Rodgers, Packers Go From ‘Big Commitment’ to Big Trade

In a span of less than three months, the Green Bay Packers have gone from a "big commitment" to Aaron Rodgers to on the verge of trading him to the New York Jets.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Apr 3, 2023 8:42 AM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When Brian Gutekunst met the press on Jan. 13, five days after the Green Bay Packers’ season ended in dismal fashion with a loss to the Detroit Lions, he left little doubt that Aaron Rodgers was the team’s past, present and future at quarterback.

“We made a really big commitment to him last offseason, so I think as we did that it wasn’t certainly for just this year,” Gutekunst said in regards to the three-year, $150 million contract Rodgers and the Packers agreed to 10 months earlier.

After the Packers posted three consecutive seasons of 13 wins and Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs, 2022 was a colossal disappointment. Rodgers had a poor season by his standards and a mediocre season by anyone’s standards. Not only was Rodgers’ passer rating the worst of his career, his QBR – the ESPN version of passer rating – ranked 26th in the NFL.

Was it time to let Jordan Love take over? Or were Rodgers’ troubles rooted in his broken thumb and changes at receiver and coordinator?

“You’re talking about a four-time MVP, right?” Gutekunst said on Jan. 13 when asked which quarterback would give the team its best chance to win in 2023. “So, we are very excited about Jordan and where he’s at, there’s no doubt about that.

“But Jordan’s never played a 16-, 17-game season and gone through all that stuff. So, it’s no different than when we moved from Brett (Favre) to Aaron, right? So, that’s a hard thing to say but, at the same time where Aaron’s at, the level he’s at, there’s not many teams he wouldn’t give the best chance to win.”

It was a total change of tone by the time Gutekunst talked to reporters at the Scouting Combine on Feb. 28. Over the course of those six-and-a-half weeks, there had been an obvious shift. Not once during a lengthy question-and-answer session with local reporters did Gutekunst say Rodgers was his quarterback.

Asked point-blank if Gutekunst wanted Rodgers back, he said:

“He’s a great player. But until we have those conversations, I think all options are on the table right now. But we really need to have those conversations. We want what’s best for the Green Bay Packers, what’s best for Aaron. So, we’ll get to that once those conversations happen.”

At that point, Gutekunst said he hadn’t talked to Rodgers since the end-of-season exit interviews. Five days earlier, Rodgers had exited his darkness retreat. As he said on The Pat McAfee Show, that’s when he learned of the team’s apparent change of plans at quarterback.

“When I got back to that little shack they have where there’s one bar of Wi-Fi and got back to hundreds of text messages and emails and all different things, I realized there had been a little bit of a shift,” Rodgers said on March 15, exactly one year after he signed the massive contract, “and I heard from multiple people that I trust around the league, players mostly, that there was some shopping going on, that they were interested in actually moving me.”

By that point, the Jets had met with Rodgers in California, Packers President Mark Murphy had spoken of Rodgers in the past tense and Rodgers – through agent David Dunn – had told the Packers of his intention to play for the Jets.

What happened? How did Rodgers go from providing the team’s “best chance to win” – so much so that the team kept trotting him out there with a 4-8 record and injured ribs on top of his injured thumb – to the team being ready to trade him for the football equivalent of pennies on the dollar?

“I think obviously where our team is at, where we’re moving forward and, quite frankly, his desire,” Gutekunst said last week. “I think as we move forward, we’re excited about what Jordan can do for us and our whole team will come together around that. It’s complex. It’s hard. It’s complicated. But, at the same time, I think once we got down the road and knew what Aaron wanted, we’ve been trying to facilitate that.”

Gutekunst and Jets general manager Joe Douglas have been in frequent communication but time hasn’t been of the essence. The teams’ offseason programs will begin in two weeks, on April 17, but the real pressure point is the start of the 2023 NFL Draft on April 27.

“I know everyone [on the outside] wanted it done yesterday,” a source said on Saturday. “I get it, it’s the big story in the league, but that’s not really been the focus for Joe and Brian.” The general managers have been on the road scouting players at pro days across the country. With those mostly complete, they can turn more of their attention to hammering out a historic trade.

“Went through it last year with Davante,” Gutekunst said of the trade of All-Pro receiver Davante Adams “When you’ve got great players who’ve done so much for your organization, it’s a little bit bittersweet. At the same time, at some point, Aaron was not going to be our quarterback. That’s life in the National Football League.

“So, yeah, I’m sure there will be a pause and a moment but, at the same time as a football team, I think we’re excited for what the future brings and we’re just going to keep moving forward.”