Joe Douglas wise to ask for Aaron Rodgers protection

Yahoo NFL reporter Charles Robinson reiterated the details surrounding the trade delay for Aaron Rodgers on a recent podcast. Just in case anyone isn’t aware, there are apparently two issues preventing the deal from being completed:

1) The Packers want the 2024 pick to be a guaranteed first-round pick. At the moment, it’s reported that the Jets are willing to offer a 2024 second-round pick that escalated to a first if certain conditions are met.

2) The Jets want the Packers to agree to send a 2025 draft pick to the Jets if Aaron Rodgers decides to be one-and-done in New York. The nature of that pick is unknown, but I’d be surprised if it was higher than a 4th.

While I was researching another piece today I came across an article from our sister site Acme Packing Company, the SB Nation site dedicated to the Green Bay Packers, and they had an article titled “2024 Aaron Rodgers isn’t the Packers’ 2025 problem: Green Bay shouldn’t give up a conditional 2025 pick to the New York Jets”.

In that piece Justis says:

What’s insane to me is to ask for a pick for two years in the future — presumably a top-100 selection, too, if it’s holding up the deal — if a quarterback doesn’t return for his 40-year-old season in the NFL. Hackett, Johnson and Douglas, listen closely: Rodgers’ age and uncertainty about the future of his career are why he’s available. It’s why a four-time former NFL MVP could be traded for just two second-round picks, compared to the hauls that Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford brought for their original teams. It’s already baked into the price. Did they never think to consider that?

If we had truth serum to hand out, the number one thing I would like an answer to from the Jets organization right now is: “Who was the Rodgers you thought you were meeting in Malibu and has anything changed since then to make you doubt his commitment to football?” Despite the Jets being backed up into a corner at the quarterback position, they now want protections in case this shotgun marriage doesn’t play out the way they hope. Gutekunst is not new to Rodgers’ wishy-washy ways, which is probably why he’s hanging onto that 2025 draft choice for dear life. The staredown persists.

Let’s just break down some of these statements bit by bit:

“2024 Aaron Rodgers isn’t the Packers’ 2025 problem”

Technically, he absolutely is. The Packers have made it clear that they’re looking to move on from Aaron Rodgers, before any of this, before the darkness retreat, before Rodgers said he wanted to be a Jet, the Packers management was talking about Rodgers in the past tense. In order to treat him in the past tense, they need a buyer, that buyer is going to be looking at both Rodgers and the team’s outlook over the coming years, the important part there is years and not year. If you want to sell Rodgers, then you need to appreciate that his value is dictated by how long he intends to play.

“What’s insane to me is to ask for a pick for two years in the future — presumably a top-100 selection”

It should not be a crazy thought to anyone, that a general manager is looking to safeguard any investment, especially one that is likely to cost at least two 2nd round picks, and likely a 2nd and 1st round pick. Again, Rodgers’s value is dependent on how long he intends to play, if you’re a negotiator in this situation then his value is the key variable in getting a deal done. We also don’t know what kind of pick the Jets are asking for in return, this is pure speculation to suggest that the Jets are asking for a top-100 selection. It’s more likely they are asking for something like a 4th, but again that’s speculation.

Douglas could drop the idea of the Packers sending back a pick, but that would probably result in the immediate compensation being lower.

Rodgers’ age and uncertainty about the future of his career are why he’s available. It’s why a four-time former NFL MVP could be traded for just two second-round picks, compared to the hauls that Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford brought for their original teams. It’s already baked into the price. Did they never think to consider that?

Wilson and Stafford were both in their early 30s when they were traded and the selling teams didn’t need to move them. The Packers need to move Rodgers both for financial reasons and to ensure they get a good look at Jordan Love. It’s obvious Packers management don’t want him and it’s obvious he doesn’t want to be there, did they never think to consider this?

Despite the Jets being backed up into a corner at the quarterback position, they now want protections in case this shotgun marriage doesn’t play out the way they hope.

The Jets are going into this with their eyes firmly open, knowing that the marriage with Rodgers could be a one-year thing, and as a result they want the compensation to reflect that possibility because again, it comes down to value. I don’t understand why this is so hard to comprehend. It’s not as if the Jets have suddenly changed their mind. For all we know, a 2025 pick could have always been the stipulation.

The Packers want cover just in case the Jets are really good, with that 2nd escalating to a 1st round pick, as a fan I can understand that, it makes sense to me that they want to ensure they’re getting maximum value based on performance. It’s also understandable that the Jets want to protect that value based on their own stipulations, again, both teams have a point here.