The June 1 date in which an Aaron Rodgers trade becomes a less costly transaction for the Packers looms, and shortly after a report indicated the team is not budging on its Green Bay-or-nothing Rodgers stance, the reigning MVP is not backing down, either.
Rodgers is very likely to push his Wisconsin exit strategy into the late summer, with Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports noting some close to the future Hall of Famer insist nothing has changed for him; Rodgers remains adamant he will not return to the Packers. This stalemate has shown no signs of ending, but the Packers may not believe Rodgers is 100% committed to his current quest.
While a Carson Palmer-style pseudo-retirement has entered the equation at points during this saga, the Packers may not be keen on letting this reach the stage the Bengals did 10 years ago. The Packers would trade Rodgers if they truly believed he was dead-set against playing for them again, Matt Schneidman of The Athletic notes (subscription required). Recouping the nearly $30MM from a Rodgers retirement would not satisfy the team compared to the draft/player haul a trade would net.
As of Memorial Day, GM Brian Gutekunst is not there. His no-trade stance remains, Schneidman adds. This certainly points to the Packers believing they can salvage this situation, but the team preferring a monster trade haul to forcing Rodgers into a retirement/hiatus is noteworthy.
With Rodgers having rebounded from multiple unremarkable seasons to win his third MVP, the 37-year-old passer has considerable trade value at this point. A realistic trade package is believed to require multiple first-round picks and one or multiple established starters. With or without a quarterback coming back in a trade, the Packers can be expected to land a haul for Rodgers — if they decide to entertain offers.
The team most closely connected to a Rodgers deal, the Broncos have yet to discuss the 16-year veteran with the Packers since a short conversation on the draft’s opening night. Like the 49ers, the Broncos reached out to the Packers the day this news broke, but Mike Klis of 9News notes no calls have transpired between teams ahead of the June 1 date. Denver’s current plan is a Drew Lock–Teddy Bridgewater competition, which easily makes for the AFC West’s least inspiring quarterback situation. That said, the Broncos have Rodgers on their radar. His following Peyton Manning‘s late-career path should continue to be a talking point as long as this impasse lasts.
I don’t have a problem w/ them drafting a high end QB, but they should have known Love is the replacement rather than playing this game with Aaron. Absolute botch job equaling BoB territory.
Rodgers wanted to be in on management decisions even before LaFleur was hired as HC so the front office really had no choice but to respond to a game Aaron initiated.
I don’t know the answer but when you pay a person to be the face of your franchise, I think having his input would be part of the $150m contract, don’t you?
Everyone says player shouldn’t have a place in management but freak out when that player says ‘enough’.
History will dictate that GB ticked off back to back HoF QB’s. Didn’t work for SF did it? After Steve Y left where have the 9’ers been?
Does paying someone a huge sum of money suddenly make them intelligent?
Seems to be the norm in pro leagues. You’re a Bears fan. Since 1985, when has any of their uber rich staff done a thing for the franchise?
The amount of his pay shouldn’t matter. If Rodgers wanted this type of control over front office dealings then he should have negotiated it into his contract. He didn’t…so he should either shut up and play football or retire. This pouting of his is an unneeded distraction to his teammates who are trying to get ready for the season.
Arty! –
The 49ers have been to the Super Bowl since Steve Young left, in case you didn’t notice. A place where Rodgers has got us ONCE, many times due to his choking in big games. Steve Young was not a whiny bit** who made ridiculous demands and turned into a mid life crisis poster child. I would rather go through a rebuild period at this point than put up with any more of Rodgers’ prima donna crap. Go ahead, waste your chance at records, ruin your chances to host Jeopardy, and absolutely destroy the legacy that he took 15 years to build. Go ahead, crybaby.
And Arty! – there is life outside of Aaron Rodgers backside…try backing out of there sometime
Steve retired in 1999. This century, there 9’ers have 13 losing seasons. Yep CK & Jimmy got them to the SB, but an awful lot of losing seasons as well.
The Steve Young comparison makes zero sense. Young has been retired for over 2 decades many teams have had losing seasons over that time. Far fewer have been to 4 conference championship games and 2 Super Bowls like the 49ers have. Not to mention Young retired due to multiple concussions. Not because he was in a bitter feud with management and decided to walk away out of spite. The comparison is pretty ridiculous and makes zero sense.
It’s a fine comparison. When teams lose HoF QB’s it hurts! That’s the comparison. 9’ers went back to back HoF’ers and won a ton of games. Since Steve retired, they have 13 losing seasons out of 20. Not a great track record wouldn’t you agree?
GB choose this fight & Aaron doesn’t mind fighting it. As I said from the beginning, GB management botched this situation.
“History will dictate the Packers ticked off back to back hall of fame quarterbacks. Didn’t work for SF did it?” That was your quote. That’s to imply something similar happened with Young which couldn’t be further from the truth. It was injuries. Quarterbacks get hurt and all of them obviously retire. So you can say that about literally every team. That’s why the SF/Young comparison makes zero sense.
Lol
“Hey agree to this extension, stop with this nonsense, and we’ll trade for Julio Jones, win another SB and they’ll start to gush over you more than Favre”
Literally all the conversation they need to have.
phillyballers –
Still wouldn’t be enough for Rodgers. His legacy is trashed…people will never forget this. Has anyone forgot Favre’s annual “retirement” threat. Same deal here.
Possible. Favre didn’t win another SB tho, so if Rodgers does, ppl conveniently forget.
….and Rodgers STILL won’t tell us what he wants. What a joke.
He’s not going anywhere..can’t wait until the rest of the NFC north chumps who salivate at him leaving will be, as usual, disappointed..
just fire gutenmoron who started this treating rodgers like a little mutt.
With how long this has gone on the more I believe that the Packers front office leaked this story. They wanted Rodgers to be made out to be the bad guy. They wanted Packers fans to turn on him and want him out so when they trade him they don’t burn down TitleTown in outrage.
we don’t turn down on packers. but instead want the gm fired.
I’m going to say something alittle wild here. I think the team most likely to trade for Rodgers is the Raiders. Gruden goes out and sends whatever and Carr to the Pack for Rodgers as soon as AR makes it clear hes either sitting out or not coming back to the Pack. And Gutekust has to take offers.
I’m a packers fan. It’s an interesting situation but due to all the drama if your the GM trade him. Otherwise it’s your job Rodgers is gonna be critical of every move moving forward. Cut the cancer now while he is worth the most.
While QB is the most important position in all of sports, the only QB I ever knew that could drag a mediocre team to a Super Bowl was Elway, many mediocre QB’s have won SB’s (Dilfer, Johnson, Manning his final year) but they had outstanding defenses. They are many great QB’s who never got a sniff of a SB (Marino, Moon, Manning, the Dad). So as a long time Bronco fan from Canada (Morton, Gradishar, Crush days) I’d say to forgo a deal for Aaron if the cost is as great as some predict. Giving up the next two firsts and two “A” type players means that they’ll be giving up young potential superstars not the high contract starters so you know it would likely include Jeudy and other future impact guys. I’d keep with what you have if the D is strong you never know, or you finish fourth and go draft a QB next year.