Aaron Rodgers Officially Getting Traded to the New York Jets

Weeks after making waves for his potential retirement, Aaron Rodgers is set to be traded to the New York Jets.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Monday, April 24, that the Green Bay Packers were trading Rodgers — and the No. 15 and 170 picks in the NFL draft — to the Jets in exchange for the No. 13, 42, and 207 picks in the Thursday, April 26, draft. Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst subsequently confirmed the news in a press conference, noting that the terms aren’t “finalized yet.”

“Obviously, Aaron is up there in age. I think he’s got some really good football left in him, but I think for us, as we got through the offseason and started talking about where we wanted to go, this made a little bit of sense for us,” Gutekunst told reporters. “That was a little bit unfortunate and disappointing for me. But at the same time, I just think, you know, as we move forward, we’re really excited where [backup QB] Jordan [Love] could go. … We’re trying to build.”

Back in February, Rodgers, 39, revealed his plans to attend a four-day “darkness retreat” that would help him find clarity about his future in football.

“It’s an opportunity to do a little self-reflection in some isolation and after that, I feel like I’ll be a lot closer to that final, final decision,” the NFL athlete said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show at the time. “I’ve had a number of friends who’ve done it and they had profound experiences.”

Speculation about his potential retirement first began in October 2022 when sports journalist Michael Balko tweeted that the athlete had plans in the works to hang up his cleats.

“I’ve spoken to some people within the #Packers organization, they told me that QB Aaron Rodgers has ‘made it clear’ that he plans to retire following the season,” Balko wrote at the time.

Though there were rumors that the quarterback would not return to the NFL for the 2022 season, Rodgers shot down the rumors in March, signing a three-year contract worth $150.8 million — a deal that made him the highest-paid player in North American sports history.

Three months later, he candidly discussed the idea of retirement during an interview with ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.

“If you say I’m for sure playing two more, three years and then you have a magical season that ends with a championship and think that might be the best way to ride off, I don’t want to commit to something,” Rodgers shared. “You say, I’m only playing one more year and you have a bitter taste in your mouth and still got the drive and the passion to play one or two more years, I just don’t want to get pigeonholed into it.”

 

The California native added: “So I’m focused on this season. I’m never gonna drag it out in the offseason. The conversations I’ve had with [general manager] Brian [Guntekunst] have been very honest and direct, and that’s not going to change, and we’ll sit down after the season, hopefully after a championship and figure out what the next step is.”

Rodgers has often been a controversial figure in the NFL through the years. In 2021, he made headlines following allegations that he lied about his vaccination status. The player tested positive for COVID-19 that November, months after telling reporters he was “immunized.”

After news broke that he had contracted coronavirus, he claimed he underwent his own protocols and treatments to “create a defense against COVID.”

“I didn’t lie in the initial press conference,” Rodgers claimed on The Pat McAfee Show at the time. “And at the time my plan was to say I’ve been immunized. It wasn’t some sort of ruse or lie … I found an immunization protocol that could best protect me and my teammates. And it was a long-term protocol that involved multiple months.”

Following his vaccination controversy, it was confirmed that Rodgers had split from fiancée Shailene Woodley. He got engaged to the Big Little Lies star, 31, in February 2021, but Us Weekly confirmed in February 2022 that they called off their wedding.

A week after the news, Rodgers went on the Pat McAfee Show to express his apologies that his remarks about COVID-19 had on the people in his life, including Woodley. “I am very sorry to those people, Shai and my loved ones. I didn’t realize the kind of shrapnel they’d be taking. … Understanding kind of the entire gravity of the situation I was thrust into and decided to speak on multiple times had an effect on a lot of people. To those people, I just say, ‘I’m sorry,’” he said at the time.

Amid all of the drama, Rodgers’ estranged family stayed mum even when the football star announced his engagement to Woodley. Although the origins of the tensions between Aaron and his family are unknown, things were heightened when his brother Jordan Rodgers went on JoJo Fletcher’s season of The Bachelorette in 2016.

“It pains both of us, like, not to have that relationship [with Aaron] – we miss our brother,” the former reality star said on the show at the time. “I trust that God brings things full circle and that everything would just get back to us being a family.”

Despite his controversies, Aaron still has an impressive career that began when he started at Butte College in 2002. He eventually transferred to the University of California, Berkeley after one year where he set several passing records including lowest-season and career interception rates. After a record-breaking junior year, the spokesperson for State Farm Insurance decided to forego his senior year and join the 2005 NFL Draft where he was selected by the Green Bay Packers.

In 2010, the Packers player led his team to victory at the Superbowl XLV over the Steelers, earning him the Super Bowl MVP title. Aaron ranks third on the NFL’s all-time regular season career passer rating list and holds the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in NFL history at 4.80. He has been honored with numerous awards including winning the Best NFL Player ESPY Award four times in a row.

Aside from football, Aaron is a limited partner in the Milwaukee Bucks ownership group and has worked with the MACC Fund for over a decade which focuses on childhood cancer research.