The Aaron Rodgers Situation Explained
10 repliesThere was a lot of drama this offseason over Aaron Rodgers after reports surfaced that he was unhappy in Green Bay and wanted a trade. There was even some speculation that he’d be traded during the draft, but as the offseason went on it started to settle and nothing really happened.
Until yesterday, when it was reported that the Packers and Rodgers agreed to a new deal.
The new agreement, once finalized, would help set up Aaron Rodgers’ departure from Green Bay after this season, per sources. https://t.co/NojVojcHjy
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 26, 2021
As of this writing most of the talk has been about Rodgers staying, but the bigger news is that they’re preparing for Rodgers to leave after this season, specifically in a trade. This is a highly unusual arrangement, as typically players who force their way out do it immediately, or come to a resolution and stay for the long term. Agreeing to stick around for one more year is like agreeing to divorce in a year.
But it actually makes sense for both sides.
For the Packers, they’re trying to balance both taking advantage of having one of the greatest quarterbacks ever while also not wanting to waste the entirety of Jordan Love’s rookie contract. One more year of Rodgers before trading him away (likely for a king’s ransom) is a good compromise between those two forces.
For Rodgers, he feels he can have Brady-like longevity, but that would obviously be inconsistent with Jordan Love existing. Or at least them both existing on the same team at the same time. In the post-2011 world it simply doesn’t make sense for a team to draft a quarterback but not have them play for the first half decade of their career.
Which is (I believe) a big reason why he wants out. He knows how the NFL works. This is why I speculated that he wanted to for the Packers to either give him a 5-year extension and trade Love or trade him to a place that would give him that extension. This deal is essentially the 2nd one while giving him one last chance on a team he knows is capable of at least reaching the conference championship.
So prepare for this story to hang around for a while. We’ll spend the season speculating where he’ll go while interested teams try to maneuver to put themselves in a position to land him.
Ok Aaron, are you finished?
I had written a longer comment, but after reading it, I condensed it to the following:
Just my old man’s opinion, but why do I care what Aaron Rodgers does?
Well besides the fact he maybe in the AFC west next year, with the donks. But other than that not a damn thing. I think Rogers is a giant douche..
I hope Denver gives him 80-100 mil guaranteed and he breaks his leg in week one…
Broncos and Raiders are probably #1 and #2 on the waiting list.
I think the Broncos could be the most appealing team in the NFL for someone like Rodgers. They’re a talented team that with the right QB (and coaching, I’m still not sure about Fangio) could turn them into a SB contender.
I don’t see any appeal in the Raiders. Their defense is a mess and unless their new OL really steps up it looks like that unit has taken a big step back.
Yeah I heard Ryan Tracy saying he’s not interested in going to LV, so it could likely be the Donkos, especially if their current guy doesn’t take a big step forward this year.
However, I do think having Rogers in the AFC West would be a good thing to keep Mahomes pushing his greatness forward. Good competition has a way of making people step up to the challenge.
I think Rodgers wants to do a Brady where he joins a team that’s all set except at the QB position. The only ones that I can think of are the Broncos, Rams, and Saints. Is there anyone else?
Obviously the Rams are hoping Stafford can do that for them, but we’ll see.
As I said, I had a longer comment that touched upon all the things mentioned above. Until he joins an AFC west team or play him in a Superbowl, it’s all just noise to me.
The question will now be whether teams will lowball the Packers as they are heading into the probable last season. True, multiple teams will bump up the bidding but will the starting bid be considerably less than before. What happens if Rodgers gets injured or plays poorly? What if Green Bay gets off to a horrid start – does Rodgers want to risk his future by still playing on a non-contending team. Will be interesting to see how this plays out going forward.