For two weeks, an impasse has existed between the Packers and the Jets over the terms of a trade for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. It could linger for at least another 31 days, when the draft begins.
Or it could end right now.
It could end right now if Commissioner Roger Goodell invites Packers CEO Mark Murphy and Jets owner Woody Johnson to the patio at Goodell’s villa suite at the Biltmore for a glass or two of wine, a cigar, and a heart-to-heart conversation about the practicalities that hinge on getting this deal done.
The NFL has a TV schedule to make. Two hundred and seventy-two games. With Rodgers, the Jets become the hottest commodity on the 2023 slate.
Until it’s done, it’s not done. It could fall apart. Rodgers’s “intention” could change.
It makes sense to finish it now. It makes sense for Goodell to take advantage of the presence of Johnson and Murphy in Arizona to get it done.
There’s something tangibly valuable about having people present. Put them in a room, make them stay there, and they tend to figure out a way to resolve their differences.
If Goodell wants this thing to be done, it will be done by the middle of the week. If it isn’t, who knows when it will be done?
It eventually will be. Unless, again, Rodgers experiences a change in his “intention.”