Silver lining for Jets with Aaron Rodgers injury is being able to keep first-round pick in 2024

The Jets have likely lost quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the season with a torn Achilles. An MRI on Tuesday will confirm the injury, but head coach Robert Saleh didn’t beat around the bush. There is no optimism that he will be back this season.

So Rodgers is gone and the Jets now have to roll with Zach Wilson at quarterback for the rest of the season. But there is a silver lining to all of this besides the fact that the Jets were able to go out and get the victory over the Buffalo Bills in overtime to start 1-0. New York will have a first-round pick in 2024. Not that the Jets wanted it to happen this way, but they will.

When the Jets acquired Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers in April, among the package of picks going back to the Packers was a conditional second-round pick in 2024 that could become a first-round pick. The condition was that if Rodgers played 65% of the offensive snaps, New York would send a first-round pick to Green Bay.

Rodgers wound up playing a grand total of four offensive snaps. Clearly, he won’t hit the 65% threshold. As a result, the Packers will get a second-round pick next year while the Jets will keep their first-round pick. So the package ends up being two second-round picks and the pick swap from this year where the Jets went from No. 13 to No. 15. The Packers took Iowa edge Lukas Van Ness while the Jets took Iowa State edge Will McDonald.

The price however for not having to send a first was now having to wait until 2024 to see Rodgers play a full game with the Jets.