Getty Image
With July just around the corner, that means that NFL training camps are just a few weeks away from getting underway, which is always the first true sign that football season is around the corner.
This past NFL offseason has certainly been a wild one, largely due to the Aaron Rodgers trade that saw the four-time MVP shipped from Green Bay to the New York Jets.
While Rodgers himself pushed to be traded to the Jets, not everyone in sports media seems to be sold that it was such a great idea, as The Athletic‘s Mike Jones determined that Rodgers is the biggest loser of the 2023 offseason.
The main premise of Jones’ article seems to be that navigating the AFC and the AFC East is going to be a much bigger challenge than getting through the NFC and NFC North.
“Yes, he got what he wanted in his exit from Green Bay and reunion with new Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, his former Packers OC. He also gains a more potent cast of wide receivers. But in leaving the NFC for the AFC, he now has a significantly tougher road to the Super Bowl,” Jones argues in a recent piece from The Athletic.
He then points out that the caliber of signal-callers in the AFC is far better than that of the NFC given the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and so on.
“If beating Jared Goff and the Lions was too tall a task in 2022, what makes Rodgers think he can win a shootout with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, Deshaun Watson and Tua Tagovailoa?”
He also says that getting out of the AFC East, which features three other teams with playoff expectations, could prove to be a bigger challenge than Rodgers is prepared for.
After generally rolling through the NFC North annually, Rodgers will learn that winning a first-round AFC playoff game will be much more challenging — and that’s if Rodgers and the Jets even get out of the AFC East, where the Bills, Patriots and Dolphins all boast tough defenses.
While Rodgers’ impact on the Jets has yet to be determined, the effect that moving to New York has had on Rodgers is clear, as the 39-year-old said during a recent interview that these last few months — which have seen him appear at playoff games and Taylor Swift concerts and psychedelic conventions — have been the most fun that he’s had in a while.