Aaron Rodgers trade: Super Bowl or bust for the Jets? What's next - ESPN

After months of speculation, Aaron Rodgers has been traded to the New York Jets.

It has been nearly three years since Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst used a first-round pick on Jordan Love, a move that seemed to hint at the end of the Hall of Famer's tenure in Green Bay. Rodgers responded by winning back-to-back MVP awards and signing an extension with the team. Now, after a disappointing season for both Rodgers and the Packers, the two sides have split.

It's easy to understand why the Packers were ready to move on. Love has sat on the bench for most of his first three seasons and has a fifth-year option decision coming due this spring. Rodgers is owed a $58.3 million bonus before the 2023 season and a whopping $108.7 million over the next two years. After he came out of his darkness retreat and announced he wanted to play for the Jets in 2023, the writing was on the wall regarding his relationship with Green Bay.

In a situation in which both the Jets and Packers were locked into a deal with no alternatives, it was going to be difficult to negotiate compensation, which is why it took until the days before the draft to get a deal done. The Packers are sending Rodgers and Picks 15 and 170 in this year's draft to the Jets. In return, the Jets are shipping off Picks 13, 42 and 207 in this draft and a second-rounder in 2024 that could become a first-rounder if Rodgers plays at least 65% of the snaps this season.

Tying the jump to a first-rounder on that 2024 pick to roughly playing 12 games as opposed to a more substantial total or some sort of production or win-based measure is a victory for Gutekunst. When I wrote my mock draft of trades column, I included a compensatory selection that rose a round if