NFL Draft week opened with a bang on Monday as the Jets and Packers finally agreed to a blockbuster trade that sends Aaron Rodgers to New York after 18 years in Green Bay.
Talk of the stalemate between the two sides had become so prevalent over the past six weeks that the moment the deal actually went down felt surreal. ESPN viewers got to see that moment happen in real time.
MORE: Grading the Aaron Rodgers blockbuster trade | Trade winners & losers
Adam Schefter was on the air for "NFL Live" when he received word of the deal on his phone. He broke the news as he read his messages. That, in turn, caused some wild reactions in real time.
"Laura, we have breaking news right now," Schefter responded when host Laura Rutledge asked about the 49ers' quarterback situation.
Schefter broke down the details of the trade and then repeated them for the "NFL Live" panel, which elicited shocked reactions from Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky and Marcus Spears.
Adam Schefter breaking the Aaron Rodgers trade news made for great live television on ESPN. 🏈📺😂 pic.twitter.com/qPdBeHk0N2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 24, 2023
Kimes and Spears both covered their mouths when Schefter said the Jets were trading their first-round pick in the deal, but Schefter had to calm them down to say the crucial other side of the trade: the Packers were sending their own first-round pick to the Jets, meaning New York only moved down two spots.
Whether the Jets would have to trade their first-round pick had been a point of debate for weeks, and Spears yelled, "I told you!" before Schefter got through the rest of the details. Orlovsky still had a shocked look on his face after Schefter laid out the details a third time.
MORE: Why Aaron Rodgers will wear No. 8 instead of No. 12 with Jets
Schefter has been in this position before, since major NFL news tends to come at any time of year and during any time of day, and he did a fine job of clearly dissecting the details as they were coming in on his phone.
More deals could be in store this week, and with wall-to-wall live coverage of draft week ahead, the possibility of another fun on-air moment like this isn't far-fetched.
