Ceiling/Floor: Aaron Rodgers Traded to the New York Jets

Welcome to Ceiling/Floor where we dissect trades, signings, firings and hirings in order to determine the best case and worst case scenarios.

Trade compensation, per sources:

Jets get:
🏈Aaron Rodgers, pick No. 15, a 2023 5th-rd pick (No. 170).

Packers get:
🏈Pick No. 13, a 2023 2nd-rd pick (No. 42), a 6th-rd pick (No. 207), a conditional 2024 2nd-rd pick that becomes a 1st if Rodgers plays 65 percent of the plays. pic.twitter.com/Q2vUMfyZGH

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 24, 2023

The Green Bay Packers have traded Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets for way too much than the Jets needed to give up for a guy the Packers already established was never going to play for them again. Shrug.

Ceiling

Any quarterback that’s not Zach Wilson is a huge upgrade from the Jets current QB, Zach Wilson, so we can ignore the compensation it required to acquire Aaron Rodgers. The New York Jets haven’t made the playoffs in 12 years. Adding a 4-time MVP is going to help change that. Especially in a division where there’s head coach hates his starting QB and another team that’s crossing its fingers hoping their starting quarterback doesn’t get another concussion.

Aaron Rodgers will be reuniting with Nathaniel Hackett—the same offensive coordinator he had in 2020 and 2021 when he won back-to-back MVPs. Clearly, these two men have some connection and a thorough understanding of how to put up points. An understanding that Hackett and Russell Wilson did not share last season when Hackett was the Broncos head coach and the pair won 4 games before he was fired before the year even ended.

Rodgers may be coming off a down year compared to his previous MVP campaigns but he’s walking onto a far superior Jets offense with running back Breece Hall returning from a season-ending injury and Garrett Wilson who grabbed 83 catches for 1,103 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The team also signed Mecole Hardman and Allen Lazard. Not the most dynamic receivers ever but combined with Corey Davis and Denzel Mims, the Jets have some real depth at that position. They have legit 5 guys who could all be starters for most teams.

I’m also going to assume that the Jets are going into the draft with the offensive line as their no. 1 priority so I think Rodgers will have time in the pocket to find all these guys although, Zach Wilson’s problem wasn’t so much a lack of time in the pocket so much as an unwillingness to look over the entire field where guys were just running wide open all the time.

New York also has one of the best defenses in the NFL allowing the 4th least number of points last year.

I think you get the picture I’m painting. There’s a ready-made team and all they need is someone slightly better than Joe fucking Flacco.

Also, if we’re discussing fantasy best-case scenarios, perhaps Zach Wilson learns a lot from Rodgers as he sits as his backup. Wilson matures as a leader and gains a better understanding of NFL defenses ultimately leading to Rodgers passing the torch to Wilson—who would become the greatest homegrown QB in New York Jets history.

Floor

Last season was one of Rodger’s worst. It was his lowest passer rating ever, his 3rd fewest passing yards and the 2nd most interceptions he’s ever thrown. This man is about to be 40 years old. Sure, Tom Brady played forever but Tom Brady doesn’t eat strawberries and Aaron Rodgers smokes crack in dark caves before he makes decisions.

What happened with Russell Wilson in Denver is an interesting data point here. Russ was the MAN in Seattle for a decade but the second he arrived in Colorado, everyone in that locker room knew his arm was cooked and that he was a phony sociopath who cared more about how he was perceived on social media than like, scoring more points than the opponents on Sunday afternoon.

The Jets locker room didn’t like how Zach Wilson ducked responsibility for his poor performances. I cannot imagine they’re going to be excited about Rodgers bashing the playcalling and 4th down decisions as he zooms in to talk to Pat McAfee every Wednesday.

It’s very possible Rodgers is more focused on protesting Bud Light than football games. His main focus is avoiding any and all things ‘woke’. Dolphins newly acquired star, Jalen Ramsey, is about to put up historic numbers against the Jets while Rodgers is tripping off acid in the 2nd quarter and running out of the back of his own endzone.

Living in New York, I already know how annoying this man is about to be. The back page covers of the New York Post dunking on him. Reporters be sassy with him. Rodgers is going to be compared to his AFC QB peers every week and he’s going to look worse than Mahomes, Herbert, Allen, Burrow and Jackson.

But the good news as a middle-aged white dude in New Jersey, Rodgers will make plenty of friends who live and die by the words of Joe Rogan. He is going to have so much fun axe-throwing with the Don’t Treat On Me boys.

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