On March 15th, Aaron Rodgers announced on the Pat McAfee show that he was going to the New York Jets. Recently the term “leverage” has been thrown around when discussing the Aaron Rodgers trade. The question is who has leverage in the Aaron Rodgers Trade?
(credit to https://twitter.com/SydneySzumowicz?s=20)
Who has leverage in the Aaron Rodgers Trade?
The easy answer would be just one franchise. However, it’s more complex than that answer. Both the New York Jets and the Green Bay Packers have leverage for different reasons.
New York Jets Leverage
The Jets' leverage involves more draft capital rather than actual players. The Jets currently sit at Pick 13 (in the first round) and Pick 42 (in the second round, which they just received from the Browns).
The Jets were likely going to send Elijah Moore to Green Bay in exchange for Aaron Rodgers. Yet, On March 22nd he was traded to the Cleveland Browns (poor dude has to go to Cleveland). Every day this deal does not get done the Jets can just trade away Players for draft picks.
There is a scenario in which these draft picks could fail epically for Green Bay (“I pray for times like this” says the rest of the NFC North) if Brian Gutekunst (Packers general manager) doesn’t draft correctly. So, the New Jersey Jets' could be holding the trade up by saying they would only give up a First and a Third when Green Bay wants at least a First and second.
Green Bay Packers Leverage
The Packers' leverage is Aaron Rodgers. If the Jets aren't able or willing to give the Packers their asking price of a first and Second round pick, then they can just say no we won’t trade Aaron to you. They also control the asking price whether it’s multiple first-round picks or one first and a couple of second-round picks.
The Packers can ask for the Jets' best players (Sauce Gardner, Garret Wilson, Breece Hall, etc…) they can request those players in exchange for Rodgers. Green Bay can screw the Jets by driving up the price. The free-agent quarterback market is slim to nothing left at the moment.
New York does not have a prime spot to draft Bryce Young or CJ Stroud if the trade doesn’t work. The Jets are currently at Pick 13. They signed recent free agents, intending to have Aaron Rodgers play for them in the upcoming NFL season.
Final Answer
As much as people like to say, for example, the Jets have more leverage because of this or the Packers have much more leverage because of this and this.
The party with the most power is Aaron Rodgers and his agent David Dunn. Rodgers has control over both Green Bay and New York. Take the Jets for instance, Rodgers can change his mind about going to the Jets (that would screw over their free agency, it would also be the most Jets thing to happen).
Then with the Packers. If Green Bay decides to not trade Aaron, Rodgers has the power to sit for the upcoming NFL season and he’s still getting paid a lot of money from the monster contract he signed the previous off-season.
Although the New York Jets and the Green Bay Packers have leverage in some form, Aaron Rodgers has the most out of the three parties involved.