Aaron Rodgers left Green Bay, but why? He still has a burning passion for football.
Aaron Rodgers has spent his entire NFL career—a total of 18 seasons—as their starting quarterback, yet the reason he’s leaving the Green Bay Packers is a straightforward illustration of how good things must come to an end.
In 2002, Rodgers started playing football with the Butte College Bison before moving to the University of California to play for the Golden Bears. During that time, he would set a number of career records, including the lowest interception rates both in a single season and during a lifetime. He was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 2005 NFL Draft to serve as Brett Favre’s backup for the first three seasons. He started as Green Bay’s starting quarterback in 2008, and by 2010, he had helped the team defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. In 2011, he was recognized as the Associated Press Athlete of the Year and received league MPV.
However, the Packers’ 2022–2023 season wasn’t all that great, and when the club performs poorly, football pundits—sometimes unfairly—tend to point the finger at the quarterback. Here’s Aaron Rodgers’ new signing and the reason he’s leaving the Packers.
What makes Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers leaving?
What makes Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers leaving? Adam Schefter of ESPN was informed by sources on April 24, 2023, that the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets have reached an agreement to trade Rodgers. In exchange for New York’s 2023 first-round pick (No. 13), 2023 second-round pick (No. 42), 2023 sixth-round pick (No. 207), and a conditional 2024 second-round pick that becomes a first if Rodgers plays 65% of the plays this season, Aaron Rodgers is traded with their first-round pick (No. 15) and a 2023 fifth-round pick (No. 170) to the Jets.
In response to the deal, general manager of the Packers Brian Gutekunst stated, “It wouldn’t have been the end of the world.” However, I also believe that it would have significantly altered the situation. Thus, finishing it was crucial. To put it simply, I believe that this year’s capital was crucial for our football team—certainly more significant than anything that will come in the future. Thus, there were several causes, but that is the main one.
The four-time MVP stated that while “the Packers would like to move on,” he intends to continue playing in the NFL during a regular visit on The Pat McAfee Show. They’ve expressed that to me in a lot of words. They have explicitly stated that to others. “It’s just a matter of getting that done at this point because I still have that fire and I want to play and I would like to play in New York,” he said.
Saying, “[From] my side – love, appreciation and gratitude for everything that Green Bay has done for me,” he made it clear he had no ill will toward his previous team. Many thanks, feelings of love, and an open heart for Packers supporters and what it meant to be their quarterback. He also discussed his consideration of joining the New York Jets. “Just a matter of getting that done at this point, because I still have that fire and I want to play and I would like to play in New York.”
It wasn’t as easy as it seemed to trade Rodgers to the Jets, though. It appears that this team has higher expectations for him than the Jets are willing to pay. The Packers are seeking more from the base deal than just a first-round pick, according to multiple sources who spoke with ProFootballTalk. “If Rodgers plays in 2024, they want protection in 2025.” Furthermore, the report conjectured that the Jets feel they should give up more for a guy the Packers no longer desire. “The Packers would be crazy not to accept the Jets’ offer if they were to make one along the lines of a conditional package that included as much as a second-round pick this year and up to a second-round pick next year.”
On Thursday, March 16, 2023, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that as of the previous evening, the two sides were “not close” to reaching an agreement on the deal. “All I can say is that Green Bay thinks it’s right, the Jets think it’s right, and we’re just waiting to see if the two sides can work together to find a workable solution,” Schefter remarked.
“That is the current distance between the two sides. The fact that the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets must negotiate a salary for Aaron Rodgers is more complicated. According to Schefter, the Packers believed Rodgers was worth a package akin to what the Rams received for Matthew Stafford in the past. The Jets, meanwhile, “have to figure out what they’re willing to pay.”
By “digging their heels in,” Rodgers said the Packers were impeding his trade to the New York team. “Nothing has been held up by me. The Packers are currently kind of burying their heels in and attempting to get me recompense. At this juncture, it’s fascinating to take a step back and examine the big picture, Rodgers said to McAffe.
The Packers inked Aaron Rodgers to a $150 million, three-year agreement in 2022, which is the largest contract in terms of average yearly salary. The Packers will need to find a team willing to take on the cap hit from Aaron Rodgers’ $58.3 million option bonus for the 2023 season since he is expected to earn a guaranteed salary of $59.4 million the next season, which will be the biggest compensation ever given to an NFL player for a single season.
In July 2021, Rodgers gained notoriety after he turned down the Packers’ offer of an extension contract. The five-year contract, per ESPN, would have made him the best paid quarterback in the league as well as the highest paid player overall. Following the report, a large number of football fans and analysts flocked to social media, with many attempting to make sense of Rodgers’ choice. Among them was sportscaster Stephan A. Smith, host of ESPN’s First Take, who, in a part of the show, expressed his “disgust” with “all of these NFL aficionados” who “don’t understand” Rodgers’ problems.
Smith supported Rodgers’ decision in the video, which subsequently made its way onto Twitter. “This demonstrates what I have been discussing for months. It is not a football issue. It goes beyond money,” he remarked. This has to do with how their best player has been handled by the Green Bay Packers. They have treated him with contempt, diminished him, dismissed him, and ignored him. “Bump y’all, enough is enough,” he exclaimed.
When ESPN senior NFL analyst Adam Schefter said on Twitter in May that Aaron Rodgers was “disgruntled” with his team, it was the first indication that Rodgers might be leaving. At the time, Schefter’s tweet stated, “Reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers is so dissatisfied with the Green Bay Packers that he has told some within the organization that he does not want to return to the team, league, and team sources told ESPN on Thursday.”
