The Jets are “pretty confident” of getting a deal for Aaron Rodgers, owner Woody Johnson insists, as he says New York “has a plan” amid trade talks with the Green Bay Packers.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has claimed that he still feels “pretty confident” that a trade for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will come to fruition this offseason, despite some hurdles. lately.
At NFL owners meetings on Tuesday, the 75-year-old businessman and former US ambassador to the UK told The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt that “we’re pretty sure we can do something.”
Johnson added that ‘Gang Green’ has ‘a plan’ when it comes to getting a trade deal on the line for Rodgers, 39.
The comments made by the heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune are in line with what Jets general manager Joe Douglas and coach Robert Saleh have said about the Rodgers trade over the past month.
Both indicated the team did not have a timetable regarding talks for the league’s four-time MVP, but were confident a deal would come to fruition.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson remains ‘pretty confident’ about a trade for Aaron Rodgers
‘Gang Green’ has ‘a plan’ when it comes to getting a trade deal over the line for Rodgers
However, Johnson suggested that he was growing a bit impatient with the ongoing saga.
I’m not the patient type. We are in the business of winning. We have to win now,’ Johnson said, according to Rosenblatt.
On Monday, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst rebutted Rodgers’ one-sided narrative, telling reporters that he reached out to the 10-time Pro Bowler “many times” but received no response.
“Those never happened,” Gutekunst said, because Rodgers never called back. So we went through his reps to try to talk to him. [about] where we’re going with our team,” Gutekunst added. “At that point, we were informed that he would like to be traded to the Jets.”
That has not been Rodgers’ story. As a regular guest on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the 2011 Super Bowl champion has complained about the Packers’ lack of “direct communication,” never mentioning Gutekunst’s attempts to reach him.
Rodgers said on the show that the Packers weren’t the ones to be insincere about wanting to trade him, saying “something changed” in late February.
“Our inability to communicate with him or for him to respond in any way,” Gutekunst said Monday, “I think at that point, I had to do my job and communicate with him.” [to other teams] and understand that an exchange might be possible and see who was interested.’
Whatever the truth, if Rodgers does end up coming to the Big Apple, then he’ll face pressure from Johnson, who indicated during his press briefing Tuesday that he’s eager for the Jets to post a better overall record this coming season.
In 2022, New York finished last in the AFC East with a 7-10 overall record, despite a promising 6-3 start.
Rodgers to NYC would certainly increase the Jets’ chances of ending their 12-year playoff wait.
Jets general manager Joe Douglas has denied New York’s interest in Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
The Jets are looking to sign Rodgers to help the franchise break its 12-year playoff drought, the longest active streak in the league.
Trading Rodgers would certainly give the team a chance to do it, and the organization only has its eyes on the great Packers, even though Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson tweeted his desire to be traded.
“First of all, Lamar Jackson is a fantastic player, but our position is that it would be disingenuous and negotiating in bad faith if we went down that path,” Douglas said, according to ESPN. ‘We have our plan, we have our process and we’re sticking to it.
‘[…]We will never operate in bad faith.