Aaron Rodgers and the biggest transactions of the 2023 NFL season

With just a handful of weeks left before the end of the NFL regular season, it’s time to evaluate the moves that defined the year in review. Everyone makes big deals about offseason moves and trades, but only in hindsight can we truly find the moves that defined the year.

As a brief aside, we’ve neglected any individual rookie picks. 15 games isn’t enough talent to define how most players will pan out. However, the draft conversation can be one of the many ripple effects of another move.

Alright, let’s start with the gimme. The Aaron Rodgers trade changed the landscape of the AFC…until it didn’t. Four plays into the year, Rodgers tore his Achilles, and the Jets were right back where they started. That still changed the AFC playoff picture. If you gave the Jets league-average QB play, they have the skill position players and a top-five defense to make an aggressive playoff run. If the Jets shelled any other available quarterback this offseason – Derek Carr, Geno Smith, maybe even Jacoby Brissett – this would be an undeniable playoff team.

Moreover, this trade completely changed the trajectory of the Green Bay Packers. Moving off of the league’s MVP in two of the last three years allowed Jordan Love to finally get a shot. It’s paid off tremendously, as Love has really come into his own in recent weeks. The trade also added talent to both sides of the ball, with edge rusher Lukas Van Ness and tight end Luke Musgrave coming as a direct result of the trade.

If one defensive coordinator hire deserves love this year, it’s Minnesota Vikings DC Brian Flores. The Vikings were one of the league’s worst defenses in 2022, and the 2023 offseason saw Minnesota lose both Za’Darius Smith and Dalvin Tomlinson to the Browns. In comes Flores, whose exotic blitzes and unique coverage deployments propelled an undermanned Vikings defense to the sixth-best defense in defensive DVOA.

There was a point this offseason when Lamar Jackson was looking to play anywhere other than Baltimore. Amid contract disputes, Jackson wanted to change the offense the Ravens were running. Hiring former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken did just that. Jackson looks like an MVP candidate, mostly from his uptick in passing production. The Ravens have their highest passing rate since Jackson took over as starting quarterback; Jackson is on pace to set new career highs in total passing attempts and passing yards. The change in offensive coordinator helped propel the Ravens to the AFC’s top seed.

It looks like nobody wants to win the NFC South, but Jesse Bates is helping lift the Falcons to a division title. Bates has been a transcendent talent for Atlanta, currently third in the league with five interceptions. He also has a 92-yard pick six, longest by any player this season. Bates, playing behind A.J. Terrell and Dee Alford, has made Atlanta a formidable pass defense.

Moreover, the departure of the former Bengals safety decimated the Cincinnati secondary. Hours after Bates signed with Atlanta, fellow Bengals safety Vonn Bell inked a deal with the Carolina Panthers. As a result, the Bengals went from seventh in EPA/dropback allowed in 2022 to 23rd in 2023, per RBSDM.

Amid a myriad of poor personnel decisions, the Raiders absolutely nailed their deal with Jakobi Meyers. The former UDFA is tied for sixth in the league in receiving touchdowns and has an additional passing and rushing touchdown to boot.

The move also pretty much sunk Meyers’ former team, the New England Patriots. Meyers led the Patriots in receptions for three straight seasons, but New England low-balled him for most of the free agency process. Meyers went to Las Vegas, leaving the Patriots with an extremely limited passing offense. Their best attempt to replace Meyers, JuJu Smith-Schuster, has just 29 catches for 260 yards and a touchdown this year, the worst season of his career by volume.

The domino effects in this move are staggering. Let’s start with the marquee chip in the trade, D.J. Moore. Justin Fields got his first legitimate WR1 in Chicago, and Moore has played like it. He is currently seventh in the league in total receiving yards with 1,071 and eight combined touchdowns.

The move allowed Carolina to select their pick of the quarterback litter, and they went with Bryce Young. It hasn’t looked great for Young yet, although he is currently in one of the worst infrastructures in the NFL.

However, this did allow the Houston Texans to completely overhaul their team in two rounds. Houston landed C.J. Stroud, the inarguable Offensive Rookie of the Year and a quarterback who’s looked good enough to garner MVP buzz at points this year. Houston then traded right back up to No. 3 overall and landed Will Anderson, the edge-rushing cornerstone of the new-look DeMeco Ryans’ defense.

The Young pick caused ripple effects throughout the Panthers organization. His lack of success inevitably led to the dismissal of head coach Frank Reich. Reich was brought in to develop whoever the Panthers drafted. It should’ve been a dead giveaway that the Indianapolis Colts didn’t feel comfortable having Reich develop eventual Colts rookie Anthony Richardson.

This move aged fantastically because of the season-ending injury to Trevon Diggs. Dallas took a flier on the former Defensive Player of the Year, and Gilmore has seemingly turned back the clock. The 33-year-old cornerback has posted some of his best numbers since leaving the New England Patriots, posting 10 pass breakups and two interceptions through 13 games. Alongside DaRon Bland, Gilmore has allowed the Cowboys to survive a devastating injury and maintain their third-best defense by EPA/dropback.

This has only had an effect in the last few months of the season, but it deserves mention. Jalen Ramsey has been incredible for Miami this season. Miami acquired the three-time All-Pro cornerback from the Los Angeles Rams for tight end Hunter Long and a 2023 third-round pick, but they couldn’t properly use him because of a torn meniscus in July.

If Ramsey played a full season the way he’s played these last few games, though, he would be up for Defensive Player of the Year consideration. Ramsey has allowed just seven catches on 20 targets over six games. His 4.2 yards per target and 35 percent completion percentage allowed would both be career bests for Ramsey, according to Sports Info Solutions. Ramsey supercharges a Vic Fangio defense that already has two great home-grown Dolphins talents in Xavien Howard and Jevon Holland.