Former Green Bay Packers linebacker Sam Barrington threw New York Jets Twitter for a loop on February 4 when he claimed the following:
“Just spoke with a friend of mine who is very in tuned with Packers/Aaron Rodgers situation,” Barrington tweeted. “Aaron will be a @Raiders in 2023.”
Rodgers to the Las Vegas Raiders has been gaining traction ever since Tom Brady announced his retirement — being that LVR was reportedly all-in on reuniting “TB12” with Josh McDaniels in 2023. Ex-Packers superstar and close friend, Davante Adams, is currently in Las Vegas and the veteran signal-caller has expressed interest in the city as a potential landing spot in the past.
Adams also responded, “mine,” on February 2 after “Las Vegas Locally” asked him “which neighborhood is @AaronRodgers12 moving to?”
Raiders May Have Surpassed Jets as Favorite to Land Packers QB Aaron Rodgers
About a week ago, it felt like the Jets were the clear favorite to trade for Rodgers, but the Brady news has tipped the scales a bit. Now, it could very well be the Raiders — although at this point, no one really knows for sure what Rodgers or the Packers are thinking.
Here’s how the two franchises stack up against one another in terms of intrigue for both Rodgers and the Packers organization.
Pros & Cons for Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers may not have a no-trade clause built into his contract, but Green Bay still doesn’t hold all the cards. At any time during this process, Rodgers could say he’s retiring, at which the Packers would lose their top trade asset. At the same time, the superstar QB would be willingly sacrificing a boatload of millions if he went that route — even though there’s a pretty good chance he’ll never have financial issues ever again either way.
Having said that here are some pros and cons from Rodgers’ perspective:
- Reunion with Adams vs. reunion with Nathaniel Hackett.
- Better weather in Las Vegas including golf and winter activities at his fingertips. More potential for media deals after retirement in New York.
- Easier road to the playoffs in New York without Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs inside the division.
- Jets’ defense is ready to win (on the rise with a top-four ranking in both points and yards allowed in 2022). Raiders’ defense is a mess (26th in points allowed in 2022, 28th in yardage).
- Both offensive lines need a lot of work — edge to Raiders because of Kolton Miller grounded at left tackle.
- Playmakers are about even if Raiders re-sign Josh Jacobs. Garrett Wilson is developing into an Adams-type with Breece Hall, Tyler Conklin, Elijah Moore, Corey Davis, C.J. Uzomah, Michael Carter and more able to contend with Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller among others.
- Robert Saleh vs. McDaniels = unclear where Rodgers would lie on this HC comparison.
- Financial compensation? Both owners appear ready and willing to pay Rodgers all of his signing bonuses and fees, but the Raiders do currently have more cap space available if that comes into play.
- Better tax breaks in Las Vegas than New York.
Pros & Cons for Packers Organization
So long as Rodgers doesn’t hate the end location and put his foot down, the Packers do have a lot of say in where he ends up. Here are the top pros and cons from their perspective:
- Both teams are outside of the NFC, that’s a wash.
- Raiders have a top-10 pick to trade GB in 2023 (No. 7 overall), Jets do not (No. 13).
- Jets GM Joe Douglas is a tough negotiator in trades, Raiders struck a blockbuster deal with the Packers last offseason for Adams and have some familiarity.
- Packers HC Matt LaFleur has personal ties to Saleh, if it comes to that.
Rodgers does not appear to be heading toward a retirement in 2023, and Packers insiders have insisted that this could finally be the season he gets traded due to Jordan Love’s contract and Green Bay’s need to rebuild.
Aaron Rodgers Name-Drops Raiders During Pebble Beach Interview
There was one more bit of social media hype that we should mention when it comes to Rodgers to the Raiders. During a CBS interview with Amanda Balionis from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament on February 4, Rodgers voiced that “I’m just going to say the predominant team that we hear [from the fans on the course] as we’re walking is Raiders.”
Rodgers added: “A lot of Raider fans are encouraging me. A lot of ‘Davante misses you’ comments.”
“The predominant team that we hear as we’re walking is Raiders.”
@AaronRodgers12 spoke with @Amanda_Balionis about input from fans this week on which team he should join next season 👀
The original question from Balionis was: “Is there maybe like a favorite color, favorite city, that you might have on your mind for next season?”
In the end, Rodgers concluded that the speculation and the cat calls from fans “has been fun,” but did not offer any real information on his 2023 landing spot.
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Jets’ Top Competition for Aaron Rodgers Reveals Itself