The Ripple Effect Of The Aaron Rodgers Trade & How It Impacts Jordan Love’s Future

Brian Gutekunst Saves The Day & Gets Flexibility in 23' and 24' NFL Draft

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Can you believe that the Aaron Rodgers trade is official?! 

I can’t believe it either. It feels like we’ve been waiting for months and months for this to actually happen while in reality it’s only been 5 weeks. Now the Aaron Rodgers era is officially over in Green Bay. 

It’s bittersweet to see him go. Honestly I felt most of the sadness the day he announced on the Pat McAfee show that he intended to play for the New York Jets. That’s when the truth came out and things got real. On that day we knew Rodgers wouldn’t be coming back to Green Bay. 

After that  the question then became, when is Aaron Rodgers going to be traded and what will the Packers get in return?

I initially assumed a trade would get done right away, but little did I know that we had about 5 weeks of waiting ahead of us. 

Late Monday afternoon the news finally broke. I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting outside enjoying a nice day here in Dallas where I live. I try to take advantage of being able to sit outside in the afternoon because when the summer finally comes around the second you leave the safety of air conditioning you basically melt. That’s the reality of living in Texas. On the plus side I don’t have to be frozen throughout the winter like many of you Wisconsinites. 

When I saw the notification pop up on my phone I thought to myself, “Wait, is this actually happening??” I made sure it was the real Adam Schefter and not a fake account. 

IT WAS REAL! I couldn't believe it. 

It felt like the day would never come. Part of me was starting to wonder if the Jets were going to fumble the bag and let Rodgers slip out of their hand. Would they really not be willing to give the Packers what they want for a player who could change their franchise in an instant? 

It turns out the Jets were willing to give up more than many Jets fans thought. Over the course of the trade talks it felt like there was a group of people who thought the Packers may have to settle for only a 2nd round pick. That wouldn’t have been worth it. I wanted Brian Gutekunst to at least secure 2 second round picks. 

Yes Aaron Rodgers is old, but he is still AARON RODGERS. 

To be able to get Rodgers on your roster you gotta pay up. That’s exactly what ended up happening. 

Let’s dive into the compensation and what this new draft capital will be able to do for the Packers. 

This trade gives the Packers flexibility on draft day. 

The first part of the trade deal is the Packers swapping 1st round picks with the Jets for the 2023 NFL Draft. It may seem insignificant but this move does potentially open up more options now for the Packers. 

One of the guys they love could slip to them at #13. Who you might ask? I wish I knew. When it comes to the draft you never know when a player expected to go in the top 10 starts to slip farther than many thought they would. 

There’s a chance a consensus top 10 player falls to the Packers at #13. Many Packers fans have been hounding for the Packers to take WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Considering most see him as the most talented WR in this class he may not have fallen to the Packers at #15. Moving up 2 spots does slightly increase our chances of him falling to us. BUT, even if he falls we don’t know if Gutekunst will break the Packers streak of not drafting a WR in the first round. Can you imagine if it happened the year Rodgers leaves? I could imagine Rodgers seeing the draft pick and I bet he’d look something like this.

You drafted a 1st round receiver the year I leave??? 

Haha only joking. The Packers have been incredible at finding WR value outside of round 1 over the years. Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams, Christian Watson. Watson was basically a first round WR last year. He was drafted at #34 only a couple spots away from the first round.

The Packers also have the ability to trade up. We are now only 3 spots away from the top 10 and we could use one of our two second round picks to potentially move up. 

If we look at drafttek’s NFL draft trade value site, they have the Packers #13 pick valued at 1,150. The Packers new pick 2nd round pick, #42 from the Jets, is valued at 480. If you add those two together you get 1,630. The Lions pick at #6 is valued at 1600. So theoretically if the Packers wanted to move into the top 10 they could trade their 1st and 2nd and have the ability to get to pick #5 or #6. 

The Seahawks pick at #5 and the Lions pick at #6. If we get to those picks and the Packers love a guy we can’t rule out Brian Gutekunst being hyper aggressive and moving up to take a guy he loves. He hasn’t been afraid in the past to move up. 

