Packers have vested interest in Jets misery beyond just vindication

The Packers have clear opportunities to make the Jets and Aaron Rodgers squirm if they are in rough shape by the NFL trade deadline.

The Green Bay Packers shipped Aaron Rodgers off to the New York Jets this offseason. Signed, sealed and delivered, and that’s that on the trade return, right?

Well,as Acme Packing Company pointed out, maybe not so fast. The way the trade is structured could drastically change the way the season plays out and some extra juice that the Packers could squeeze out of the completed deal.

Acme points out that Rodgers has been bullish on doing what he can to give the Packers flexibility to make the team better, having explicitly referenced the trade deadline and possible upgrades there as a reason for restructuring his contract to take less money.

The problem is, the Jets don’t have many assets to trade. Acme also reminded us that the Jets sent out the first- and second-round 2024 picks, picks they would most likely need, to land a star.

The Jets may end up retaining those picks, but it all depends on conditionals, percentages of snaps that Rodgers plays in 2023. Since the outcome of percentage benchmarks are impossible to know until the regular season is over, the Jets will have no claim to the picks even if an early injury takes Rodgers out and it’s unlikely for him to reach them.

Per Acme:

"“Because that 65 percent mark cannot be calculated until the end of the regular season, the Jets do not have the freedom to use either draft pick at the trade deadline without first coming to a new agreement with the Packers. This was confirmed to me by league sources, who said that a similar issue over conditional draft picks was a factor at the trade deadline last year for at least one proposed trade elsewhere in the NFL.”"

That means the Packers could get even more for the Rodgers deal still.

Packers will have plenty of reasons to laugh if Jets struggle to start the season

Aaron Rodgers was anything but magical to start 2022. By Week 10, the Packers were 4-6 and had lost as many as five games in a row. Rodgers threw for 6.8 yards per attempt, his lowest mark since 2015 and had the third-lowest quarterback rating of his career.

Though he seems recharged with the Jets and determined to make the most of whatever is left of his NFL career, another slow start would put the Jets in a bad place. Rodgers has already pressured the front office with his comments about taking a pay cut, and so any signs of struggle leading up to the deadline likely incentivize the Jets to get the Packers on the phone and re-engage on getting those picks back in complete control so they can move them to bring in more weapons to get the job done. The window is short with Rodgers, so the Jets need to do everything possible to get themselves in position to make the playoffs.

It’s tough to tell what the tone of Packers fans is toward Rodgers, but generally, it’s probably a bit too early for most fans to truly appreciate what he did for the franchise. For now, most seem salty and hoping he tumbles in his tenure with the Jets. At the very least, no Packers fan wants to see Rodgers head out of Green Bay and win a Super Bowl elsewhere in his first year out of Wisconsin.

For Packers fans, it would be a double win to see the Jets lose. On one hand, Rodgers isn’t winning elsewhere. Additionally, it increases the chances the Packers can squeeze even more out of the Rodgers trade lemon.

The trade might not be finalized just yet…