How could I possibly not comment on the Aaron Rodgers trade from the Packers to the Jets on the heels of the NFL draft?
I mean, not having an opinion on anything-Aaron Rodgers is tantamount to ignoring every twitch made by Tom Brady during his tenure in the league.
Rodgers is following Brady and I have to wonder what do we do when Aaron is done? Who’s next?
Well, we have some time because Rodgers is not going anywhere for at least a year, and every breath by the quarterback and the new darling team on the block, the Jets will be recorded, analyzed and sliced and diced, till its coming out of our ears.
So, how could I sit silently on the sidelines?
Okay, I’n not.
Few, if any, so-called experts and analysts, thought it wasn’t a good deal for the Jets.
Predictably, they said the previously forlorn New York Jets finally had a quarterback, a Super Bowl champion at that, and now they have to reckoned with throughout the NFL.
In some ways, they are correct, in my view.
The Jets are no longer an easy out. The team that just missed making the playoffs will be a factor in every game they play.
Everyone will take Rodgers and the Jets temperature after every time they take the field.
Who’s going to cast aspersions on the man and the team?
I am. And here’s why.
Forget about the attention both will be getting.
There will be plenty. The Jets will get maximum exposure on national television including several prime time dates.
It’s likely that after every NFL weekend, the biggest question will be, “how did Aaron Rodgers and the Jets do?”
But what is the real upside to this trade?
If the idea is to play in the Super Bowl, and that’s what every team’s goal is, realistically what are the chances of that happening in the next year or two?
Rodgers, who has had a truly great career, and will be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, has failed to get the Packers close to the big game the past several years.
True, you can argue that the Packers traded away his favorite receiver and didn’t give their star QB adequate support, but Green Bay has not been a mediocre team.
Rodgers has made his share of mistakes, maybe a little more than his share, and the high hopes the Packers have had has not materialized.
Now, he guides a Jets team that has to make the playoffs before it even dreams of being a Super Bowl contender.
Is Aaron Rodgers at 39 getting better or slipping?
We all know the answer to that one.
How’s many years is he really going to play?
Age catches up to every athlete, even the great ones. Even Tom Brady.
I believe the Jets will be a playoff team in 2023.
But what then?
First, they have to contend with the other teams in the AFC East.
The standard-bearing Buffalo Bills faltered last season. But I believe their mini-slide is temporary.
They still have Josh Allen at quarterback, one of the best in the game, and a front office which is solid in addressing their needs.
The Dolphins have a strong roster, but the health of their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, will always be topic number one.
The Patriots slipped badly in 2022, but with offensive guru Bill O’Brien back in the fold to rescue QB Mac Jones, you can never say a game against the Pats will be anything but a major challenge.
Now, let’s take a look at the rest of the AFC powers and their quarterbacks.
Besides Allen and the Bills, there’s Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Justin Herbert and the Chargers. Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars.
Deshaun Watson and the Browns. Even Russell Wilson and the Broncos with new head coach Sean Payton.
There may be other young newcomers who join the elite list.
And Aaron Rodgers is not getting any younger.
The Jets have to become a playoff team first.
In the short haul, It makes the team relevant.
In the long haul, I don’t see it.
Meanwhile, it is clear the Packers wanted to move on from their veteran leader.
They want to give Jordan Love a chance to see how he can develop.
They corralled a bunch of draft choices in the Jets deal, and still retained a top pick this year.
Green Bay’s front office is first rate. In a way, they had no choice.
It was time to turn the page.
I am always amused at the time leading up to the NFL draft last week, and all the mock drafts by the experts.
They are invariably wrong in their predictions.
It’s understandable to me.
Outsiders just don’t know what the teams know.
They do the scouting on players throughout their college careers, do their homework in ways we can’t imagine.
Do they make mistakes? Absolutely.
But in forecasting who will go when where, and how a team did when it is over, is pure folly.
I certainly had no idea, and neither do the commentators.
Time will tell. And not just the first year. Time may involve several years before we really know the result of a team’s draft.
I’ve been amazed at the turn the NBA and NHL playoffs have taken thus far in both sports’ post-season.
We all embrace the one-and-done aspect of the NCAA basketball tournament, capped by the Final Four.
For the most part, it is unpredictability at its finest.
Any team can can knocked off at any time, and it was never more apparent than this season.
It’s a one-game deal.
But in the NBA and the NHL, where the series are best-of seven, class prevails and the better team always seems to win four games before the underdog can.
I have always believed strongly in this, but my theory has been proven wrong on a few occasions to this point.
The first shocker in the hoops playoff was the victory by the Miami Heat over the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
The Bucks had the best record in the NBA East, and were 14 games better in the regular season than the Heat. But Miami, who barely earned a playoff spot as the number 8 seed, stunned the top-seeded Bucks in five games.
That was something I never saw happen during my time working the NBA eons ago. But I guess times change.
But the most thunderous shocker came in the first round of the NHL Stanely Cup playoffs.
The Florida Panthers, another Sunshine State entry, stumbled into post-season as the lowest hopeful in the East.
They had a daunting task to say the least, facing the Boston Bruins who won a league-record 65 games and ran away with a competitive Atlantic Division.
The Bruins lost only four games at home all year, and were 43 points better than the Panthers in the regular season.
A Stanley Cup was waiting.
The powerful Bruins jumped out to a commanding 3-1 lead, with a chance to finish off the Floridians in game 5 at home.
But the Panthers stayed alive winning in overtime.
In game six, Boston 5-4 with ten minutes remaining in the final period.
The huge underdogs then tallied twice to take the lead, before scoring an empty-net goal to win 7-5 and send this improbable series to a seventh and deciding duel.
The Bruins led 3-2, before the Panthers tied it with one-minute remaining in regulation and captured the series with an overtime goal.
I know people like to put every sporting event into immediate perspective, but the Panthers elimination of the Bruins was, to me, the most stunning upset in Stanely Cup playoff history.
Now, the story of the NBA, and NHL playoffs move on.
Same for the adventures of Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.