Happy New Year everyone. All of the manipulation we witnessed this week had a chance to become official on Wednesday as the NFL’s new league year began. Wednesday was generally a very dramatic day. Baker Mayfield found his new NFL home with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dallas Cowboys fired Ezekiel Elliott, Darius Slay was reportedly fired but then actually not fired by the Philadelphia Eagles, and of course Aaron Rodgers revealed his intentions for the 2023 season.
That’s right, the Green Bay Packers legend revealed on The Pat McAfee Show that he’s planning to be transferred to the New York Jets. Now the two teams just have to find an equalizer. While it’s not “official” yet, the Jets were clearly a winner. Who else won and who lost on Wednesday? Let’s take a look.
From Monday: Day 1 winners and losers
From Tuesday: Day 2 winners and losers
Winner: Jets
Aaron Rodgers
GB • QB • #12
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For the first time in a long while, the Jets seem to have some consistency at quarterback. Rodgers, one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, is leaving his Packers to play for the Jets in his 19th NFL season. Rodgers went 8-9 last year but won 13 games in three straight seasons before the 2022 campaign and won both 2020 and 2021 NFL MVP. Well, that was clearly a calculated game.
“There are many reasons the Jets are attractive, but there is one coach who means as much to me as any other coach I’ve ever had and he happens to be the coordinator there,” Rodgers said Wednesday.
The jets have always been a fascinating place to land. New York has a few talented running backs, a solid wide receiving corps led by Garrett Wilson, and then an elite defense led by Sauce Gardner. If the Jets had a solid quarterback, they would have made the playoffs last year. Now we have to ask ourselves if New York is the best team in the AFC East.
Tyler Huntley
BAL•QB•#2
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The Ravens, of course, put the non-exclusive franchise tag on Lamar Jackson last week, but I’d argue that this Wednesday was even weirder. For one, the Ravens placed the low RFA tender on Tyler Huntley, per The Athletic. This bidding means any Team Huntley can sign on to a bid sheet, but Baltimore has the option to enter. If he signs with another team, the Ravens get nothing in return. Why wouldn’t you advertise the Pro Bowler higher? Isn’t Huntley a quarterback that other teams should be interested in? We’re in the process of figuring out his market this off-season.
So that was an interesting decision by the Ravens, but it paled in comparison to what ESPN reported Wednesday afternoon. According to Jeremy Fowler, Baltimore examined Baker Mayfield and Jacoby Brissett before both signal callers were taken free. Why is Baltimore looking for borderline starting quarterbacks? This doesn’t feel like a due diligence thing. Are they preparing to disagree with a potential Jackson bid sheet? Additionally, Jackson was able to officially speak to other teams on Wednesday. Lets see what happens.
Winner: Packers
Jordan love
GB • QB • #10
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How could the Packers be winners for losing a franchise legend? Well, it’s because they wanted it that way. We’d seen reports suggesting that for the past few weeks, but Rodgers said it loudly on Wednesday.
“The Packers would like to continue,” Rodgers said. “You let me know that in so many words. They said the right thing in public, they wanted to move on… I still have that fire and I want to play.”
However, there’s more that the Packers are winners. Green Bay will save money with this move. (See Joel Corry’s article for a detailed breakdown of this). In addition to saving money, the Packers will also receive compensation for Rodgers’ move. Now that this whole story is out there, I would be a little tighter on negotiations. The Jets can’t let this fall apart now. Give me that extra choice.
Also, this is the official start of the Jordan Love era and that’s exciting.
Loser: Zeke
Ezekiel Elliott
DAL • RB • #21
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It’s the end of an era. Ezekiel Elliott was released after signing a $90 million six-year monster extension in 2019. According to several reports, the move will be handled as a cut after June 1st. The Cowboys will see $10.9 million in cap relief and be left with $5.82 million in dead money for this year’s cap. Elliott was owed $64.76 million for the remainder of his contract, but there was no longer a guaranteed salary on his deal.
It was actually quite a surprise move. I know this sounds crazy, but Elliott was reportedly open to a pay cut, and Jerry Jones said less than TWO WEEKS ago he wanted Zeke on the list and believed the team could find a financial way to help both Elliott as well as Tony Pollard to keep 2023. That didn’t happen. Zeke must have been willing to split because Jones’ testimony mentions that it was a joint decision.
Elliott will certainly have suitors, but who will feed him the ball like the Cowboys did? He finished 10th in a rush last year despite missing two games!
Among the 22 NFL players who recorded 200 rushes, Elliott ranked last or lowest in yards per rush (3.8%), 10-yard rush percentage (7.4%), and tackles avoided (32 ). Pollard, on the other hand, ranked first in the NFL in yards per touch (5.9). It’ll be weird to see Elliott in a different uniform. While this was the right decision for the Cowboys, it’s a sad day for their fanbase — and a sad day for Zeke, too.
Orlando Brown
KC • OT • #57
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Not only would the Kansas City Chiefs not pay their eternal Pro Bowl left tackle, they insulted him by paying a RIGHT tackle to take his spot. That clearly upset Brown, who agreed to a four-year, $64.09 million deal with the Chiefs’ biggest postseason rival, the Bengals. The deal reportedly includes over $31 million as a signing bonus, the largest ever awarded to an offensive lineman. NFL Media also reports 67.87% of the $64.09 million is fully guaranteed.
Didn’t Kansas City realize how important it was for Brown to play on the left? His father literally taught him as a kid that the right tackle is the losing player. Well, now he’s going to block Chiefs for Joe Burrow.
Loser: Sam Howell
Sam Howell
WAS • QB • #14
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When the Washington Commanders interviewed candidates for their open offensive coordinator position earlier this offseason, they said Sam Howell was QB1, according to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones. When head coach Ron Rivera was asked about this at the NFL Combine, Rivera refuted this by saying that the signal-caller is entering the offseason as a sophomore as QB1 and needs to win the job. On Wednesday, the Commanders brought his competition: Jacoby Brissett.
The former Brown made a solid start last season for the suspended Deshaun Watson. He posted a career-high 88.9 passes while also catching a career-high 64% of his throws for 2,608 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. Brissett is 18-30 in his career as a starter but is considered one of the best backups in the league. He is very good competition for young Howell.
If you want my opinion, I think Howell eventually wins that job, and I think the fan base is very intrigued by him after his performance last season and his only start against the Cowboys. However, he has to earn the appearance.