The Jets' trade for Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is finally official. It looks like a win-win. For Green Bay, they get some good picks while parting ways with a malcontent. For the Jets, they finally have a good quarterback. That's a big win for Garrett Wilson.
Green Bay had to find out what it has in Jordan Love, figuring out if he's their next franchise quarterback before having to pay him a franchise amount. And a nice pick haul for a 39-year-old quarterback. They move from 15 to 13 in the first round, plus they get New York's second-round pick this year. They also get a second-round pick next year which becomes a first if Rodgers merely plays 65 percent of the snaps this year -- i.e., if he can merely avoid getting injured (he is 39) or benched (lol).
New York, meanwhile, also had to do something. In the last 15 years they've had exactly three top-12 fantasy quarterbacks: Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2015, Mark Sanchez in 2011, and Brett Favre in 2008. None of them ranked higher than 10th. Rodgers has 11 top-10 finishes in those years. He's old and creaky, but he's the best quarterback the team has had in more than a decade -- arguably the best they've ever had, period.
Garrett Wilson, meanwhile, was the Offensive Rookie of the Year last year while catching passes from Zach Wilson, Mike White and Joe Flacco. Now he's working with a quarterback who's produced a whole lot of quality wide receiver seasons as a starter.
In the last 15 years (leaving out the two seasons where he missed half the year due to injury, 2013 and 2017), Rodgers has been the quarterback for 17 top-25 wide receiver campaigns (PPR) -- ten top-10 seasons. Five of those were Davante Adams, and perhaps he'd have been putting up big numbers with lesser quarterbacks. But the other 12, while from good wide receivers (Nelson, Jennings, Driver, Cobb, Jones), aren't necessarily any better than Wilson. Fair to say guys like Favre and Rodgers made them stars.
| TOP-25 GREEN BAY WIDE RECEIVERS, 2008-2022 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | No | Yds | TD | FF | Rk |
| 2020 | Davante Adams | 149 | 115 | 1374 | 18 | 360.4 | 1 |
| 2021 | Davante Adams | 169 | 123 | 1553 | 11 | 344.3 | 2 |
| 2016 | Jordy Nelson | 152 | 97 | 1257 | 14 | 306.7 | 2 |
| 2014 | Jordy Nelson | 151 | 98 | 1519 | 13 | 327.9 | 3 |
| 2018 | Davante Adams | 169 | 111 | 1386 | 13 | 329.6 | 4 |
| 2011 | Jordy Nelson | 96 | 68 | 1263 | 15 | 284.3 | 4 |
| 2010 | Greg Jennings | 125 | 76 | 1265 | 12 | 274.4 | 5 |
| 2014 | Randall Cobb | 127 | 91 | 1287 | 12 | 297.4 | 7 |
| 2008 | Greg Jennings | 140 | 80 | 1292 | 9 | 265.2 | 7 |
| 2016 | Davante Adams | 121 | 75 | 997 | 12 | 248.7 | 9 |
| 2012 | Randall Cobb | 104 | 80 | 954 | 9 | 242.6 | 16 |
| 2012 | James Jones | 98 | 64 | 784 | 14 | 226.4 | 17 |
| 2011 | Greg Jennings | 101 | 67 | 949 | 9 | 215.9 | 18 |
| 2009 | Donald Driver | 113 | 70 | 1061 | 6 | 213.4 | 19 |
| 2009 | Greg Jennings | 119 | 68 | 1113 | 4 | 207.3 | 21 |
| 2008 | Donald Driver | 116 | 74 | 1012 | 5 | 205.6 | 22 |
| 2019 | Davante Adams | 127 | 83 | 997 | 5 | 214.7 | 23 |
The Jets have other wideouts, including Rodgers buddy Allen Lazard. Maybe they'll wheel in Randall Cobb to catch some passes. But I'm very interested to see what Wilson, who was the 21st-best PPR wideout as a rookie with the lesser quarterbacks he was working with, is able to do this season, with Rodgers.
--Andy Richardson