It looks like the Dallas Cowboys will be playing against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets in 2023

The Dallas Cowboys simply cannot escape Aaron Rodgers. While this is not literally the case, it seems like year after year the Cowboys have to figure out a way to go through their arch nemesis. This past season saw an interesting wrinkle to the relationship that Dallas has with Rodgers when they traveled to face him at Lambeau Field with Mike McCarthy leading the Cowboys team. It was an emotional afternoon made all the worse when Dallas squandered a huge lead in the fourth quarter only to see Rodgers get the better of them yet again.

The Cowboys have come a long way since then and vanquished a different type of ghost in Tom Brady as they beat the GOAT for the first time ever in the playoffs. Dallas has beaten Rodgers before, but never with Mike McCarthy at the helm. It seemed like we were never going to get this opportunity again with Rodgers’ future in limbo, but that changed a bit on Wednesday when he confirmed that he wants to play in 2023 and wants to do so for the New York Jets.

With thirteen words, quarterback Aaron Rodgers confirmed the story of the 2023 off-season. On The Pat McAfee Show, the four-time NFL MVP stated, “My intention is to play and to play for the New York Jets.”

After two years of flirtations with retirement, Rodgers has made his stance clear: He wants to play football in 2023. According to him, “something changed” with the Green Bay Packers’ messaging while he was on his darkness retreat in February. The quarterback stated that the team claimed that they wanted him to return for the upcoming season, but players around the league notified him after his retreat that the Packers were actually “shopping” him around the league. Plain as day, Rodgers told McAfee, “They want to move on and now so do I.”

The Jets are obviously an AFC team and generally an afterthought as far as how things go for the Dallas Cowboys, but in the 2023 season the Cowboys just so happen to be slated to host the Jets. Go figure.

Assuming the Packers and Jets do wind up getting a trade done that would mean that Dallas would be set to host Aaron Rodgers at AT&T Stadium (where they have never beaten him) this coming season. Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys hosting Aaron Rodgers’ Jets... who would have ever seen that coming?

One would assume that this hypothetical game would get some big-time treatment. For what it’s worth, the Cowboys could host the Jets on Thanksgiving like they did in 2007, or host them on a random Sunday in a primetime slot. Dallas visited the Jets on Sunday Night Football in the 2011 season opener and hosted them on an NFL Network Saturday night primetime game in 2015, the last time New York visited Arlington.

Just when we thought we were free, it turns out we might not be.