While the Green Bay Packers received a big haul from the New York Jets in the blockbuster trade that sent future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay to the Big Apple, the Packers initially wanted much, much more.
When the deal was done, the Packers sent Rodgers, a 2023 first-round pick (No. 15) and a 2023 fifth-round pick (No. 170) to the Jets for New York’s 2023 first-round pick (No. 13), a 2023 second-round pick (No. 42), a 2023 sixth-round pick (No. 207) and a conditional 2024 first round pick, that can drop to a second round pick should Rodgers play fewer than 65% of team snaps.
But, it could have been a bigger deal had the Jets given in to the initial demands.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, “The Packers initially wanted a return in the neighborhood of what Detroit got for Matthew Stafford in 2021 (two firsts and a third). The Jets didn’t want to give up a single first-round pick, let alone two, given that they had no assurances Rodgers would play more than a year.”
The Jets certainly remember how their first blockbuster trade with the Packers for a franchise quarterback went. Back in 2008, the Jets acquired Hall of Famer Brett Favre from Green Bay for a haul of draft picks, but Favre only played for one season.
Now, the Jets are hoping that the situation with Rodgers will go much more smoothly then it did with Favre, but they still paid a steep price.
