Could any other Packers join Aaron Rodgers in trade to Jets?

We know that eventually, Aaron Rodgers is going to be traded to the Jets. But what will that official trade package look like? Could any other members of the Green Bay Packers be sent to New York?

With the Packers being in a transition at the quarterback position, one could look at this as an opportunity for Green Bay to hit the reset button to a degree, especially when it comes to the salary cap. If that ever was an option – which I don’t think it was – it’s no longer in play.

For one, Green Bay should still be trying to put the best team that they can around Jordan Love to give him the best opportunity to succeed so that the organization can best evaluate whether or not he can be the guy moving forward–and doing so doesn’t include trading away good players.

On top of that, given how the Packers have gone about the offseason already, many of the players who fit the mold described above, meaning that they would have provided Green Bay with salary cap relief if traded, have already had their deals restructured.

As part of their salary cap journey that has freed up nearly $50 million in available cap space for 2023, the Packers restructured the contracts of Aaron Jones, Jaire Alexander, Preston Smith, Rasul Douglas, De’Vondre Campbell, David Bakhtiari, and Kenny Clark. Part of the restructure process includes paying the player an upfront signing bonus – or cash – along with pushing additional cap charges to future years. If Green Bay did have any intention of trading those players, they likely wouldn’t have done the restructure and would have let the Jets handle that.

Now, if there is one player who it makes sense to trade, it’s Darnell Savage. Savage comes with a cap hit of $7.9 million in 2023 after having a rough 2022 season, littered with missed tackles and coverage breakdowns. He was even benched at one point because of his play.

By trading Savage, the Packers would free up $7.9 million in much-needed cap space. This is again an offseason where Green Bay is going to have to be frugal, given their salary cap situation. However, if the Jets agreed to take Savage, they would be doing the Packers a favor, which would most likely diminish what Green Bay receives back in the trade.

This would result in a worst draft pick, or fewer of them, or no potential player in return for the Packers. What should be a priority for the Packers at this moment: clearing $7.9 million in cap space or maximizing the return they get for Rodgers?

From the Jets’ perspective, they are already taking on roughly $16 million in cap space to acquire Rodgers – not to mention the nearly $60 million in guaranteed salary that he’s owed – along with another $8 million for Savage, who had a down season. It’s also not as if the Jets are flushed with cap space either. In fact, with $11.28 million available at the moment, they are in a worse spot than Green Bay.

Perhaps there is an opportunity for the Packers to sweeten the deal by offering a player like Royce Newman, who has playing experience, and a low cap hit but is also in a backup role in Green Bay. Or maybe another scenario could be that since the Packers are the ones trading away Rodgers and also have the upper hand in negotiations with time on their side and the Jets low on quarterback options, Gutekunst might not be willing to part ways with anyone else on the roster.

So, in short, and to answer the original question, the tea leaves tell us that the answer is no. The Packers won’t be sending another player to New York with Rodgers, or at least it won’t be a key member of this team.