With the first wave of free agency in the notable past, the Green Bay Packers still haven’t solved their top offseason priority: resolve the Aaron Rodgers situation.
Negotiations between Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and Jets general manager Joe Douglas remain ongoing. They are preparing to see each other at the NFL’s annual league meeting in Phoenix this weekend. Rodgers will be traded to the Jets. It’s just a matter of when, and it seems Green Bay’s sixth-year GM is playing hardball to extract the most value for arguably the best player in Packer franchise history.
The Packers are incentivized to trade Rodgers before the draft begins on April 27. So, they can look to help build an arsenal of weapons for quarterback Jordan Love on both sides of the ball. New York’s incentive to trade for Rodgers sooner rather than later is to get their new starting quarterback to the city that never sleeps quickly.
It would make sense for the Packers to ask for at least the No. 13 pick in this year’s draft in return for Rodgers. Until a deal has been made, Rodgers remains under contract with the Packers despite his public acknowledgment on “The Pat McAfee Show” last week that he wants to and intends to play for the Jets during their 2023-24 campaign.
If Rodgers doesn’t get traded before the draft in Kansas City, the next deadline to watch would be June 1. The other financial deadline to watch is September 1, as Rodgers’ contract is currently constructed with Green Bay. If Rodgers is still under his contract with the Packers by then, both teams will have a new type of negotiation and trade.
The Packers have still conducted other business through the first week of free agency, despite the fact, the Rodgers trade has not yet been finalized. Although Rodger’s number one target during the 2022-23 season, wide receiver Allen Lazard also signed a deal with New York. Lazard will receive $44 million over four years, possibly just another push for Rodgers to get to NY.
