With the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers headed toward a hold-out after he skipped minicamp last month, will the New York Jets make a move to acquire Rodgers in exchange for Zach Wilson, who was the #2 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft?
Bill Barnwell from ESPN appeared on The Rich Eisen Show and the two flirted with the idea of a Jets/Packers trade with Rodgers and Wilson swapping teams.
Rodgers says he wants to go to a Super Bowl contender, but the Packers could exile him to the Jets out of spite. But if anyone can help turn around the Jets, it would be Rodgers. The Green Bay Packers are currently +1500 odds to win Super Bowl 56 over at the Circa Sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas. The New York Jets are long shots on the board at +10000.
Jets QB trade rumors: Watson and Rodgers
Before Rodgers’ divorce with Green Bay’s general manager became public, the Jets were already rumored to acquire another disgruntled quarterback. When Deshaun Watson requested a trade earlier in the offseason, the Jets were on his shortlist. However, the Texans were dead serious when they said they had no intention of trading Watson, almost daring him to sit out. With a potential deal with Watson off the table before the draft, the Jets focused on drafting a franchise quarterback.
Head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas had high opinions of Wilson and were on the same page with the BYU quarterback. Meanwhile, the Jets moved on from starting quarterback Sam Darnold and shipped him to the Carolina Panthers in a trade.
But could the Jets decide to use Wilson as a cornerstone in a trade with the Packers? If they ship Wilson to Cheeseland, they’ll have to sweeten the pot with other draft picks or some other players like Quinnen Williams. At 38-yers old, Rodgers is no spring chicken, but when you see what Tom Brady is doing at 40-plus, then you have to believe Rodgers still has a lot of gas left in his tank.
“If Rodgers is doing the Brady thing until he’s 44, then you have to do it,” said Eisen. “That’s the question. Because that’s six more GOAT years left.”
Some Jets fans are hesitant to jump on the Rodgers bandwagon after the Brett Favre fiasco. Sure, which non-playoff team wouldn’t want the reigning MVP as their QB next season? But there’s a segment of salty Jets fans who still have bad memories of the Favre experiment.
Rodgers to Denver?
When the original story broke that Rodgers wanted out of Green Bay, the Denver Broncos became the betting favorite to land him. Rodgers tipped his hand and expressed interest in the Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, or Las Vegas Raiders. None of those teams were truly in the running for the Rodgers sweepstakes, however.
The Raiders have their own internal problems, while the 49ers worked out a huge trade with the Miami Dolphins to improve their quarterback situation. Once the 49ers drafted Trey Lance, they tapped out of the Rodgers drama. The Denver Broncos made a lot of questionable moves during the draft. Those moves made sense if they snagged Rodgers in a trade, otherwise, fans in Denver weren’t thrilled with their overall draft haul.
The Seattle Seahawks were originally mentioned in the same breath as the Broncos as a potential landing spot for Rodgers. At the time, Russell Wilson’s agent indicated his client wanted out of Seattle because the miserly Seahawks failed to plug large gaps in their offensive line and let several vets walk in free agency. Fans entertained the idea of a Wilson/Rodgers swap, but it was more of a pipe dream than anything else.