The New York Jets want to trade for Aaron Rodgers at the same price as they paid for Brett Favre
Adam Schefter may not have a clue about Aaron Rodgers personally, but he does still have sources within the two teams involved in a possible trade.
On ESPN’s Get Up show, Schefter reported that the New York Jets are seeking a price similar to what they gave up in the Brett Favre trade 15 years ago. At that time, the price was a conditional fourth-round pick.
The conditions on that pick turned it into a third-rounder if Favre played 50% of the snaps, a second-rounder if he played 70% and the Jets made the playoffs, and a first-rounder if he played 80% and the Jets made the Super Bowl. It ended up becoming just a third-rounder.
Naturally, the Packers are balking at that price.
Interesting @AdamSchefter says #Jets are trying to acquire Aaron Rodgers via trade for Brett Favre price which was a conditional 4th 15 years ago + #Packers waiting for more + described them as ‘far apart’ currently in trade negotiations but it can change quickly: 🎥 @GetUpESPN pic.twitter.com/mkzuh9QMEf
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) March 16, 2023
It makes sense that the Jets would want this level of compensation for a few reasons. Rodgers is in a very similar place in his career as Favre was: an aging QB who had debated whether he was going to retire.
In fact, Favre had arguably played better in the season prior to his trade than Rodgers did last year. Favre ranked fourth among QBs in passing yards (4,155) and tied for sixth in TDs (28) in 2007 while making it to the NFC Championship.
Furthermore, Rodgers has a difficult contract that would include paying him $58.3 million upfront prior to Week 1 of the season. If the Packers will not pick up any of that tab, there is only so much compensation they will receive for Rodgers. We saw this in the Jalen Ramsey and Darren Waller trades, which returned only third-round picks due to large contracts.
Additionally, with Rodgers’s declaration that he wants to play for the Jets, the Packers do not really have any leverage. They can claim that they will wait until after the draft to trade him (as Pro Football Talk reported, making them the Packers’ mouthpiece), but that would be cutting off their nose to spite their face, both in terms of Rodgers’s cap hit ($31.6 million) and his presence undermining their ability to move forward.
Ultimately, it is likely that the compensation will be a bit more than just that conditional pick, but it makes sense for the Jets to try to keep the compensation low.
According to Trey Wingo, the deal could take a few more days, but it’s 99% done. Time will tell who is right, although Wingo has been more accurate about every step of the Rodgers process than Schefter thus far.
