Gutekunst on Rodgers: ‘Aaron’s Our Guy’

“He’s going to be our quarterback for the foreseeable future. We’re excited about the things we’re going to try to accomplish here over the next couple years.”

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Apr 26, 2021 6:00 PM EDT

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Whether it’s reality of not, the future between the Green Bay Packers and their three-time MVP quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, is a real topic of discussion around the league.

On Sunday, a pro personnel director who agreed to talk about draft prospects off the record, finished talking about a top cornerback when he said, “So, what the (expletive) is going on with Aaron and Gutey?”

Gutey – general manager Brian Gutekunst – diffused some of that conjecture during his predraft Zoom interview with reporters on Monday.

“Aaron’s our guy,” Gutekunst said in reference to next offseason, when there are no hefty roster bonuses remaining on Rodgers’ contract, making it an easier time to move on to Jordan Love should that be the franchise’s desire. “He’s going to be our quarterback for the foreseeable future. We’re excited about the things we’re going to try to accomplish here over the next couple years.”

Rodgers Could Help with Salary Cap

Because of the impact of COVID-19 on the salary cap, the Packers had to restructure several contracts to get in compliance. While it was an unprecedented among of financial shuffling from the team’s perspective, Rodgers’ contract, however, was not among those deals. Thus, while Rodgers won his third MVP in 2020 with a turn-back-the-clock season, the financial reality is nothing had changed from a financial perspective. The Packers could release or trade Rodgers next offseason and create $22.6 million of cap space.

Restructuring Rodgers would kill two birds with one stone. One, his contract could create some breathing room against the cap. According to the latest from the NFLPA, the Packers have about $3.75 million of cap space. That’s enough to get the upcoming rookie class signed but doesn’t leave room for much else. Second, a restructure would signal to Rodgers that he’s the quarterback’s future beyond the upcoming season and merely not “Plan B” in the event Love isn’t on the right trajectory. “Plan B” is how the personnel director agreed Rodgers might see the situation.

From Gutekunst’s perspective, Rodgers’ contract remains an avenue to create cap space. The challenge is the Packers are well over the projected salary cap for 2022, as well, so any restructure might only add to next year’s challenge.

“We certainly think with the contract that you’re kind of talking about is something we’ll work through. We’re going to have to do probably a few things with different contracts as we head toward the season and then through the season to make sure that our salary cap situation, not only this year, but in 2022 is square. So, we’re not done yet. We’ve done a lot to get here. We've kind of been doing things as we go and we will continue to do that as we go.”

On April 5, Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show that “nothing’s changed” since the end of the season, when Rodgers acknowledged his “uncertain” future with the team that drafted him in 2005 and he’s led to sustained success. A week earlier, a series of nonanswers by team President Mark Murphy did nothing to provide clarity.

A contract restructure with guaranteed money beyond this season would help provide the certainty Rodgers desires.

“We’re really excited about Aaron Rodgers and his future with the Green Bay Packers,” Gutekunst said. “We think he’s going to be our quarterback for the foreseeable future. I think that obviously every year there’s different things you go through to get to the season, and I think we’re going through those right now. Again, he’s such a unique, different player than anyone that I’ve ever been around. He affects our organization in so many different ways that you just can’t value him because he’s so important to what we do. We’re excited moving forward and we’ll kind of see where things go.”