If the Packers traded their #13 pick and 3rd round pick they could theoretically get up to pick #9. Not saying this will happen but with more capital now in Brian Gutekunst’s possession it gives him a ton of flexibility. If the Packers are up at #13 and they don’t love anybody they could also trade back later in round 1 and receive an additional 2nd or 3rd in return. 

You really can’t go wrong either way.

If you trade up you get an elite player. You trade back you get more top players to build around Jordan Love.The Packers could plug up a lot of holes on this roster. We could also stay put and leave the draft with 3 players in the top 45. 

That by itself it HUGE. 

Now we could draft a TE, WR, and Edge in the first 2 rounds. OL and S could also make sense. Ideally the Packers leave the first two rounds with at least two pass catchers. Initially my hope was we’d leave with one pass catcher in the first two rounds, but now with this added capital they could easily leave with 2. I’d say go with one TE and one WR. Why not take Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Dalton Kincaid at #13 and then take another TE/WR with pick #42 or #45. 

Brian Gutekunst has loaded up on draft capital the past 2 years. 

It’s now been two straight years with Brian Gutekunst signing off on league changing blockbuster trades. Both times the Packers sent away an elite player, Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers, for multiple picks in each draft. The Packers have moved off elite players that cost big money and have filled those gaps with young prospects on cheap contracts.

While it may not have been exactly the way Brian Gutekusnt wanted things to go, it could bode very well for Green Bay in the future. It’s still a little too early to tell if these trades make the Packers better in the long run. The Packers were at the top of their game with Rodgers and Adams in 2021 but it still wasn’t enough to get to a Super Bowl. Brian Gutekunst tried to keep Adams around in the 2022 off-season but his mind was made up to go to Las Vegas even though the Packers offered him more money. 

Sending away Davante Adams got the Packers a 1st and 2nd round pick in the 2022 draft. That turned into Quay Walker and Christian Watson. Now the Packers send away Aaron Rodgers and get a 2nd in 2023 and likely a first in 2024, as long as Aaron Rodgers stays healthy. 

While the franchise may take a hit in the short term, Brian Gutekunst couldn’t have maneuvered the transition to Jordan Love much better. Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs got their feet wet with Rodgers in 2022 and now will get to pair up with Love in his first year. We knew a day would come where Aaron Rodgers would no longer be the QB in Green Bay. There was even a chance he would retire this past off-season. The fact that the Packers got all of this draft capital for Aaron Rodgers is a HUGE win by Brian Gutekunst. Bravo!

Packers Have Capital to move up for a QB in 2024 if Love disappoints in 2023. 

Until Jordan Love takes the field in 2023 there will still be questions about whether or not he is the long term answer in Green Bay. In the off chance Love comes in and disappoints in his first year-I say off chance because I think he’s legit- the Packers have ammo to potentially move up high in the 2024 draft. I don’t think we should only give Love one year and they say “See ya” if he doesn’t exceed expectations. I think he should get two years and if after year 2 things aren’t looking up we move on. But, if after year one there are big concerns the Packers could draft a QB in the 2024 draft. 

Let’s hope this doesn’t happen, but let’s say the Packers are really bad in 2023 and they win 5 or 6 games. They would already have a pretty high pick and with the Jets 1st, which is only a 2nd if Rodgers doesn’t play 65% of the snaps which he should, we could move up to select one of the top QB’s in the 2024 draft. That gives us an opportunity to take another shot at another young QB if things don’t work out with Love. 

Again, I believe Love is going to be great,  just thinking about every possibility. If Love is great in 2024 then we have two more firsts to build around him. Either way the Packers are in a very good spot. 

Goodbye Aaron Rodgers, We’ll miss you

I’m grateful for all the years Rodgers spent in Green Bay and all of the great memories I have because of him. It's been a great ride. It’s crazy to believe his time in Green Bay is over. He’ll always be a Packer in my book.

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