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Aaron Rodgers Says He'll Play for $10 Million; Should 49ers Sign him?

The 49ers have options.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) during the second quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) during the second quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have options.

They could pay Brock Purdy what he wants, which is probably more than $50 million per season. Or, they could pay Aaron Rodgers what he wants, which is $10 million according to him. Rodgers said this Thursday on The Pat McAfee Show. He also said he's still considering retirement.

So which quarterback should the 49ers sign?

How about Option C: None of the above.

Purdy isn't worth franchise quarterback money. And Rodgers isn't worth any money anymore. Because if he's considering retirement, that means he already mentally is retired. He has one foot out the door. A team could play him to go through the motions for a year or two, but that's all he'll do on the field. And in the locker room, he'll spread toxicity and discontent.

No, thank you.

What the 49ers should do is embrace a full rebuild. Acknowledge that they could not win a Super Bowl with their current core group of players, trade them and move on. Build a new core of young players. Trade George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa and Brock Purdy. Finish the job they started this offseason when they traded Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders.

That would be bold.

Signing Rodgers would be weak and desperate. One last attempt to win a Super Bowl with an aging core that has proven time and time again that it isn't quite good enough.

Let it go. Start over. Embrace the future.

The 49ers will understand.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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