The Aaron Rodgers saga this offseason has had all sorts of twists and turns, and whether the Packers quarterback admits it or not, he certainly appears to love being the center of the never-ending NFL news cycle.
First, it was whether or not Rodgers wanted to play for Green Bay or retire. Next, it was whether or not he wanted to play for the Jets if he chose to continue playing. And ever since he said he wanted to be in New York, it’s been nothing but waiting for Jets general manager Joe Douglas.
The reason for the holdup in a trade involving Rodgers? As it turns out, Rodgers’s words in the media reportedly undermined trade talks between the Packers and the Jets, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo.
“It’s at a ridiculous standstill ... depending on what your vantage point is right now,” Robinson told the Wilde and Tausch show on ESPN Madison radio. “The Packers are holding out for what they want right now and that’s a problem I think with the Jets and more specifically with Jets ownership. So where it is, Green Bay is stuck on an asking price of a two [second-round draft pick] this year, a straight-shot one [first-round pick] next year, so no graduation schedule attached to it, and they would be willing to do the 2025…some sort of a draft asset give back if for some reason Aaron Rodgers doesn’t play in '24. And the Jets, and Woody Johnson specifically, are just not going to do it. That’s why this is sort of sitting where it is.
“And I guess…if we’re going to do the whole thing of ‘Whose court is the ball in?’ I guess it’s in the Jets’ court, but the problem with that is that for the Jets it’s at a standstill. They’re saying no we’re not doing the straight-shot one. And I think what [Jets owner] Woody Johnson’s problem is with this is that he looks at Denver and all the assets Denver gave up [for Russell Wilson] ... now Seattle is sitting on Denver’s pick at No. 5 because that crashed and burned. I think some of it is the Matt Stafford thing, and now he has a balky elbow … and now Detroit is sitting at six. … They sort of had trade parameters worked out, and then when Aaron went on [The Pat McAfee Show] and said ‘I’m 90% retired’ or ‘I was 90% retired when I went into the darkness retreat,’ I think it scared Woody.”
Talks did seem to be heading in the direction of Rodgers being traded to the Jets at the start of free agency, only for them to seemingly break down with no progress made over the last month. Whether Rodgers knew it at the time or not, his words spouted off sporadically in media appearances may have hurt him in the long run.
There’s no end in sight to this saga, whether Rodgers wants to be in New York or not.
