When the New York Jets traded for Aaron Rodgers back in April of 2023, it was a deal that was supposed to propel Gang Green to new heights. Forget the AFC Championship games of the past that Jets fans have clung to for so long. This was the move to put the Jets in the Super Bowl within the next 24 months. The cost? Who cares! This is the move to put the Jets over the top.
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Well, now that two full NFL seasons have passed and the Jets are ready to part ways with Rodgers, let’s take a look back at what this deal actually cost the Jets. Not just in what they paid to get Rodgers, but the subsequent moves that were made to surround him with players who made him most comfortable.
How many salary cap dollars did those moves eat up? What did the Jets lose in draft capital when all was said and done? Spoiler alert…an awful lot.
First there was the up-front compensation that the Jets sent to Green Bay to acquire Rodgers. It was a swap of first-round picks that saw the Jets drop from 13th to 15th. Largely a nothing burger as Gang Green landed stud pass rusher Will McDonald.
After the swap of firsts, the Jets additionally gave up a 2nd and a 6th round choice in the 2023 draft. Then there was a compensatory pick for the 2024 draft which turned out to be a second round pick along with another 5th rounder in that same draft.
The Jets then re-worked Rodgers’ deal to include $75 million in guaranteed money. Having been paid $26 million in cap dollars thus far, the Jets are still left on the hook for another $49 million.
The Jets added wide receiver Allen Lazard in anticipation of trading for his good friend Aaron Rodgers.
In anticipation of adding Rodgers, which the team felt was going to happen, they went out and added his close friend Allen Lazard in free agency. It was a 4-year deal worth $44 million with half of that guaranteed. Now likely to be released this offseason, the Jets will have spent $28 million on Lazard in salary and what is likely to be a future dead cap hit of $6 million.
When the Jets still thought there was a chance to salvage their 2024 season, owner Woody Johnson did what no other team was willing to do and shipped a third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for another one of Rodgers’ best friends in wide receiver Davante Adams.
The receiver had been on the market for weeks with the Raiders reportedly asking for a round 3 pick. Nobody was taking the bait until Woody Johnson stepped in and ordered the Jets front office to pull the trigger. So off went the 2025 third-round pick to go along with the remaining $11 million on Adams’ 2024 salary.
Add to those moves the additions of running back Dalvin Cook, wide receiver Randall Cobb, offensive tackle Billy Turner and Rodgers’ former Green Bay teammate Tim Boyle and you’ve to four roster spots and roughly $13 million dollars on top of what was already spent on Rodgers.
When all was said and done, the total price tag for Rodgers and his supporting cast ran the Jets $126.6 million along with the following:
2023 draft picks:
– 1st round swap of picks from 13 to 15
– 2nd round pick
– 6th round pick
2024 draft picks:
– 2nd round pick in 2024
– 5th round pick in 2024
2025 draft picks
– 3rd round pick in 2025
That’s an awful lot of cap dollars and draft capital in exchange for just one season of actual football in which Rodgers’ mediocre play led the Jets to just five wins.
A horrible trade in terms of value that’s made worse by the fact that the Jets overpaid for Rodgers no matter how things transpired.
He was a QB on the edge of 40-years-old and his old team was ready to move on but owed Rodgers $100 million. The Packers had no choice but to unload Rodgers with Jordan Love waiting in the wings. With no other teams interested so bidding against themselves, the Jets forked over all that capital with days left before they could be on the clock in the draft and have the Packers sweating.
The Jets caved, Rogers is gone, and it cost the Jets dearly in what should go down as the worst trade in team history.
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