Aaron Rodgers Gets His Trade—and Likely a Pay Cut

The trade everyone in the NFL thought was coming has indeed arrived: The Green Bay Packers have sent Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets, reports NBC Sports. The 39-year-old Rodgers has spent his entire career in Green Bay until now, racking up one Super Bowl win (2010) and four MVP awards. He would have made about $60 million in the upcoming season had he stayed with Green Bay, but Brian Costello of the New York Post writes that number will likely come "way down as Rodgers helps the Jets build a team around him."

Still, the trade is a "big swing" for Jets GM Joe Douglas, writes Bill Barnwell at ESPN. The Jets are now arguably a championship contender, but a Rodgers flop would be disastrous for the major figures involved in the deal, he notes. For the record, the Jets get Rodgers as well as the 15th pick overall and a fifth-round pick in this year's draft, per the AP. The Packers get picks No. 13, 42, and 207, and a potential first-round pick in the 2024 draft if Rodgers takes 65% of the Jets' snaps in the upcoming season. So who gets the better deal? "The truth is we won’t know for at least a year," writes Costello. (Rodgers famously went to a darkness retreat at the end of last season to ponder his future.)