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When you look at what the Jets gave up for Aaron Rodgers . . .
that is he retires after one season, and they don’t win a Super Bowl in that one season, you could argue the Green Bay Packers won the deal.
Green Bay sent the four-time NFL MVP to the Jets, along with their 15th overall draft pick (first round) and a fifth-round selection (No. 170) in exchange for the Jets’ 13th overall draft choice (first round), a second-round pick (No. 42), a sixth-round pick (No. 207) and a 2024 second-round pick that will become a first-rounder if Rodgers plays at least 65 percent of Jets offensive plays in 2023.
So let’s say the Jets have an average year, let’s say they go 9-8, perhaps play playoff game, Rodgers plays at least 65 percent of the snaps and then retires after the season, it wouldn’t look like a very good trade for Gang Green.
But if he plays at least two seasons, and plays well, you could argue the trade was well worth it.
Well, hearing Rodgers speak today, it certainly sounds like he intends on playing more than one season for the Jets.
“I think so, I really do,” Rodgers said about playing beyond this upcoming season. “They definitely gave up some picks for me to be here. This isn’t like a one-and-done in my mind.”
That has to make the Jets and their fans feel pretty good.
But with that being said, Rodgers, like any great athlete, knows that he needs to focus on the here-and now, and not look too far ahead.
“I want to be in the present and not talk about future things,” Rodgers said. “It’s about being fully committed for this season. I’m excited to be here, excited to get going and will figure out that other stuff down the line.”
So he sounds like a player he could be here for at least a couple of years.
He’s feeling good. He’s always been pretty good at avoiding a lot of big hits with his ability to make quick decisions and get rid of the ball, so he’s not an old 39.
However, there was one physical issue that clearly impacted his skill set last year.
On November 27, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Rodgers was playing with the fracture.
Rapoport said that the injury is “serious enough that surgery is almost always the answer to fix this type of injury.” The reporter added that an avulsion fracture “causes the ligament to rip away from the attachment, taking some bone with it.”
The injury can affect a quarterback’s ability to grip the ball and perhaps his accuracy, and Rodgers threw some uncharacteristic ducks in a late November game against the Tennessee Titans leading to some questions about the thumb after the game.
“It felt like, fundamentally, I was in a good spot,” Rodgers said. “I just didn’t have the same type of consistent grip and ball coming out the same way. I threw a lot of kinda wobblers tonight.”
So a Jets Confidential reporter asked Rodgers today how his thumb is doing.
“It’s fully healthy,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t get surgery and I’m feeling great. I’ve been throwing with no issue.”
When asked about the report from Rapoport that he might have needed surgery after the season.
“Yes, I guess he would know,” Rodgers said sarcastically.
It’s well-documented Rodgers isn’t a fan of some of the national insiders.
So Rodgers is in good health and ready to roll.
And it certainly sounds like they could get a couple of years out of him.
April 26, 2023
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