What’s Rodgers Waiting For?

The season ended more than one month ago. What's taking Aaron Rodgers so long to decide his future with the Green Bay Packers?

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Feb 24, 2022 8:54 PM EST

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ season ended on the night of Jan. 22. That means Aaron Rodgers has had about a month to figure out what he wants to do next year.

Does he want to return for a 15th season as the starting quarterback?

Does he want to pursue a championship in Denver or elsewhere?

Or does he want to pursue the rest of his life?

A few days after the season ended, on Jan. 25, Rodgers made his regular appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

“You have to imagine yourself in those situations,” Rodgers said of retirement, “because I don’t want to be sitting there during the season going, ‘Man, I probably should’ve hung it up.’ Or, sitting there and not with the organization – a organization – and going, ‘God, I should be playing right now.’ I think it’s just a trust that I’ll know exactly what to do. Once you make a decision, that’s the decision and you move forward. Until you get to that certainty you don’t make a decision. There also is a timeframe for this because I understand that my decision does impact a number of other people’s decisions. I want to be very sensitive to that, so I’ll definitely make a decision sooner rather than later.”

It’s one day short of a month since Rodgers said he’d make a decision “sooner rather than later.” And yet, with the window for the franchise tag – which could be used on his close friend and superstar teammate Davante Adams – having opened a couple days ago, there has been no decision.

Well, maybe there has been a decision.

It’s still striking that the Packers are bringing back Tom Clements to coach quarterbacks. Clements, of course, knows Rodgers well, having worked together from 2006 through 2016. During their time together, Rodgers won one Super Bowl, two MVPs and reached two additional NFC Championship Games. Other than perhaps only casually, Clements doesn’t know coach Matt LaFleur or quarterback Jordan Love.

“I think it’s an example of how Aaron is a part of the conversation of things that do affect his job,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Wednesday.

What a sentence. How would the quarterbacks coach affect Rodgers’ life if he’s not going to be the quarterback?

Sure, the hiring of Clements could be a lure to Rodgers. But look at it from Clements’ perspective. He’s 68 and retired after the 2020 season. Coming out of retirement and coming to Green Bay to coach Rodgers? Probably a pretty easy decision. Coming out of retirement and coming to Green Bay to join a roster full of players and coaches he doesn’t know? Perhaps not so much.

“I love Tom,” Rodgers told McAfee on Tuesday. “I owe him so much credit for my development, so I’m happy to see him back in the game. The game is better when Tom Clements is coaching because he’s one of those special, special coaches. Doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. He’s just been one of those lifer guys in the business, but fantastic teacher of the game and great for young players, as well. When I was a young player, offseason was obviously different back then, but, man, he was instrumental in my development.”

Perhaps Rodgers already has told Gutekunst that he’d like to come back. Returning to Green Bay would require a contract extension. From Rodgers’ perspective, a new deal could help ensure he’d end his career with the Packers. That would be a big deal for him. From the team’s perspective, it needs every dime of cap space it can find. With a base salary of almost $26.5 million for 2022, the final season remaining under his current contract, there’s plenty of cap help to be mined from Rodgers’ contract.

“Obviously, his (cap) number is what it is, so that’s certainly something we would like to do,” Gutekunst said.

Yes, Rodgers could have said on McAfee that he intended to come back to Green Bay. However, waiting until all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed is the prudent thing to do.

The guess – and this is only a guess – is news of Rodgers’ decision will be followed closely by news of Rodgers’ contract.

NFL Key Dates for 2022

March 1-7

Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

General manager Brian Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur will talk to reporters on March 1. Player workouts will be later in the week. Teams are allotted 45 formal interviews. “It’ll be good to see the guys live and have a little bit better feel once we get to the Combine,” Gutekunst said. “But it’s another good offensive line class, which is good. I thought the offensive skill positions were deeper than they have been maybe in the past. The pass rush group is deeper than it has been in a while. Overall, I think it’s good. I think it’s an interesting year because there were so many guys that opted back in to play in the college season, so the numbers are way up across the board, especially in the bottom half of the draft. I think the numbers are much bigger than they have been in the past.”

March 8

Deadline to use the franchise tag strikes at 3 p.m. (Central).

The Packers could use it on All-Pro receiver Davante Adams. “It’s obviously a tool that’s made available to us,” Gutekunst said. “If we need to use it, we certainly will. I think we’d love to come to an agreement before that, but it is a tool to be able to protect tone of your star players. But at the same time, that’s not the way [we’ve done business]. We like to exhaust all options before we get to that point. But it is a tool that’s available to us.”

March 14-16

Beginning at 11 a.m. (Central) on March 14 and ending at 2:59:59 p.m. on March 16, clubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with, players who will become unrestricted free agents upon the expiration of their 2021 player contracts at 3 p.m. on March 16. This is what’s called the “legal tampering period.” Aside from Adams, linebacker De'Vondre Campbell is Green Bay's top free agent.

March 16

The league-year begins at 3 p.m. Teams must be in compliance with the $208.2 million salary cap at this time.

“The pandemic certainly threw a wrench into everything as far as the salary cap numbers,” Gutekunst said. “They’d be so steady [in their annual increase] for so long. You kind of had that comforting feeling of where it’s going to be. When that got changed, with where our team was at, it made it a little more difficult. We’re very hopeful we’re coming out of that. We’re excited to get out of that. We got a really good football team and we’re excited to add to that this spring and see where we can go.”

March 16

Trades can be made beginning at 3 p.m.

April 18

The Packers can begin their offseason workout programs.

April 22

Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets with other teams.

The Packers have one restricted free agent, receiver Allen Lazard. “He knows what kind of player he can be and he’s continuing to push that envelope every week,” veteran Randall Cobb said before the playoffs. “You see it in practice, you see it in meeting rooms, you see him taking notes, his attention to detail, and we get onto the practice field and his attention to detail with practice and then it comes down to opportunities, and he’s made every single one of them. You love to see it. I think his stock’s continuing to go up. His rise, it’s beautiful.”

April 28-30

The NFL Draft will be held in Las Vegas, with the first round on April 28, the second and third rounds on April 29 and the fourth through seventh rounds on April 30.

Last year’s first-round pick was used on cornerback Eric Stokes, who had an excellent rookie year. “When he was pressed into a little bit more duty than I think we might have thought he would, he obviously performed at a very good level,” Gutekunst said. “I really liked his demeanor. It’s probably a lot more to who he is but also coming from Georgia and the way he competed at that level the last couple years, I just don’t think it was too big for him. Even through his struggles, which every player in the National Football League goes through, he didn’t blink.”

May 2

This is the deadline for teams to exercise the fifth-year option on their 2019 first-round draft picks.

For the Packers, that’s outside linebacker Rashan Gary and safety Darnell Savage. “We’re not there yet,” Gutekunst said when asked about those players on Wednesday. “Obviously, both those guys have done a really good job for us. They’re coming into their own and becoming leaders of our defense. So, we haven’t made any decisions on that but both pretty good players.”

May 6-9 or 13-16

Teams can hold their three-day rookie orientation camps during this period – either Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday. Last year, the Packers held their rookie camp during the second of those blocks.