Proposed Jets Trade Swaps Aaron Rodgers With Ex-First Round Pick

Getty Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers celebrating after a big play during an NFL game.

If the New York Jets refuse to give up the No. 13 overall pick in trade negotiations with the Green Bay Packers for QB Aaron Rodgers, they’ll have to get “creative to make it work”, says Rich Cimini of ESPN.

In his Sunday, March 19 column, Cimini did exactly that with a unique trade proposal that could potentially satisfy both sides.

New York Jets receive: QB Aaron Rodgers

Green Bay Packers receive: defensive lineman Jermaine Johnson

Trade Value for Packers QB Aaron Rodgers Is Complicated

What exactly is fair trade compensation for a 39-year-old, four-time NFL MVP, who has openly and seriously pondered retirement?

Green Bay wants a top pick in return to save face for trading one of, if not its best player in franchise history. Understandably Gang Green doesn’t want to sacrifice the No. 13 overall pick in the first round of the 2023 draft because they have no assurances for how long A-Rod will play moving forward.

Cimini boiled down the negotiations to two different lines of thought.

“It could take a firm pick (or picks) in 2023, plus a conditional pick (or picks) in 2024 or 2025. Those conditions could be based on individual and team performance and whether Rodgers returns for the 2024 season.”

This would be the Brett Favre deal and some between the Jets and Packers in 2008. Back then the only pick that was involved was a conditional fourth-rounder that was tied to playing time incentives and overall team performance incentives.

The other thought is a player-driven deal for Rodgers.

Cimini said the Packers could ask for something else “in lieu of a first round” draft choice and instead could seek “a player who was once graded highly on their draft board.

Cimini said the Jets have several players that might fit that category and would “appeal” to Green Bay.

“With a surplus of defensive ends, perhaps Jermaine Johnson — a late first-round pick in 2022 — would do the trick.”

Jets Need to Preserve the Present and Kick the Can Down the Road

Of course, the Jets want Aaron Rodgers and he wants them. Everyone has made that abundantly clear.

However, New York has to be judicious during these trade negotiations. There is only one reason you make a deal of this magnitude and that is to try and chase a Super Bowl championship.

To even have a chance to do that Gang Green will need as many assets as possible to surround Rodgers with talent on both sides of the ball.

With that thought in mind, it would behoove the Jets to build this trade package around future assets. Picks in 2024 and 2025 can’t help New York win in 2023 anyway so just kick the can down the road to satisfy the Packers.

The Jets traded up to the No. 26 overall pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft to select Johnson. That is how much the front office valued him. Why less than a year later would they ship him away?

He is only 24 years of age and because of the depth of the Jets’ defensive line, he hasn’t even shown what he is truly capable of yet.

Gang Green should hold onto those kinds of players in these trade negotiations with Green Bay.

If the Packers are adamant about receiving players then New York should point them in the direction of players like Corey Davis.

He is a player they have explored a trade with previously and he is in the last year of his deal.

Young talented players that are in the midst of their rookie deals are players the Jets should be building around not trading away.