New York (AFP) - Four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers will join the New York Jets in a trade deal reached on Monday with the Green Bay Packers, the Packers confirmed.
The Packers will send 39-year-old signal caller Rodgers and their 15th overall first-round pick plus a fifth-round pick in Thursday's NFL Draft to the Jets, provided contracts are signed on the details that the clubs finalized.
The Jets will send Green Bay their first-round pick Thursday, 13th overall, second- and sixth-round picks this year and a 2024 second-round pick that could become a first-round pick if Rodgers plays 65% of plays for the Jets this season.
"I have so much respect for Aaron and the person he is.He has done so much for this organization," Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said.
"I know this.He will always be a Packer.He'll be one of the best who has ever done it around here.He'll be missed.Players like that don't come around very often.
"But we are very excited about where we are going.This has all got to get finalized to get done.But we have a great appreciation for him."
Rodgers was the 24th pick in the 2005 NFL Draft and has played for the Packers every season since joining the league.
Rodgers, who said last month he was planning to play for the Jets in the 2023 campaign, was named Most Valuable Player of the 2011 Super Bowl, when he led the Packers to a 31-25 victory over Pittsburgh.
Gutekunst said the contracts have to be signed on the deal by Tuesday.
"We've been working on this for a while," he said."To get beyond the draft would have been tough for both teams."
