After months of trade talks, four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers is leaving the Green Bay Packers for the New York Jets, though the deal is still not quite finalized.
Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters during a news conference on Monday afternoon that the teams have been trying to hammer out the deal for about six days but that "there are still some things that need to be done."
He added that he expects it may take another couple of days to sort it all out.
The move comes just days before the 2023 NFL draft.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the deal would mean Green Bay will have 11 picks heading into the draft. As of Monday, they have "one pick in the first round, two in the second, one in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and four in the seventh."
The 39-year-old quarterback had been vocal for some time about his frustrations playing for the Packers, saying he should have been more involved in the direction of the team. And he explicitly talked about his plans to move to the Jets.
"I made it clear my intention was to play and to play for the New York Jets," he said last month on an episode of The Pat McAfee Show, adding that he was not "holding anything up."
He said at the time that the Packers also wanted "to move on and have let me know that in so many words."
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Rodgers is expected to give up the No. 12 he wore for the Wisconsin team for 18 years — even though Joe Namath, the Jet who retired the number in New York, had offered to unretire the number for the star. Instead, Rodgers will don the No. 8, which he wore in his college playing days at the University of California, Berkeley.
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