An Aaron Rodgers trade has yet to officially go through. While the delay might be causing doubts for some, it’s still as likely as ever to go through.
The trade we all know is coming has yet to go through between the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets. After Jets brass flew to southern California to meet with Aaron Rodgers over a month ago and convinced Rodgers to continue his playing career in a different shade of green, we’re still waiting on the official word.
The reported reason for the hold-up has been compensation for the Packers, as one might expect. Green Bay has little leverage, and New York doesn’t exactly have a ton, either. It’s caused some outsiders to start spewing off at the mouth about other teams that could get in on the action.
As time goes on, we’re running up on an artificial buzzer: The NFL Draft, which kicks off on April 27th. A trade gets much more complicated if the Jets and Packers can’t get a deal done before the second-round picks pass on April 28th. The reason being that Green Bay probably wants either/or picks 42 and 43 in return for Rodgers, which the Jets currently own.
But beyond that deadline complicating the assets that can be swapped is another thing: Rodgers and his motivation to play for the Jets.
Only thing standing in the way of a trade is Aaron Rodgers changing his mind
It seems far-fetched, but as Mike Florio first posited, Rodgers changing his mind about his “intention” to play for the Jets is really the only thing that could derail this. And as Florio astutely put it, that would guarantee “supervillain” status for Rodgers in NYC.
For most players, this wouldn’t even be a question. But Rodgers is eclectic, and it’s not too hard to envision him going on a tantrum of sorts that this has taken too long and worn down his patience. Who knows, though, maybe he’s on another darkness retreat and has no idea he still has yet to be dealt.
The Jets and Packers both have been planning their futures and offseason around the reality of this trade finalizing. Green Bay is moving Jordan Love to the starting role and will build their roster around him. The Jets, of course, passed up on other veteran quarterbacks like Jimmy Garoppolo that they otherwise may have pursued if this trade wasn’t on the table.
So, really, the only thing standing in the way is Rodgers. He’s kept out of it for now and indicated that he’s going to let the two sides figure out the details.
But now, there are really only two weeks left to get this done before it becomes infinitely more complicated. And better believe by that point, Rodgers will be getting restless, too.
