It’s a sad day in Wisconsin today because Aaron Rodgers will no longer be a member of the Green Bay Packers. After seventeen years with the team, Aaron, 38, he will be hanging up the green and yellow jersey and join the New York Jets, ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter reported on April 24. According to Adam, the Packers will send the quarterback to NY in exchange for a bunch of draft picks, including two second-rounders. Adam Schefter went on to report that Aaron will switch from No. 12 to No. 8 when he officially arrives in New York.
Aaron’s future in Green Bay became a hot topic after the Packers’ elimination from the 2022 NFL Playoffs. Aaron started the 2021-22 season in a standoff with the Packers over his current contract, and ESPN reported that the 2023 season would be voided on his deal. The team also reportedly agreed not to exercise the franchise tag on him, allowing Aaron to enter free agency at the end of the season.
Instead of flying home to Los Angeles following Green Bay’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reported that Aaron stayed in Green Bay for a few extra days “to plot out the team’s future, huddling with coach Matt LaFleur and others and mapping out what’s next.” Rapoport said that his sources claimed that the organization had “cautious optimism” that Aaron would return to the Packers.
However, fans and armchair quarterbacks alike figured that Aaron’s time in Green Bay was coming to an end when Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett became the new head coach of the Denver Broncos. Their working relationship led many to think that Aaron would follow that working relationship to Mile High Stadium. The Broncos will also have around $47.6 million in cap space this season, per Spotrac, allowing Aaron to get a decent paycheck,
Adding more fuel to the “Aaron Rodgers to Denver” fire was the fact that he sold his San Diego home for $5.13 million, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Aaron, a California native, also has homes in Hobart and Malibu.
The Packers picked Aaron in the 2005 NFL Draft, and he has remained with the team ever since. While Rodgers has racked up numerous personal accolades and records during his time with the team, he’s only played in one Super Bowl – Super Bowl XLV, in 2011. He and the Packers won that game but haven’t been to the Big Dance since.
“I think some of the factors are the direction of the team and the organization, and how I feel like I fit in in the future,” Rodgers told The Pat McAfee Show in January 2022, per Sports Illustrated. “Mentally, do I still have the passion, the competitiveness, the desire to keep playing? I think it’s a feeling, and you just kind of know when the offseason has started. When you’re a hyper-competitive individual, you also dream or think about what the fairy tale ending is. It doesn’t mean Super Bowl necessarily, but that’s a pretty damn good fairy tale.”