After months of bullshit, the deal finally went through and Aaron Rodgers is a Jet. As the prophecy foretells, soon he will text his dick to Erin Andrews before replacing Kirk Cousins next season in Minnesota.

The final cost for Rodgers was thus: The Jets and Packers would swap 2023 first-round picks (Jets move back to 15, Packers up to 13). The Jets gave up their second-round pick (42), sixth-round pick (207), and also a 2024 conditional 2nd rounder that becomes a first-rounder should Rodgers play 65% of snaps (so presumably a 1st). That…honestly didn’t strike me as the worst deal for the Jets. I expected them to pay more. As it stands, dropping back 2 spots in one round, a 2nd and 6th with a potential 1st next year is not too shabby for a guy one year removed from back-to-back MVP seasons.

We already have some results of the trade. The Packers would draft Lukas Van Ness (LB), Luke Musgrave (TE), and Anders Carlson (a kicker lol) with their Jets haul. The Jets grabbed WIll MacDonald IV (EDGE) with their 15th pick.

So now the question is: was this a good move by the Jets. In the short term? I think so. In the long term? No. The Jets basically paid for a roughly 2-yearish window of hopefully elite QB play, turning them from a team on the rise to a team that needs to win now before things come apart. It feels smart yet desperate by the front office at the same time. Saleh and company probably didn’t have much goodwill left after several bad years and another would put them in a very hot seat. GM Joe Douglas’s mostly excellent drafting over the past 4 years has been overshadowed by his one monumental mistake: thinking Zach Wilson was good for anything. The Jets feel like they were a QB away from competing for the playoffs last year, and now they have that QB. For a very short window of time. Rodgers is 39 and has a worse injury history than Brady, so the chance of him lasting till 45 aren’t great. It feels like this is a win-now situation. They have to pull off the Tom Brady move a second time. Can the Jets go all the way now that they got their guy?

I have my doubts. I have zero doubt that the Jets will compete for the playoffs next year, provided something drastic like a devastating injury doesn’t hit them. The thing about Brady is that the man was a genius. He spent his entire career feasting on a weaker division that could never get its shit together to consistently challenge him, mostly just had to face about 5 stubborn teams in the AFC as his main rivals for most of those years, he left the conference right as the power dynamics shifted and went to the now weakened a rudderless NFC, namely the geriatric NFC South, and waltzed into the finals again.

Rodgers is doing the opposite. He’s leaving the weak and pathetic NFC to join the youthful powerhouse. In the very division he is now in, the Bills are presumed SB contenders. The Dolphins are a team also on the rise with a hot young QB and a dynamic offense. The Patriots, although messy, are still coached by one of the best minds in the game and they are a stubborn lot who stuck around even last year. Then he has to compete in a conference with Patrick Fucking Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, and Trevor Lawrence. The AFC is rising right now, and it is a bloodbath. This is not an easy hill to climb, and the Jets have to climb it right the fuck now.

Let’s be generous and say that Rodgers doesn’t lose any steps and that he mostly retains his 2020-2021 form. In this situation the Jets have to, probably at minimum, reach the divisional round for this to feel like it was worth the attempt. Rodgers doesn’t have to win it all for this move to be worth the try, because winning it all is hard and we shouldn’t come down too harshly on competitive losers, and you gotta give it your best shot. But anything less than a divisional appearance kinda makes this move look bad and there is a very real chance that in 2026 we are once again laughing at the Jets’ latest attempt to find a QB after Rodgers did nothing of value except get in fights with the NY media about whether or not 9/11 was an inside job.

Personally, that’s what I’m excited for. Rodgers hated the media while he played for a football cult in the middle of nowhere. NY media is going to rip him to shreds if he’s anything less than spectacular.