The most tangible evidence yet of a thawing of the ice between the Packers and Jets came on Monday, when Green Bay G.M. Brian Gutekunst admitted his team won’t necessarily get a first-round pick for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. That statement fairly can be interpreted as an indication that the Packers finally have abandoned their insistence on a package highlighted by a surrender of the 13th overall selection in the upcoming draft.
But it also hints at the possibility of a first-round pick in 2024, based on future events.
Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports has the latest from Arizona, where all teams are gathered and the two teams at the current center of the NFL’s universe might finally resolve their differences on a deal that is becoming increasingly inevitable.
The Jets have been willing, we’ve been told, to part ways with a pair of second-round picks. As Robinson characterizes the current talks, Green Bay would get a second-round pick in 2023 and a second-round pick in 2024, which could move to a first-round pick based on how the Jets do with Rodgers on the team in 2023.
Also at issue is the possibility that Rodgers, who claims he was 90-percent leaning toward retirement when he started his recent darkness retreat, will spend only one year in New York before calling it a career. The Jets would like protection against that possibility, in the form of a pick that would flow back to New York in 2025.
