— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) January 17, 2023
Aaron Rodgers in the early 2010’s: “I’m not going to go out like Brett Favre at the end of my career.”
Brett Favre:
I don’t think I can do this all off-season, guys. I’m pretty sure Rodgers doesn’t make a regular McAfee appearance in the offseason so (hopefully) we’ll be done with this for a few months. With any luck we won’t have to hear about him until the draft and the inevitable trade rumors that Adam Shefter will fire off with zero sources.
Because make no mistake about it, Aaron Rodgers is going to be the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers in 2023. He’s got $58.3 million reasons to come back, and the Packers would have to eat about $45 million in dead cap money if they traded him. The Packers handed him the keys to the castle with the contract they gave him last offseason. Gutey and LaFleur could not have been more clear in their post-season press conferences that they are expecting Rodgers to be back and that their plan is for him to be the starting quarterback in 2023.
So why is Aaron doing this? In my mind, a few reasons:
- He wants his friends back. Like Favre was in 2007, Aaron is now the old guy in the locker room. And he wants to make sure he’s playing football with at least a few guys he likes to hang out with. He alluded to this in the post game presser after the Lions loss. Now anyone who can read a salary cap sheet knows that guys like David Bakhtiari, Mason Crosby and Randall Cobb could potentially be on the chopping block because the Packers may feel like they can find more cost-effective solutions at those positions without much talent drop-off. But those are Rodgers’ boys. So he’s going to act like he might not want to be back until those guys are taken care of in some way (restructure, etc.)
- He wants a weapon. I think Rodgers truly does see the talent in guys like Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, but he also realizes he’s probably got a year or two left in his career and can’t wait forever for these young guys to become major contributors (Watson already is). The Cardinals are about to begin a rebuild and DeAndre Hopkins is probably available for a 2nd or 3rd round pick. He’s had some injury issues lately, but if he’s healthy he’s probably a half step behind Davante Adams in terms of game-changing wide receivers. Rodgers clearly stated that the team is, ‘a few guys away,’ from being a title contender, he wants a legit, veteran wide receiver.
- He’s still mad at Gutey for drafting Jordan Love in 2020. They both claim their relationship has gotten better, but behind closed doors, if you hit Gutey with some truth serum, I’m not sure he’d have glowing things to say about Rodgers. The fact of the matter is that Gutey hurt Rodgers’ feelings on draft night in 2020. It ignited two MVP seasons, but Rodgers is a notorious, ‘chip on his shoulder’ type of athlete, and I don’t think he’s ever going to let Gutey forget it. Gutey had wandering eyes in 2020 and because of that Rodgers is going to make him earn it every offseason.
So that’s where we’re at. I hope Aaron is true to his word and doesn’t ‘handcuff’ the organization, but my feeling is that we’re not going to hear anything until at least point #1 is taken care of. Grab your ayahuasca tea, everyone, it’s going to be a trip.
PS: Here’s where I’m at: It’s still my feeling that a 100% healthy Aaron Rodgers takes the 2023 team as far as it can go. Is that to a Super Bowl without a big move or two? Probably not. But it’s likely a playoff run, and once you’re in the dance a lot of stuff can happen. But at this point, if they decided to cut bait, trade him, and make the move to Jordan Love, I’m not losing any sleep over it. A Jordan Love led Packer team in 2023 is probably a 7-8 win team, and an Aaron Rodgers led team is probably a 10-11 win team if all things are equal. If Gutey and the hierarchy are sick of the off-the-field stuff and are willing to sacrifice 3 wins in 2023 for greater financial flexibility in 2024 and 2025, so be it.
