Aaron Rodgers – the NFL’s four-time Most Valuable Player – will join the New York Jets after they agreed a trade deal with the Green Bay Packers.
The quarterback said in March that he intended to end his 18-year spell with the Packers and join the Jets.
Rodgers, 39, had spent his entire NFL career with Green Bay, helping them win the Super Bowl in 2011.
“I know this, he will always be a Packer,” said the team’s general manager Brian Gutekunst.
“I have so much respect for Aaron and the person he is. He has done so much for this organisation.”
The deal was delayed as the teams negotiated draft-pick compensation as Rodgers was still under contract with Green Bay having signed an extension last year.
As well as Rodgers, they will give the Jets a fifth-round pick in this year’s NFL draft, which begins on Thursday.
The teams have also agreed to swap places in the first round of the draft, with Packers now having the 13th overall pick and the Jets 15th.
In addition, the Jets will give Green Bay picks in the second and sixth rounds, plus a second-round pick in the 2024 draft that could become a first-round pick if Rodgers plays 65% of the Jets’ offensive snaps this coming season.
“He’ll be missed,” added Gutekunst. “Players like that don’t come around very often. He’ll be one of the best who has ever done it around here.
“But we are very excited about where we are going. This has all got to get finalised to get done. But we have a great appreciation for him.”
Gutekunst said that the contracts must be signed on Tuesday.
“We’ve been working on this for a while,” he said. “To get beyond the draft would have been tough for both teams.”
Green Bay selected Rodgers with the 24th pick of the 2005 draft and he spent his first three years as back-up to Brett Favre.
Rodgers is now first in franchise history for touchdown passes (475) and second in passing yards (59,055) behind Favre.
Coincidentally, Favre’s trade to the Jets in 2008 allowed Rodgers to become the Packers’ starting quarterback and he was named MVP as Green Bay beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 45.
Rodgers was then named the season MVP four times between 2011 and 2021, but has had a strained relationship with the Packers’ management since they traded up to select Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 draft.
The 24-year-old, who like Rodgers started his NFL career with three seasons as the back-up, is now expected to replace him as Green Bay’s starting quarterback.
The Jets, who have the NFL’s longest play-off drought (12 years) and have not had a winning season since 2015, were looking for a new starter after losing faith last season with 23-year-old Zach Wilson, the number two draft pick in 2021.
They focused their attention on Rodgers after Derek Carr, 31, joined the New Orleans Saints following his release by the Las Vegas Raiders.
‘The Jets have switched to ‘win now’ mode’ – analysis
Ben Collins, BBC Sport
The arrival of Rodgers would mean an immediate change in mindset for the long-suffering Jets.
After building a team for the future with their recent draft picks, the Jets have switched to “win now” mode having spent big on a veteran quarterback to lead them.
Previously a defensive coordinator, new coach Robert Saleh has fixed things on that side of the ball. Now for the offence.
Despite having three starting quarterbacks last year, it was only a six-game losing streak at the end of the season that meant the Jets missed out on the play-offs.
Team owner Woody Johnson then said an elite quarterback was “kind of the missing piece”.
That is how Tom Brady was described in 2021, just before he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Super Bowl glory in his very first season after a glorious stint with the New England Patriots.
Now many are asking if Rodgers can do with the Jets what Brady did with the Bucs.
