Jets are optimistic they’re going to land Aaron Rodgers

There’s growing sentiment inside the Jets that the team is actually going to be able to trade for Aaron Rodgers. Jets’ owner Woody Johnson traveled to California to meet with Rodgers this week to sit down and discuss whether he’d be happy to come to New York, and according to recent reports those meetings went well.

These meetings were critical, because while Rodgers doesn’t have a no-trade clause built into his contract, he still held all the power. If the Packers traded him to a team he didn’t accept, Rodgers would simply retire from the NFL — killing the deal and putting everyone in a terrible position. So, any trade precipitated Rodgers’ approval, and the Jets feel like they have that now.

It doesn’t mean this is a guarantee. There are still other teams who could be interested in Rodgers, including the Raiders as a dark horse candidate. Las Vegas has kept its cards very close to the chest about what their quarterback plans are after releasing Derek Carr, and there could be major appeal for Rodgers to be closer to California — which has been his desire for some time. Throw in a reunion with Davante Adams and there would be some interest there, though it’s unclear if Rodgers would be interested in taking on the sizable challenge of turning the Raiders around, vs. coming to a complete team in New York that just needs quarterback help.

At this point it’s feeling very much like Rodgers to the Jets is a done deal, and it’s just about working out the trade details and salary structure at this point. The biggest stumbling blocks have been cleared, and now we just wait it out.