Why did Aaron Rodgers leave the Packers? How Jordan Love draft pick, Brian Gutekunst beef led to Green Bay departure

It's all but a lock that Aaron Rodgers will appear in Canton someday as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Over 18 years with the franchise, he won a Super Bowl and four MVP awards, setting all kinds of records.

In fact, in October 2025, Rodgers made his feelings about his former team clear as he prepared to take on the Packers as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"Feel so good about my time there because damn near everything great in my life is because of my football career, and my football career starts, and will end one day, with Green Bay,” Rodgers said, per Rob Demovsky. “So got a lot of love for all those memories.”

Given the accolades, accomplishments, and brand he had built in Green Bay, it will likely someday be easy to forget that Rodgers played for teams after the Packers. But he did have a fairly dramatic exit from his longtime team, being traded in April 2023 to the New York Jets as Rodgers entered a new phase of his career.

Why did Aaron Rodgers leave the Packers?

Rodgers was one of the most dominant players in the NFL, regardless of position, for well over a decade in Green Bay. After spending a few seasons waiting in the wings behind Brett Favre, he carved out a legendary Packers career with a Super Bowl in the 2010 season, four MVP seasons (2011, 2014, 2020, 2021), four First-Team All-Pro selections, and countless big throws to lead Green Bay.

Until the early 2020s, there weren't any real indications that the Packers would ever consider parting ways with Rodgers — he remained dominant late into his 30s, showing no signs of age-related decline. As long as he wasn't going to retire, he appeared destined to be a Packer for his entire career. But his relationship with the franchise slowly unraveled, reaching a breaking point in 2023.

Jordan Love draft pick

After Rodgers had back-to-back MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021, but neither season ended in a Super Bowl appearance for Green Bay, frustrations grew between the quarterback and the team due to its failure to execute in the playoffs, despite being a dominant regular-season squad.

In 2020, the Packers lost to Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game. The following year, they were bested by the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round.

But that wasn't the only reason tensions increased. Throughout Rodgers' Packers career, there was never a real threat of another player stealing his QB1 job — until the 2020 NFL Draft, when Green Bay surprised fans and analysts by trading into the first round and selecting Utah State quarterback Jordan Love at No. 26 overall.

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) April 24, 2020

Of course, there were no expectations that Love would start as a rookie, or even second-year player, and supplant Rodgers on the depth chart. But the decision to add a first-round quarterback, rather than improve the team elsewhere, wasn't exactly a vote of confidence in Rodgers, even if it was wise for Green Bay to start planning beyond his career.

With Love remaining a backup for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons, there was no real chance he was going to become QB1 over Rodgers, who was still playing some of his best football ever. Still, with a high-level passer just waiting in the wings, Love's status over time meant increasing questions of when the Packers would move on from Rodgers, especially as the team failed to get to a Super Bowl despite high expectations.  

Brian Gutekunst beef

In March 2022, following some rumors that Rodgers would retire or be traded, he confirmed that he would be returning to the Packers the following season, ending the drama temporarily. In fact, he also signed an extension in Green Bay worth $150.8 million over three years, a deal that appeared to signal he'd end his career with the team, even with Love waiting for his chance.

That was short-lived, as the drama kicked back in following an 8-9 record in 2022, with Green Bay missing the playoffs. In that 2022-23 offseason, it became apparent that Rodgers did not have a great relationship with Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst.

Entering that offseason, Rodgers said he was undecided on what he wanted to do, retire or continue playing, before he underwent a "darkness retreat." That involved sitting in a dark room, isolated from the world for a few days so he could unwind. 

Once he came out of that retreat, Rodgers said that the Packers had made it clear that he had two options: retire or move on to a new team. However, that's not exactly how Gutekunst said he saw it — the general manager said the team had tried to connect with Rodgers various times, unable to get in touch with him.

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) March 27, 2023

Rodgers denied the accuracy of those comments.

"People that know me — I'm fortunate to live in a beautiful house," Rodgers said, per Fox Sports. "The only downside is I have very limited cell service so if you want to get ahold of me, I have to see your face. You've got to FaceTime me. My only response to the communication thing is, there's records in your phone about who called you when — FaceTime. And there wasn't any specific FaceTimes from the numbers that I was looking at.

My point was that if there was a change that wanted to be made, why wasn't that told to me earlier in the offseason?"

