It’s official: Aaron Rodgers is a New York Jet.

The trade between the Jets and the Green Bay Packers was confirmed at 2pm exactly on Wednesday 26th April, moments before Rodgers’ introductory press conference at One Jets Drive.

The Jets gave up a 2023 first round pick (13), second round pick (42) and sixth round pick (207) as well as a conditional 2024 pick which will be a first or second round pick depending on Rodgers’ playing time.

In return, they got Rodgers, the Packers 2023 first round pick (15) and fifth round pick (170).

The trade was a long time coming. Rumours around Rodgers’ future swirled as early as January, whilst the Jets’ desire to recruit a veteran quarterback was no secret.

Speculation ramped up when Jets leadership visited Rodgers in California in March, with Rodgers’ announcement a few days later on the Pat McAfee show that his intention was to play for the Jets all but confirming the marriage between the two sides.

Jets GM Joe Douglas and Packers GM Brian Gutekunst still had the details of any deal to work through however, with negotiations continuing up until draft week, when the transaction was finally completed, with a smiling Rodgers arriving at the Jets training facility.

“Obviously, we’re comfortable with how this deal shaped,” Jets GM Douglas said Tuesday. “I don’t think anyone ever walks away from a negotiation where you feel like you won everything in terms of what’s gone back and forth. But ultimately, our goal from the beginning was to add Aaron to the team, so we were able to get that. We agreed to terms yesterday and we’re just excited to bring him here.”

It was also confirmed on Wednesday that Rodgers would be wearing his old college number, 8, with the Jets after 17 seasons as the Packers’ number 12. The ‘12’ jersey had been retired by the Jets, in honour of legendary quarterback Joe Namath, and whilst ‘Broadway Joe’ offered to unretire the number for Rodgers, the signal caller confirmed that he wouldn’t be taking him up on that:

“I heard what he said about unretiring his number, but to me, 12 is Broadway Joe. I didn’t even want to go down that path, and I’m excited to go back to my college number.”

Rodgers joins the Jets as one of the most prolific passers in NFL history. He is a Super Bowl champion and MVP (XLV), a four-time first-team All-Pro, a ten-time Pro Bowler and a four-time NFL MVP award winner. He has over 59,000 yards and 475 touchdowns to his name, and is widely regarded as one of the best to play the position and a future Hall of Famer.

He will team up with an exciting crop of young Jets stars, led by All-Pro Quinnen Williams, Rookies of the Year Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson and former teammate Allen Lazard. Rodgers will also have a familiar face in the facility in Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who teamed up with the quarterback between 2019-2021 as OC of the Packers.