The Green Bay Packers sent the NFL world into a frenzy nearly two years ago when they traded future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets. A vastly unpopular move at the time, the decision was made in an effort to give Jordan Love the opportunity to start after sitting behind Rodgers for three seasons, much like the four-time NFL MVP sat behind Brett Favre for three seasons before taking over as the starter.
While Love turned out to be exactly who the Packers thought he would be, an elite quarterback, a great deal of criticism was levied towards the organization prior to the 2023 NFL season. Jets fans, as well as fans of Green Bay’s biggest rivals, predicted that the Packers would be entering a new era of being mediocre at best while New York was surely going to take the next step into Super Bowl contention.
However, the opposite happened.
The Green Bay Packers Have Been Better Off with Jordan Love than the New York Jets with Aaron Rodgers
It did not take long for general manager Brian Gutekunst and Green Bay’s organization to catch criticism from fans of many NFL bases, local media, and national media for their decision to move on from Rodgers in favor of Love. Pat McAfee went as far as to suggest that Gutekunst simply was not that smart while Jets general manager Joe Douglas was a genius.
But everyone knows what happened when the 2023 season was allowed to play out.
Rodgers tore his Achilles four snaps into the season and was out for the rest of the year. New York finished 7-10 for the second consecutive season with Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle among the quarterbacks who stared in his place.
Meanwhile, Love led the Packers to a 9-8 record and finished second in the NFL in touchdown passes (he had 32) in his first year as a starter. Green Bay clinched the final Wild Card spot in the NFC and upset the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the NFL Playoffs.
This year, Love and the Packers are 7-3 and look like they are on their way to the postseason again. New York, meanwhile, is an absolute mess. They fired their head coach, Robert Saleh, after starting the year 2-3. However, thy have gone just 1-5 since. A trade for former Green Bay star wide receiver Davante Adams did nothing to improve the offense. Nor did demoting former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
And now, they just fired their general manager.
Green Bay Packers Fans Take a Victory Lap on Aaron Rodgers and the Jets
As mentioned, many believed that the Rodgers trade meant New York was opening a Super Bowl window while Green Bay was going to take a massive step (or two) backwards.
And Jets fans let Packers fans know exactly how they felt when the trade went down.
Now, with so much turmoil in New York, Green Bay’s fans are reminding Jets fans of what they originally said:
Aaron Rodgers next time he is on the pat mcafee show and asked about the Jets implosion this season: https://t.co/KmClsUTWYo pic.twitter.com/gIAffbPO4g
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) November 19, 2024
The way the Packers played the Jets on the Rodgers trade was a master class. https://t.co/eXoNxnPS84
— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) November 19, 2024
The Jets have lost two-thirds of their games since this pic.twitter.com/LJkdCqbkDO
— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) November 19, 2024
Gutey broke the Cowboys and the Jets in a calendar year. Remarkable run. https://t.co/Kk65qDno2Z
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) November 19, 2024
no one deserves this more than jets fans. some of the worst people i’ve ever had the grave misfortune of encountering https://t.co/bx7W7FcqaU
— Zachary Jacobson (@zacobson) November 19, 2024
Jordan Love Screenshots! This Jets fan should have been worried about moves his own GM was making. pic.twitter.com/Rv1i146aIw
— Jordan Love Bookmarks (@BookmarkerLove) November 19, 2024
UPDATE: Since joining the @nyjets, Aaron Rodgers has gotten the:
– Head Coach fired.
– Offensive Coordinator fired.
– General Manager fired.Also: The Jets will have a top 5 pick and he now sucks at playing football. pic.twitter.com/QV75N2uKZT
— Mike Wickett 🇺🇲🎙🏈🏀👨👧👧👩👦🤘🚀 (@mikewickett) November 19, 2024
Douglas was in the final year of his contract anyway, so one might wonder why he was fired now instead of simply not retained.
However, it should be noted that Woody Johnson, the owner of the Jets, was President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom the last time he held office. Now that he has been re-elected, many expect Johnson to be given another position within the administration.
He likely wanted to fire Douglas now because he wants to pick the new general manager before he re-enters politics.
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