Aaron Rodgers was traded by the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets in a deal that was months in the making. In return for Rodgers, the 15th overall pick, and a fifth round pick, Green Bay received the 13th overall pick, a second round pick, a sixth round pick, and a conditional second round pick in 2024 that will become a first round selection if Rodgers plays 65% of the offensive snaps for the Jets this season. For weeks, fans around the NFL wondered how the ball got rolling. In a recent article on Sports Illustrated, insider Albert Breer revealed the individual who started the process.
Related: Mike Florio Has 1 Insane Take on the Aaron Rodgers Trade
Aaron Rodgers Reached Out to the New York Jets First Regarding a Trade from the Green Bay Packers
As is the case with Aaron Rodgers, he did not give the full story when he announced on The Pat McAfee Show that he made his intentions clear that he wanted to play for the Jets in 2023. He allowed everyone to assume that it was the Jets who had reached out to him/the Packers and that he had chosen them from a pool of potential suitors. As it turns out, it was Rodgers who started the process. Breer writres:
“It was well after midnight and into the wee hours of March 13 in suburban New Jersey, when Jets GM Joe Douglas saw agent David Dunn’s number flash on his phone. The free-agent tampering period was set to begin in a matter of hours, at noon that Monday. Pro day season was underway, too. But there was nothing more important, in the moment, for Douglas, or for the Jets, than answering that call.
‘Hey, man, I know it’s late out there,’ said Dunn, calling on behalf of his star client. ‘Aaron wants to be a Jet.’
“Aaron, of course, was Aaron Rodgers, and Douglas’s reaction was like Jonah Hill’s portrayal in Moneyball of analytics legend Paul DePodesta (renamed Peter Brand in the movie) finalizing the Ricardo Rincon deal crossed with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort closing a sale in The Wolf of Wall Street. Yes, the Jets’ GM wanted to scream in exultation. But his kids and wife were sleeping, so all the fist pumps and skipping around the room had to happen in silence.”
What a bombshell! Rodgers stated on Pat McAfee that he went into the darkness 90% retired. He said that when he came out, he had tons of text messages telling him the Packers wanted to trade him. What we thought was his choosing from a pool of suitors was just another example of Rodgers doing what Rodgers always does: making an attempt to control his own destiny. As it turns out, the Packers and Jets had already engaged in some negotiations, but Rodgers attempted to give himself leverage by telling New York he was committed to them.
And he was able to do it. Again. Good for him. One really has to marvel at his ability to always come out on top when he puts his mind to it.
And it turned out well for the Packers, too. They got Lukas Van Ness, a player they highly coveted, in the first round, and used that 42nd overall pick in the second round to take Jayden Reed. They then turned their own second round pick into two more Day Three selections by trading down twice.
A win-win, but this Rodgers news is really something else.
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