derek carr jets rumors
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The Jets need to acquire a quarterback for the 2023 season. You know it. I know it. Heck, even the Jets have admitted it themselves. The free-agent and trade markets should be full of experienced signal-callers in need of a new home. However, there are also several teams who will be pursuing those available options.

A couple of the top choices for the Jets appear to be Derek Carr and Aaron Rodgers. If we look at the headlines of the trade rumor mill, Rodgers is the one most consistently linked to Gang Green. But, we don’t even know if the four-time MVP plans on playing football next year yet.

When will we have an idea of that? Rodgers appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and said he *could* make a decision “in a couple of weeks“. While it seems like he doesn’t have any interest in playing for the San Francisco 49ers, that doesn’t answer other questions people have right now.

Let’s say he does want to suit up for 2023 and says so exactly two weeks from this past Tuesday. That’d put us at February 14th (two days after the Super Bowl).

Regarding Carr, his contract stipulates a move should happen reasonably quickly. The signal-caller has a no-trade clause, so he’ll have a direct say in what his future looks like. However, his 2023 salary ($32.9 million) and part of his 2024 salary ($7.5 million) becomes fully guaranteed if he’s still on Las Vegas’ roster by February 15th.

We can assume neither Carr nor Rodgers is super interested in what either decides and what timeframe it’s done in. But for the Jets, it’s incredibly important since these decisions will directly impact how they’ll eventually improve the quarterback position.

If we take some clues from current players — and New York hiring Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator — Gang Green’s preference might be acquiring Rodgers. But until he commits to playing, New York must keep its proverbial hat in the ring on multiple quarterbacks. And it’s not like they won’t have to deal with competition for these signal-callers to begin with. As if the Jets weren’t already aware of that, Raiders wide receiver (and former Packer teammate) Davante Adams provided a reminder on Twitter the other day.

Who is the Jets’ preferred acquisition for quarterback next year? Will they even be available to acquire? Will any decisions that must be made take them out of the running for others?

All good questions. It’ll be fascinating to see how things play out and who Gang Green eventually ends up with.

Matt Musico can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.

Matt Musico is an editor for ESNY. He’s been writing about baseball and the Mets for the past decade. His work has been featured on numberFire, MetsMerized Online, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! Sports.