Speculation about Rodgers either retiring or being traded reached an all-time high, and it reached a point of no return. The disconnect between Rodgers and the Packers' front office led to a split, and a deal with the Jets was worked out by April 2023.

MORE: What went into Aaron Rodgers' 2023 "darkness retreat"

Super Bowl aspirations

While Love and Rodgers' relationship with Packers executives were more prominent, the team had also reached a frustrating point in the 2023 offseason, as previously mentioned. With Rodgers, the Packers were viewed as annual Super Bowl contenders. They rarely lived up to those expectations.

After Green Bay's 2010 Super Bowl title, it made the playoffs in nine of the 12 following seasons. In one of those playoff trips, they lost in the Wild Card round. In four of them, they lost in the divisional round. In the other four, Green Bay was taken down in the NFC Championship Game.

Add in missed playoff opportunities in 2017, 2018 and 2022, and Green Bay had over a decade of frustration building with Rodgers, even if he couldn't be blamed for those issues. Even with 13-win seasons, and MVP awards for Rodgers, in 2020 and 2021, the Packers couldn't break through.

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 18, 2024

Frustrations had reached a point where an exit for Rodgers was rumored in the 2022 offseason, but he wound up signing an extension that quieted those talks. That silence did not last long, though — the Packers went 8-9 in the 2022 season, which included a 4-8 start and lost win-and-in playoff opportunity in Week 18, the drama surrounding Rodgers' status was reignited.

Had Green Bay been able to even make one more Super Bowl in its many opportunities to do so, things could have played out differently, perhaps with Rodgers never leaving the Packers. But the repetitive playoff failures and a so-so 2022 season reached a breaking point.

MORE: Ranking the 17 greatest Packers players of all time

Aaron Rodgers trade details

• Packers received: 2023 first-round pick (No. 13), 2023 second-round pick (No. 42), 2023 sixth-round pick (No. 207), conditional 2024 second-round pick (later No. 45)
• Jets received: QB Aaron Rodgers, 2023 first-round pick (No. 15), 2023 fifth-round pick (No. 170)

On April 24, 2023, the Packers and Jets agreed to a trade involving Rodgers after weeks of a deal reportedly coming together. By that point, Rodgers had already announced his "intention" to play for the Jets in 2023 on "The Pat McAfee Show."

Adam Schefter breaking the Aaron Rodgers trade news made for great live television on ESPN. 🏈📺😂 pic.twitter.com/qPdBeHk0N2

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 24, 2023

"At this point as I sit here, I think since Friday I've made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets," Rodgers said on the show.

As Green Bay moved on from Rodgers, it handed the keys to its offense to Jordan Love, who had already been waiting in the wings for years. As for New York, which restructured Rodgers' contract a few months later, it was going all-in on a potential Super Bowl bid with a young core already in place to succeed.

In the 2023 NFL Draft, the Packers used the picks they received from the Jets to take LB Lukas Van Ness (No. 13 overall), TE Luke Musgrave (No. 42 overall), and kicker Anders Carlson (No. 207 overall). The 2024 second-rounder was traded by Green Bay to New Orleans, but that deal resulted in the Packers drafting LB Edgerrin Cooper, OL Jacob Monk, and S Evan Williams.

As for the Jets, they used the draft picks involved in the Rodgers trade to take EDGE Will McDonald II at No. 15 overall in 2023, then traded the fifth-round pick to eventually land S Jarrick Bernard-Converse and TE Zack Kuntz.

Interestingly, at the time of the trade, Rodgers also continued a career arc similar to Favre, who was his predecessor at quarterback in Green Bay. Like Rodgers, Favre was traded to the Jets later in his career after success with the Packers.

As Rodgers moved on from Green Bay, he also changed his number from the iconic No. 12 to No. 8, which he wore in college at Cal.

Rodgers began his time with the Jets under a massive spotlight — the team had struggled for years but saw a potential Super Bowl window opening as the legendary quarterback came to town. Unfortunately for them, an injury to Rodgers just a few minutes into the 2023 season virtually ended their title chances before they began.

In Week 1 of the 2023 season against the Buffalo Bills, Rodgers went down with an Achilles injury at MetLife Stadium on just his fourth offensive snap. He was later diagnosed with an Achilles rupture, ending his first season with the Jets almost immediately.

Rodgers would go on to have a so-so age 41 season in New York upon returning from injury in 2024, with the team missing the playoffs. He moved on to the Steelers in the following offseason.

MORE: Ranking the 19 greatest Steelers players of all time