The NFL is a deadline-driven business. And the deadline is coming for the Jets and the Packers, if Green Bay hopes to get a second-day pick in 2023 as part of the trade package.
Brian Costello of the New York Post underscores the fact that the sticking point continues to be 2024 compensation. The Packers want New York’s first-round pick. The Jets want the selection to be tied to how the Jets and/or Rodgers perform in 2023.
Then there’s the question of whether the Jets will have protection against Rodgers playing only one year, in the form of a 2025 pick that would flow from Green Bay to New York.
What isn’t in dispute is the fact that the trade would commence with the Packers getting a 2023 pick (presumably, a second-rounder) from the Jets. That makes next Friday night the moment a deal must get done, if it’s going to include a 2023 second-day selection.
Here’s an idea. What if the Jets commit to a first-round pick in 2024 that becomes a lower pick if Rodgers retires by April 1 of next year? While the Packers might want protection against a spite-driven unretirement (and that could be in the form of a 2025 draft pick), if the Jets know they’re getting two years from one of the best quarterbacks of all time, why not give up a first-round pick in 2024 -- especially since it likely will be a low selection?
Or what if it’s a first-rounder that reduces if the Jets don’t make the playoffs or the divisional round or some other factor like that? At this point, it may be about semantics. The Packers want to be able to say they got a first-rounder. If it’s a first-rounder for now that eventually downgrades due to performance or retirement, so be it. They still would have been able to say that, when the deal was completed, the package included a first-round pick.
