Packers QB to the Big Apple: Déjà Vu

Coming soon to the Garden State: Four-time NFL MVP and now former Green Bay Packers Quarterback, Aaron Rodgers…

…. wait a minute, again with a beloved Packers signal caller to the New York Jets? Is it 2023 or 2008? 

On March 15 2023 at around 1:20pm Eastern time, the eccentric man that had graced Lambeau Field with his talent since 2005 announced on The Pat McAfee Show that he intends to play for the Jets in 2023.

The decision was made last week between the parties involved. The only thing that needs to be sorted out as of this writing is the compensation for the Packers. Rodgers also went to say that the alleged wish list of players was a farce.

As a Packers fan, this is all too familiar.

I was around when Brett Favre was traded to Gang Green on August 6, 2008. It was a bittersweet day for 13-year old me, seeing the QB that was my favorite at the time (now firmly behind our subject of this article) traded to a team that was closer to home, and wondering if the next guy up would be half the QB that Favre was in Titletown. It was a uncertain time for the fanbase, whilst another celebrated their best QB acquisition since drafting Chad Pennington in 2000 (whom was being replaced by Favre).

Even in a division that had a near unstoppable juggernaut in the New England Patriots (who ironically lost to the other New Jersey team in the Super Bowl months prior), Jets fans finally had something to look forward too, and believed it would be the year the Jets reclaimed their spot atop the division. 

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but during the season, I recall bragging to my friends more about how Favre was going to take the Jets to the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season and after they knocked off the top team in the conference at the time, the Tennessee Titans, more than hyping up the future of the Green Bay Packers. In fairness, the Packers ended up going 6-10 and Rodgers wasn’t quite looking like the player he would become a year later, let alone what he’d become in the 2010’s.

I, of course, had to hear it when the Jets ended up missing the playoffs after a Week 17 loss to the sane Dolphins they beat 16 weeks earlier, and was told that the Packers were also doomed.

It ended up turning out alright for my team two years later, so at least there’s that. As for the next 12 years or so, it was an exercise on how to waste yet another future Hall of Fame Quarterback for the Packers. And once again, said QB will be joining the Jets.

The Jets are trying their hand with a soon to be 40-year-old Packers QB that is coming off a tumultuous few years that saw the organization draft his successor, winning MVP in back to back years, and having his final throw as a Packer be intercepted at Lambeau Field in a must win game. And much like in 2008, the move makes the Jets automatic contenders for a Super Bowl and a chance to end the longest active playoff appearance drought in the league.

Also much like 2008, the Jets will have at least one team to contend with in the AFC East in the Bills (whom were bottom feeders in 2008), as well as the aforementioned New England Patriots and a potentially surging Miami Dolphins team (if they can keep Tua’s brain from further turning into mush).

As it stands now, Rodgers will find himself in an offense that features some familiar faces, such as WR Allen Lazard and Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett (the Packers OC from 2019-2021), as well as up-in-coming talent in RB Breece Hall and WR Garrett Wilson.

He will also be complimented by a defensive unit that finished in the top eight in the league in 2022. The question now is: can the offense compliment the defense now that they have a quarterback that can command a familiar offense that saw him win back-to-back MVPs?

But what about the Packers? The team now is full speed ahead on the Jordan Love experiment. While the former #26 Overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft looked good in relief for Rodgers (like Aaron did for Brett in Favre’s last season as a Packer), there are still a lot of questions to be answered in terms of him being a long term starter like his predecessors.

He will also need a reload of talent on the offense, as players such as the aforementioned Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb have departed from the team, as well as a few other pieces from last season. If Love does pan out, awesome. If he doesn’t, then the March for Arch (Manning) will commence (we’ll pretend that’s a thing). Time will tell like it did at the end of the 2000s, early 2010s with Rodgers. 

As of this writing, there is still plenty to be worked out for Rodgers and the Jets, but I anticipate the Jets will be a playoff team in 2023. But then again, a lot of thought the same of the Jets in 2008 (including myself) and they ended up missing out. My wish is that the Packers and Jets both somehow meet in the Super Bowl this year. That way we can see if the Packers made the right decision to move on from Rodgers.

I also hope this doesn’t signal the beginning of another dark age for Packers football. Not sure if I want to experience what my grandfather went through in the 70s and 80s. History seems to keep repeating itself with Green Bay, so I would not be surprised if we had yet another case of Déjà vu.