This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Robert Zeglinski.
Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers.
No, they didn’t win a big playoff game or Super Bowl or anything. It is late April, after all — that’s literally impossible. No, pro football’s second-oldest franchise did something even better:
It rid itself of one of the sport’s most overbearing anchors we’ve seen in a long time.
Congratulations to the Packers for trading Aaron Rodgers and turning him into someone else’s problem … er, missing puzzle piece in the AFC.
On Monday, Green Bay finally did it. They sent off the four-time MVP to the New York Jets for the princely sum of a first-round pick swap in 2023, another second-round pick, and another conditional second-rounder next year that will very likely turn into a first-round selection.
For a quarterback turning 40 in December, heck, for any quarterback, that’s actually a lot to get in a trade. If general manager Brian Gutekunst uses these pieces well, it could set up the Packers perfectly for the future.
But it’s not even the best part of the deal!
The Packers didn’t want Rodgers anymore. Full stop. They didn’t want him holding them hostage every offseason with his darkness retreats, with his circus media appearances, with his wishy-washy approach to anything in his life. At a certain point, Rodgers was more trouble than he was worth regarding his job — playing football at an extremely high level.
And after his uneven 2022, the Packers couldn’t take it anymore.
Like Rodgers’ predecessor before him, the Packers were done. Done.
I know that Green Bay held out for more in a trade of one of the greatest players in franchise history. But you’ll never convince me they wouldn’t have settled for considerably less if the situation came to it.
This unbearable situation was drawn out for months expressly because Rodgers can’t help but be the center of attention while whining about how he’s a victim. Regardless of the trade compensation, it would’ve found a resolution in favor of the Packers. They would’ve ensured it.
Why continue to let Rodgers be an unrelenting burden? Why let him and his drama weigh everything down if you don’t have to? The Packers were no longer interested in appeasing and enabling Rodgers’ worst instincts.
They finally had an out from him and make no mistake: they took it with glee.
So, congratulations to Green Bay for starting with a clean slate. My condolences to the desperate Jets for having to pretend they like an overdramatic diva now.
Quick Hits: Maple Leafs’ 4-1 comeback … LeBron plays hero … and more
- The Maple Leafs’ stunning 4-1 comeback win had everyone making the same joke, and this fan losing his mind.
- LeBron James played hero over the Grizzlies and again showed why he’s one of the most clutch players ever.
- On the flip side, Ja Morant should probably calm down on his reckless drives toward the rim.
