‘Both Sides’ Acknowledge Obvious Reality of Potential Rodgers Trade
GREEN BAY, Wis. – It wasn’t exactly news, but ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reported on Saturday’s NFL Countdown that “both sides are fully aware” that the Green Bay Packers trading Aaron Rodgers this offseason is a “very real scenario.”
That possibility became real during Rodgers’ appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday. During a conversation about his future in Green Bay, Rodgers said: “If there’s a rebuild going on, I won’t be a part of that.” It’s a sentiment he no doubt shared during exit interviews last week.
A rebuild of sorts might be inevitable. The Packers went from 13-3 and a loss in the NFC Championship Game in 2019 to 13-3 and a loss in the NFC Championship Game in 2020 to 13-4 and a loss in the divisional round in 2021 to 8-9 in 2022.
Combine their struggles on the field with their dicey salary cap – OverTheCap.com has the Packers at about $20 million in the hole – tough decisions will have to be made by general manager Brian Gutekunst. Those tough decisions will revolve around veterans players, many of whom are among Rodgers’ favorites on the roster, such as receivers Randall Cobb and Allen Lazard and tight ends Marcedes Lewis and Robert Tonyan.
“A guy like Marcedes Lewis, he’s an important cog in the wheel of the locker room and the momentum of the team,” Rodgers said. “That’s a guy I want to finish my career with. If I’m playing, I want that guy next to me. I want the Randall Cobbs of the world – if he wants to keep playing – in my locker room. Guys you can win it.”
As a league executive pointed out on Sunday morning, a trade wouldn’t necessarily be solely about Rodgers forcing his way out the door.
If Rodgers were to start for Green Bay again in 2023, that would mean a fourth consecutive year on the bench for Jordan Love. It’s certainly a possibility that Love would request a trade so he can get on the field and start a path toward maximizing his talents and future earning power.
So, the Packers would have two choices. Rodgers or Love. Not Rodgers and Love.
The first is sticking with Rodgers and trading Love. That would require massive contract restructures (again) to keep the veteran core of the team intact to fulfill Rodgers’ desire to play for a championship contender, and it would require the selection of the team’s future quarterback (again).
The second is trading Rodgers and passing the baton to Love. Dealing Rodgers would come with massive salary cap ramifications – it would actually add $8.7 million to Green Bay’s cap deficit – but allow the team to pound the reset button. The pick or picks gained in the trade would help the Packers rebuild on the fly, so long as Love is the worthy successor.
“If they want to go younger and think Jordan (Love is) ready to go, then that might be the way they want to go,” Rodgers told McAfee. It was no different than he said during his news conference following the season-ending loss to Detroit.
“It’s just a feeling,” Rodgers said about his future being a mutual decision. “I think to assume it’s a foregone conclusion would be probably slightly egotistical, so I’m going to be a realist here and understand that there’s a lot of different parts to this. Like I’ve said, I was aware of the possibility of them going young if we had gotten to a point where we were out of it. I’m aware of that possibility, as well. Wouldn’t be the best reality but I know it’s a possibility.”
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100 Days of Mocks
Starting Jan. 17, when there were 100 days until the start of the NFL Draft, we started our mock-worthy goal of 100 mock drafts in 100 days. Here’s the series.
100 days: First-round quarterback?
99 days: Trading for outside linebacker
97 days: This pick would break a long drought
Grading the Packers
Aaron Rodgers and the quarterbacks
Aaron Jones and the running backs
Christian Watson and the receivers
