Last month, Packers G.M. Brian Gutekunst admitted that the team won’t necessarily get a first-round pick for quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
That apparently hasn’t stopped them from trying.
Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports recently said on the Wilde and Tausch show that the Packers still want a second-round pick in 2023 and a first-round pick in 2024 for the quarterback the Packers no longer want on the team.
Robinson added that the Packers are also willing to give a 2025 draft pick back to the Jets, if Rodgers retires after the 2023 season.
For now, what the Packers want and what the Jets will offer is meaningless. The two sides won’t move to their true bottom-line positions until the clock begins to strike 12. Prematurely sliding toward the best either side is willing to do can quickly become an expectation to do even better. The right move will be for both sides to unveil their best offers at the last minute and to hope the two circles of the Venn diagram at least kiss.
If not, someone will have to give a little at a time when the chariot is about to morph into a pumpkin. In this case, it would mean the Packers won’t get a second-round pick in 2023. It also could mean that they’ll wait until 2024 to get any draft-pick compensation for Rodgers.
Regardless, there’s no reason to think the deal won’t get done. If it’s not done before the 2023 draft comes and goes, it will come after that. It will happen no later than Week One.
Unless the Packers really are willing to adopt the approach Bakhtiari suggested earlier this week, paying Rodgers nearly $60 million this year to not play.