Aaron Rodgers trade grades: Packers win deal with Jets for star QB

At long last, the national standoff is over.

Former Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has finally been traded to the New York Jets. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Packers swapped picks with the Jets in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft in addition to a second round pick in 2023, and a conditional second round pick in 2024 that turns into a first if Rodgers plays 65 percent of snaps for the Jets. The Jets get Rodgers, the 15th pick and the 170th pick (5th round) in 2023.

Let’s grade this deal from both sides.

If the entire leverage fight was about the Packers wanting a future first rounder that the Jets wouldn’t give them because Rodgers might not play next year, then the Packers absolutely crushed it with their haul for Rodgers.

Moving up two spots in this years’ draft is small potatoes; their board probably doesn’t change that much when it comes to this years’ draft. Getting a second round pick that high in the draft is great as well, but I think what makes this haul an A is getting that conditional second to turn into a first if Rodgers plays 65 percent of the snaps.

Rodgers hasn’t played less than 90% of the offensive snaps since 2017, when he broke his collarbone. Unless Aaron Rodgers ultimately decides to just quit in the middle of the season or suffers a major injury, I doubt he plays less than 65 percent of the snaps. Green Bay getting that conditional second with such a low condition feels like a coup, and a win for the Packers, who actually had the leverage all along.

I mean, they got Aaron Rodgers for at least a year. The Jets moved in free agency like they were getting Rodgers, so they had to land him by any means necessary. Giving up that conditional second that’ll turn into a first stinks, but that had to be done to get Rodgers.

This is their shot. They have the defense and the young talent at the skill positions necessary to make a run at the playoffs. They just needed the QB, and now they got him. This isn’t a long term investment, this is a one year, all the chips into the middle deal. How it works out is yet to be seen, but it better work out for this year, because if not they might not have Rodgers past this year.