After 18 seasons, Aaron Rodgers is finally leaving Green Bay.
The Packers and Jets ended more than a month of speculation Monday by agreeing to a blockbuster deal that will send the four-time NFL MVP to New York. With Rodgers now in the fold, the Jets will be hoping that their new quarterback can lead them to the Super Bowl, somewhere they haven’t been in 55 years.
Rodgers already has one Super Bowl win under his belt, and he’ll now be leading a Jets team that’s looking for its first big game appearance since 1968. However, the Jets might not want to count on getting a Super Bowl out of Rodgers, because history says it’s probably not going to happen.
Although the addition of Rodgers makes the Jets an instant contender, NFL history says that New York likely won’t end up making it to the big game with Rodgers. The move involving Rodgers marks just the eighth time in NFL history that this has happened.
Of the previous eight Super Bowl winning quarterbacks who were traded by the team they won the Super Bowl with, none of them EVER made it back to the Super Bowl and only one of them — Joe Montana — even won a single playoff game.
Here’s a look at how the eight prior Super Bowl winning quarterbacks did after they were traded by the team they won the Super Bowl with:
Johnny Unitas
- Won Super Bowl V with Colts
- Traded from Colts to Chargers in 1973
- Playoff record with new team: 0-0 (Chargers didn’t make playoffs in 1973)
Although most people remember Unitas as the legendary quarterback for the Baltimore Colts, he didn’t play his entire career in Baltimore and that’s because the Colts traded him to the Chargers in 1973. Unitas would only play one season with the Chargers before retiring, and it was an ugly one where he went 1-3 as a starter. At the time of the trade, Unitas wanted nothing to do with the Chargers and he almost didn’t report to training camp, so it’s not a shock that things didn’t go so well.
Joe Namath
- Won Super Bowl III with Jets
- Traded from Jets to Rams in 1977
- Playoff record with new team: 0-0 (Rams didn’t make playoffs in 1977)
The Jets only have one Super Bowl win in franchise history, and the quarterback who “guaranteed” that win was dumped nearly a decade after it happened. Nine years after leading the Jets to a win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, New York decided to ship Namath off to Los Angeles, where he would finish his career with the Rams. Like the Unitas situation, Namath’s short stint with his new team was a disaster. Namath’s body was so beat up by this point that he was only able to start four games for the Rams in 1977, going 2-2. Broadway Joe then decided to retire for good following the 1977 season.
Ken Stabler
- Won Super Bowl XI with Raiders
- Traded from Raiders to Oilers in 1980
- Playoff record with new team: 0-1 (Oilers lost wild-card game in 1980)
After leading the Raiders to a Super Bowl win in 1976, Stabler was shipped off to Houston just four years later. In a trade that involved two starting quarterbacks, Dan Pastorini went from Houston to Oakland while Stabler ended up with the Oileres. At 34, Stabler still had something left in the tank, and he proved it by leading the Oilers to the playoffs in 1980 with an 11-5 record. Of course, Stabler’s lone playoff appearance with the Oilers came with a cruel twist of fate: Houston would end up losing, 27-7, in the wild-card round to Stabler’s former team, the Raiders. After two seasons in Houston, Stabler would also spend three years with the Saints, but he never made it back to the playoffs.
Jim McMahon
- Won Super Bowl XX with Bears
- Traded from Bears to Chargers in 1989
- Playoff record with new team: 0-0 (Chargers didn’t make playoffs in 1989)
The 1985 Bears are mostly known for their defense, but McMahon also became a cultural icon due to his brash personality. Following the Super Bowl win, McMahon spent three seasons battling injuries before the Bears decided to deal him to the Chargers prior to the 1989 season. During McMahon’s one year in San Diego, he went just 4-7. McMahon did make it back to the playoffs in 1993 with the Vikings, but they ended up losing in the wild-card round to the Giants.
Joe Montana
- Won Super Bowls XVI, XIX, XXIII and XXIV with 49ers
- Traded from 49ers to Chiefs in 1993
- Playoff record with new team: 2-2 (Advanced to AFC title game in 1993, made playoffs in 1994)
When it comes to a Super Bowl-winning quarterback being traded, Montana is probably the most famous — and most successful — example in NFL history. After missing the entire 1991 season due to an injury, the 49ers felt it was time to make Steve Young the starter, so they looked for a way to trade Montana without hurting anyone’s feelings. In 1993, a trade finally happened when the 49ers sent a 36-year-old Montana to Kansas City. In Montana’s first year with the team, the Chiefs made it to the AFC title game for the first time in 24 years. Although they lost to the Bills, Montana is the only Super Bowl-winning QB who even got to the conference title game with his new team.
Brett Favre
- Won Super Bowl XXXI with Packers
- Traded from Packers to Jets in 2008
- Playoff record with new team: 0-0 (Jets didn’t make playoffs in 2008)
Rodgers isn’t the first Packers QB to be traded to the Jets and that’s because Brett Favre was involved in the same situation 15 years ago. Although we all remember Favre’s highly successful season with the Vikings in 2009, that’s not where he initially played after leaving Green Bay. In the summer of 2008, the Packers traded Favre to the Jets, and the crazy part is that he almost did the improbable: He almost led them to the playoffs. Favre took over a team that went 4-12 in 2007 and led them to a 9-7 record in 2008, and he did that even though he played the final month of the season with a torn biceps tendon. Unfortunately for the Jets, 9-7 wasn’t good enough to make that playoffs in 2008. After being cut by the Jets in 2009, Favre signed with the Vikings and went 12-4 with a divisional playoff win before losing to the Saints in the NFC title game.
- Won Super Bowl XLVII with Ravens
- Traded from Ravens to Broncos in 2019
- Playoff record with new team: 0-0 (Broncos didn’t make playoffs in 2019)
In 2019, the Broncos pulled off a trade for Flacco, and things got ugly very quickly. In his one disastrous year with the Broncos, Flacco went just 2-6 before his season was cut short due to a neck injury. Thanks to this trade, the Broncos are one of just two teams in NFL history — along with the Chargers — who have twice traded for a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
- Won Super Bowl XLVIII with Seahawks
- Traded from Seahawks to Broncos in 2022
- Playoff record with new team: 0-0 (Broncos didn’t make playoffs in 2022)
The Broncos were expected to be a playoff contender after trading for Wilson last year, but instead, Wilson’s first year in Denver was an absolute disaster with the team finishing 5-12 and last place in the AFC West. That being said, Wilson is still the starter in Denver, which means he’ll now be in a race with Rodgers to see who can become the first Super Bowl winning QB to win a Super Bowl with his new team after being traded away from the team he originally won a Super Bowl with.
Rodgers against NFL history
If you’re scoring at home, only two of the eight quarterbacks on our list ended up making the playoffs with their new team and only one of those quarterbacks even won a SINGLE postseason game with that team.
This doesn’t mean that Rodgers can’t win in New York, but if the previous eight trades all have one thing in common, it’s that the quarterbacks got traded because their original team was ready to move on. You don’t give up on one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL unless you feel like maybe he’s not one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL anymore, and it seems like the Packers now feel that way about Rodgers.
Of course, Rodgers likely won’t have to win the Super Bowl to be considered a success in 2023. If he just gets the Jets to the playoffs, that would be an impressive feat considering the Jets’ currently have the longest drought in the NFL without a postseason appearance. Their last playoff trip came in 2010, and coincidentally, that was also the year that Rodgers won the only Super Bowl of his career.
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Author: John Breech
April 24, 2023 | 6:56 pm
