Raiders RB Josh Jacobs recruits Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers trade talks are in full bloom this off-season. While we likely won’t know what the future holds for another month or so, the possibility sure seems real. There have been a few teams that top the list of likely destinations for Aaron Rodgers if he is traded. The New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans are some of those notable destinations. A star running back from one of those teams openly talked about Aaron Rodgers joining his team and how it could impact his own decision to stay with his current team.
Josh Jacobs recorded an NFL-high 1,653 rushing yards in 2022. Now it seems that Jacobs could leave Las Vegas this offseason. However, he acknowledged to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore that the Raiders acquiring Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers would affect his thought process.
“Of course, it’s A-Rod. That’s Aaron Rodgers,” Jacobs said. “But yeah, he’s a dog. If he was to come over here, I feel like that would change the aspect of a lot of things.”
That makes two star players for the Raiders to openly comment on bringing Aaron Rodgers to Las Vegas. Davante Adams has been adamant about Rodgers coming out west for a reunion. If the Raiders were able to retain Jacobs and appease one of the best wide receivers in the NFL (Adams) by trading for Rodgers, could that motivate the front office to put a trade package in place? One thing that must be noted is the possibility that Raiders GM Dave Ziegler may not be interested in trading a bunch of resources for one player.
Tashan Reed of The Athletic asked Ziegler this question: “You’re set to have a lot of cap space and draft picks this offseason. How beneficial is having the added flexibility that brings?” This was his response:
With the combination of the cap space and the draft picks, you’re less restricted. If we only had a limited amount of cap space, there’s only a limited amount of things you can do. We’re going into this offseason with a lot of open options. There are not a whole lot of things that we have to close off. But the reality is we have quite a few areas on the football team that we want to improve. Allocating a bunch of resources to one player at one position, I don’t know how intelligent that is because you have to look at all the areas that you need to improve the team on. I don’t think we’re one or two $15-20 million players away from us building it exactly how we want to build it and having the right amount of depth and having the right amount of starting-level players, too, at different positions. Again, while you have flexibility with the picks and the cap, which is nice, you don’t feel like a restraint in that way, you also have to understand where you’re at as a team and how far you need to go in terms of building it the right way.
The part that stands out is “Allocating a bunch of resources to one player at one position, I don’t know how intelligent that is…” That would certainly insinuate that the Raiders aren’t looking to pull off a massive trade for any player, let alone Aaron Rodgers. The Packers assumed the asking price for Aaron Rodgers is pretty steep. Peter King of NBC Sports believes the Packers would want “at least two first-round picks” in any trade for Rodgers. It is possible the Packers would agree to a player (presumably a starter) and one first-round draft pick. Either way, that is a lot to give up, even if it is for a four-time MVP quarterback.
