Aaron Rodgers’ sporting event tour that started after his trade to the Jets — which included appearances at playoff games for the Rangers and Knicks — reached Kentucky this weekend for the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Rodgers appeared at the race on Saturday in Instagram posts from former Packers wideout Davante Adams, now with the Raiders, and current Green Bay offensive lineman David Bakhtiari.
A photo published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel linked Rodgers and a group of his former teammates to the Barnstable Brown Party Gala on Friday, too.
According to the Journal Sentinel, recent Jets acquisitions — and former Packers — Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, tight end Jimmy Graham, quarterback Matt Flynn and linebacker AJ Hawk were all in attendance at various events throughout the weekend.
So the Kentucky Derby doubled as a flashback for Rodgers after the star quarterback was traded to the Jets ahead of the 2023 season after 18 years with the Packers.
“Derby 2023 with the crew and Allen,” Adams wrote in the caption of his Instagram post, while Bakhtiari captioned his post with, “Another successful #Derby weekend. Shoutout the crew! Always a good time getting together for fellowship and some horse racing.”
Rodgers, who reportedly has become a regular spectator at the Kentucky Derby, donned a button-down white shirt underneath his red suit as he attended as a member of the Jets for the first time.
He’d originally revealed his intentions to play for the Jets during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on March 15, but it took six weeks for the teams to finalize a trade.
The Jets ended up acquiring Rodgers, along with the No. 15 and No. 170 picks in 2023, from the Packers in exchange for Gang Green’s No. 13, No. 42 and No. 207 picks in the 2023 draft — with a conditional second-round pick in 2024 also included, though that could improve and become a first-round pick for Green Bay based on Rodgers’ snap-count percentage.
Rodgers impressed at his introductory press conference and the honeymoon phase began.
He attended Game 6 between the Rangers and Devils at Madison Square Garden on April 29, mouthing a “let’s go” into the camera when shown on the jumbotron.
Then, one day later, he received an ovation and waved to the Garden crowd as the Knicks began their second-round playoff series against the Heat — going with Lazard. Rodgers was back for Game 2 — this time with Jets corner Sauce Gardner.
