Jets general manager Joe Douglas disclosed in an appearance on #PFTPM last week that the team is renegotiating the contract of newly acquired quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Packers dealt the four-time NFL MVP and a 2023 fifth-round pick to the Jets shortly before last April’s NFL Draft for a 2023 second-round pick, a 2023 sixth-round pick, a conditional 2024 second-round pick and a swap of 2023 first-round picks. The 2024 second-round pick becomes a first-round pick if Rodgers takes at least 65% of the Jets’ offensive snaps this season. The Packers moved up two places to the 13th overall pick while the Jets dropped to the 15th spot.
“We knew at the end of the trade that Aaron and Green Bay needed to work some things out. We didn’t know the exact ramifications,” Douglas said. “It was just important to us that the cap number wasn’t going to go higher than it was at the time that we agreed to it. We didn’t know that it was actually going to go down to the minimum, so when they re-did the deal, you know, we saw the new number, knew that we saw that it was low for this year. We’re still working on restructuring aspects of the deal as we speak, but we feel we’re in a really good place.”
Rodgers’ 2022 contract
Rodgers became the NFL’s first $50 million per year player in March 2022. He signed a contract widely considered to be $150.815 million over three years although there were two additional below-market years (2025 and 2026) in the deal.
The Packers used one of the NFL’s more complex contract structures with Rodgers. The deal had the seldom used double option bonus structure.
Initially, Rodgers’ 2023 base salary was a fully guaranteed $59.465 million. A $58.3 million payment was required to exercise an option for Rodgers’ 2025 contract year worth $20.9 million to drop his 2023 base salary to a fully guaranteed $1.165 million. Rodgers was scheduled to make $59.515 million in 2023, which also included a $50,000 workout bonus. The window to exercise this option was the first day of the 2023 league year (March 15) until a day before Green Bay’s first 2023 regular-season game in September.
From a salary cap standpoint, the presumption is option years will be picked up. Option bonuses are prorated over the life of a contract (up to a maximum of five years), including the option years, beginning in the league year when the option is exercised. This meant the $58.3 million option…
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