Vikings Nemesis Aaron Rodgers is Officially Out of the NFC North

It finally happened. The Green Bay Packers and New York Jets have agreed to the long-anticipated trade that sends Aaron Rodgers to the Jets after 18 seasons and four MVP awards with the Packers.

Here are the details, via ESPN's Adam Schefter:

Jets receive: Aaron Rodgers, No. 15 overall pick, 2023 fifth-round pick (No. 170)
Packers receive: No. 13 overall pick, 2023 second-round pick (No. 42), 2023 sixth-round pick (No. 207), 2024 conditional first-round pick (it's a second-rounder if Rodgers doesn't play 65 percent of the Jets' snaps this season).

And thus, one of the Vikings' greatest tormentors of the last two decades is officially gone from the NFC North.

Rodgers went 17-10-1 in 28 full games against the Vikings during his Packers tenure, including one playoff victory following the 2012 season. He threw 58 touchdowns with just eight interceptions in those contests. The Packers won the NFC North eight times in the 15 years since Rodgers took over as their starting quarterback in 2008, with all of those division titles coming in an 11-year span from 2011 to 2021. The Vikings won the division in 2008, 2009, 2015, 2017, and 2022.

In Green Bay, 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love is set to take over as the starting quarterback after three years as Rodgers' backup. After over 30 years of Hall of Fame quarterback play from Brett Favre and Rodgers, this is an interesting new era for the Packers, who will go as far as Love takes them.

Speaking of Favre, Rodgers is ironically following in his predecessor's footsteps by joining the Jets. I don't think this means Rodgers will be the Vikings' quarterback in 2024 like Favre in 2009, but who knows?

The NFC North feels more wide open than ever this year.

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