cooler heads will prevail and the GMs, Joe Douglas in New York and Brian Gutekunst in Green Bay, will work something out that makes sense for everyone.”
Raiders Confirmation of Jimmy Garoppolo Signing Ensures Aaron Rodgers to Jets as Near Sure Thing
There were some rumors that the Las Vegas Raiders could back out of the Jimmy Garoppolo deal last minute and make one final run at Rodgers, but that theory died on March 17 as the Black & Silver announced “Jimmy G” as their new signal-caller officially.
Welcome to the Silver and Black, @JimmyG_10 🏴☠️
A fan questioned Breer on the possibility of a mystery suitor making a run at Rodgers in the “11th hour” via trade, but the S.I. insider pretty much shut down that narrative altogether.
“No. The ship’s sailed on that,” Breer responded candidly. “The Raiders are one team that investigated everything, but obviously now they’ve gone with Jimmy Garoppolo. I supposed you could get creative and look at ideas like the [Washington] Commanders or [Tennessee] Titans. I’m just not sure, based on where those teams are in building their rosters, that they would want to make that splash, or that Rodgers would necessarily go there. So I think it’s Rodgers [to the Jets] or bust…”
There you have it folks, it’s no longer a matter of if, but when Gang Green works out a deal with the Packers for Rodgers.