The Green Bay Packers traded Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets on April 23, 2023 — a deal that will be revisited in full on Sunday Night Football.
Rodgers, now the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers – will face his former team for the first time at Acrisure Stadium. It’s the first head-to-head matchup between Rodgers and Jordan Love, who the Packers selected in the first round with the No. 26 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
That was the offseason after Rodgers led Green Bay to a 13-3 record and NFC championship appearance under first-year coach Matt LaFleur. The relationship between Rodgers and the Packers deteriorated from there, which led to the trade in 2023. It’s taken more than two seasons, but that reunion is here.
It’s been two-plus seasons, so it’s fair to assess who the winners (and losers) from that trade are heading into Sunday’s much-anticipated matchup.
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Aaron Rodgers trade winners
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst
Gutekunst – who took over as the Packers’ general manager in 2018 – has benefited from the bold move. The Packers and Jets flipped first-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. As far as the 2023 NFL Draft, Green Bay took Lukas Van Ness at No. 13, and the Jets took Will McDonald at No. 15. McDonald is the better player so far. The Packers used the other picks to acquire tight end Luke Musgrave and kicker Anders Carlson in 2023.
This is more about Love. That deal could have cost him his job, but Love has kept the Packers in playoff contention and in the present tense Gutekunst is known less as the GM who traded away Rodgers and more as the GM who traded for edge rusher Micah Parsons, who has helped Green Bay off to a 4-1-1 start.
Adding insult to injury for Rodgers, Gutekunst drafted Texas receiver Matthew Golden with the No. 23 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Packers never drafted a first-round receiver when Rodgers was the starting quarterback.
Former Packers GM Ted Thompson won a Super Bowl in Green Bay after Favre left. Will Gutekunst do the same?
Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh
The Steelers signed Rodgers to a one-year contract on June 6, 2025. To this point, it’s been a distraction-free success on and off the field. Rodgers is no longer making headlines for appearances on the “Pat McAfee Show.” There are no bizarre stories about ayahuasca.
Rodgers is playing football – and at 41 years old he’s doing it well. He has 1,270 passing yards, 10 TDs and five interceptions and ranks 10th in the NFL with a 108 passer rating. Pittsburgh is 4-2 and in first place in the AFC North, and despite a 33-31 loss to the Bengals in Week 7, a playoff run is in the cards. Pittsburgh is considering bringing back Rodgers for 2026, too.
Consider the alternative. In three seasons since Ben Roethlisberger retired, Steelers QBs have averaged 3,279 yards, 15 TDs and nine interceptions per season. Rodgers is on pace for 3,598 yards, 28 TDs and 12 INTs. It’s a huge increase in production at the most-important position.
The Steelers are 29-22 and with two losses in the AFC wild card round in that stretch. Is Rodgers the missing piece in a deep playoff run?
MORE: How Green Bay got last laugh vs. Aaron Rodgers after drafting Jordan Love
Jordan Love
Love was placed in the unenviable position of replacing two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and he’s handled it well. After spending his first two seasons as a backup, Love led Green Bay to the NFC playoffs each of the last two seasons. He affirmed Gutekunst’s decision.
He’s 1-2 with an average of 226 passing yards, five TDs and five interceptions in those games – which increases the stakes for a potential deep playoff run this season. Love signed a four-year, $220 contract that runs through 2028.
Love is 13-6 at home and 9-10-1 on the road as a starter. Still, he hasn’t been the issue in Green Bay the last three seasons, and Sunday presents a chance to beat Rodgers head to head, which would endear him to the Packers’ fans even more.
The Love era has been a success to this point – but he’s still going to be compared to Favre and Rodgers when this is over. There is a lot of work to do.
MORE: Jordan Love family tree
DK Metcalf
The Steelers also traded for Metcalf and dealt George Pickens to Dallas. Metcalf has 22 catches for 406 yards – an average of 18.5 yards per reception which ranks third in the NFL – with four TDs. Pickens has better numbers in Dallas, but this is about Metcalf. He’s been better with Pittsburgh, and he will get better with Rodgers as the season progresses.
Packers safety Evan Williams
The Packers used the conditional pick from Rodgers’ trade in the 2024 NFL Draft to acquire Williams, who has been a difference maker at safety the last two seasons opposite Xavier McKinney. Williams had 49 tackles last season and has 39 this season, and he will be a key piece in the secondary trying to defend Rodgers on Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers trade losers
Packers NFC North dominance
This is the pressure point for LaFleur this season. In three seasons with Rodgers, LaFleur had a 39-10 record with Green Bay. The Packers won the NFC North each of those three seasons and made two appearances in the NFC championship game.
From 2022-24, the Packers were 28-23 in the regular season with Love. Minnesota won the NFC North in 2022, and the Lions have won the division each of the last two seasons. Chicago even has hope with Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. The Packers made the NFC wild card last year and lost in the NFC divisional playoffs the previous season.
The Packers were 15-3 against NFC North opponents with Rodgers and LaFleur from 2019-21. LaFleur and Love have a 9-10 record against the division since. That’s why that Week 1 victory against Detroit set the tone for this season.
Aaron Rodgers in New York
The Rodgers’ era in New York was memorable for the wrong reasons. Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon on the first series in the 2023 opener against Buffalo and missed the season.
He returned in 2024. Robert Saleh was fired after five games. The Jets had a five-game losing streak that dropped the team to 2-6 – part of a miserable 5-12 season. Rodgers ranked 20th in the NFL with a 94.5 passer rating. This was much worse than Brett Favre’s one year in New York in 2008 – where the Jets finished 9-7 and Favre had 3,472 yards, 22 TDs and a season-high 22 interceptions.
This was a failed two-year experiment with repercussions that have spilled into this season.
MORE: Aaron Rodgers family tree
Jets coach Aaron Glenn
The first-year coach told Rodgers the team would move in a different direction in April.
From a long-term viewpoint, that’s the best play. If Glenn is still around in a few years. The Jets are 0-7, an objective mess and the offense has produced a total of 17 points in the last two weeks in a miserable display against the Broncos and Panthers.
To make matters worse, Rodgers called out the Jets after a 34-32 in Week 1.
“I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets,” Rodgers said.
Glenn – who was the defensive coordinator in Detroit from 2021-24 – has inherited the toughest of jobs. Meanwhile, Saleh is back at defensive coordinator with San Francisco. Which coach is in the better spot right now? That’s an easy answer.
Jets QB Justin Fields
Jets owner Woody Johnson criticized Fields this week.
“If we can just complete a pass, it would look good,” Johnson said.
The Steelers signed Fields last season – and he was 4-2 as a starter before being benched in favor of Russell Wilson – which was a questionable move. Now, Fields is in New York, where he is 0-6 as a starter with a 31.8 QB rating. In Fields’ defense, he has been sacked 22 times.
So, to review, Fields was playing reasonably well in Pittsburgh last season, was benched for Wilson, who is now a backup for the Giants, and is fighting for the job with Tyrod Taylor. That all says Fields has a future as a backup quarterback in the NFL.
