When will Aaron Rodgers be traded to Jets? Key dates to know as negotiations with Packers drag out

When Aaron Rodgers announced on The Pat McAfee Show that he wanted to play for the Jets in the 2023 NFL season, many assumed a trade would be made shortly thereafter.

After all, the Packers and Jets were just waiting for Rodgers to make a decision, right? Now that he had done so, the two sides would be able to hastily cobble together a mutually beneficial deal to send the four-time MVP to New York.

Well, this is obviously not as easy as it sounds.

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To this day, Rodgers remains a member of the Packers. That won’t last, but a deal doesn’t seem imminent either.

Why? Because both the Jets and the Packers seem to think they have influence in this scenario. On the Green Bay side, it has the quarterback that New York wants. The Jets won’t be able to get another player of Rodgers’ caliber, so the Packers think they should get a solid pick for the four-time MVP.

As for the Jets, they know the Packers don’t want to keep Rodgers and quite frankly don’t have another team they can realistically trade him with. Additionally, New York doesn’t want to mortgage too much of the future to acquire a quarterback who may only have one more season to play.

So, there could be a standoff between the two clubs. At the very least, it could take longer for both sides to reach an agreement than their assessment of the situation expected.

But how long could trade talks last? Here are some of the key dates to watch in the Aaron Rodgers trading saga as the Packers and the Jets both try to plan their futures.

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Important dates in Aaron Rodgers’ trade negotiations

April 17: Jets off-season program

The Jets begin their offseason program on April 17. At this point, they would certainly like to have Rodgers on the team as it would give him ample time to familiarize himself with offense and get to know his teammates.

Of course, Rodgers has skipped the Packers’ offseason program in recent seasons, so he may not be in the Jets’ program. Even so, the Jets would likely still be happy to give him that opportunity and make sure they at least have a plan as a quarterback as they begin preparing for the 2023 season.

April 27: NFL draft

The 2023 NFL Draft begins April 27, so this is the first “deadline” for a deal. It’s still not hard, but there’s no denying that both the Jets and Packers want to know their plans and the draft compensation available before making their Round 1 picks.

The Packers are more likely to want to finalize a deal by that time, when the Jets are ready to pick up a first-round pick to land Rodgers. That would guarantee the Packers a 13th overall pick.

As for the Jets, they may prefer to use their draft capital and include 2024 picks in a trade for Rodgers when the time comes. That would allow them to maximize their resources to build around it.

May 1: Jordan Love’s fifth year option expiration

The other main reason the Packers want to close a deal by draft day? You have a decision to make about Jordan Love. They have until May 1 to exercise the fifth-year quarterback’s option.

The Packers seem ready for it; However, they might not want to do that if Rodgers is still on the list and uncertainties face both sides. If a trade fails and Rodgers decides to play for the Packers again, they would have nearly $75 million in cap rank tied up in quarterbacks for the 2024 NFL season. That’s just an untenable number.

June 1st: Trading after June 1st vs trading before June 1st

If the Packers get through the NFL Draft and Love deadline without having traded Rodgers, they can be content to wait until June to finalize the deal. Once June 1 is over, the Packers could spread Rodgers’ dead-cap hit across two seasons instead of absorbing it all in 2023.

If the Packers trade Rodgers before June 1, they will take a dead cap hit (salary cap space taken by a player who is no longer on a team) of $40.3 million must; Rodgers’ current cap hit is trading at $31.6 million, so trading him would actually cost Green Bay an additional $8.7 million in cap space. If Rodgers trades after June 1, the Packers can budget it to have a $15.8 million dead cap hit in 2023 and a $24.5 million dead cap hit in 2024 absorb.

This would benefit the Packers in the short term as they would have more cap space to potentially build around Love with. However, deferring part of the cap would limit their spending capabilities in 2024, so it’s possible the Packers might want to take the cap hit all at once.

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End of July: Training camp begins

The NFL has not yet announced when training camps will open in 2023, but all teams typically begin camps in late July. At this point, the Jets would have an increased desire to have Rodgers on their roster so he can prepare to play with his new teammates, while the Packers would be able to confidently play with Love as their starter without the looming threat move forward Rodgers threat off.

There’s no financial incentive to strike a deal by then, but from a practical standpoint, this could be the last deadline that makes sense for either team.

September 10: The season begins

If no trades have taken place by this point in the offseason calendar, chances are each team has already found a different solution. Technically, however, this would be the hard deadline for trading Rodgers.

Why? It’s all about the money. Rodgers has a fully guaranteed $58.3 million option bonus that must be exercised prior to the first game of the season.

Often the decision to pick up the option was made well before the deadline, or at least an agreement to pick up would have been made. But if the Packers really don’t want Rodgers on their team anymore, they could be hoping by game one of the regular season that they can trade him up.

However, it is very unlikely that this situation will develop. The Jets would certainly want to give Rodgers time to integrate into his new team, so they’d likely capitulate before then — unless the Packers put a really exorbitant price on Rodgers.

The Packers might want to persevere and get as much as they can for Rodgers, but at some point they’ll want to guarantee they won’t have to shoulder the financial burden of his contract anymore. Plus, they’ll want to be able to confidently pass the baton to Love and give him a chance to lead the team.

So expect a resolution from Rodgers before that point — even if a wait of that length is possible.

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When should the Packers trade Aaron Rodgers?

Is there a date of the packers should Act Rodgers? Former NFL manager Mike Tannenbaum, who works for ESPN but was once the Jets’ general manager, had his say on the matter in a recent article by ESPN’s Rich Cimini.

“It’s in everyone’s interest to get it done sooner or later,” he said. “Usually you need a deadline. Maybe the offseason program is the first deadline.”

In fact, it makes sense for both sides to resolve this as soon as possible, as a swap would not only cement Love and Rodgers as starters for their respective teams, but would also allow each club to enter the draft and be more about Learn about the team’s needs and what resources they have at their disposal to meet them.

So will this result happen? If common sense prevails, then yes. But it’s still too early to tell if that will happen.

And until something happens, NFL fans will be waiting to hear the latest rumors about Rodgers’ status as he looks to depart from the Packers after 18 years in Green Bay