This week, Aaron Rodgers seemed to have worked out an exit strategy. However, according to Packers GM Brian Gutekunst, that’s not necessarily the case. 
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Gutekunst emphasized that Rodgers still has three years left on his deal. Although the two sides “may alter that,” the GM says it’s not a “one-year contract,” (Twitter link via SI.com’s Albert Breer).
That seems to contradict earlier word of the arrangement. Initially, it was believed that Rodgers’ 2023 was voided with a handshake agreement to “revisit” things next spring. Gutekunst seems willing to talk it out in 2022, but he’s also not committing to a divorce. In other words, Rodgers’ holdout is over, but the drama is here to stay.
“I felt like if you can’t commit to me past 2021 and I’m not part of your recruiting process in free agency, if I’m not a part of the future, then instead of letting me be a lame-duck quarterback, if you want to make a change and move forward, then go ahead and do it,” Rodgers said this week (via ESPN.com).
“I’m not a victim here,” he added. “I made a ton of money here, and I’ve been really fortunate to play a long time and to play here. At the same time I’m still competitive and I still feel like I can play, I proved it last year.”
After his press conference, Gutekunst probably said the hell with an exit. He’s trapped here now.
Gm should be ousted for saying that. Almost like he’s trying to start something
I couldn’t agree more. That was a dumb comment from GM and should’ve kept his mouth shut.
trying to save face and act tough
I’m not a victim but let’s play the victim card. I don’t think it is to anyone’s benefit to say things that put the other down but let me spend the next 30 minutes doing just that. Did I tell you I’m not the victim don’t feel bad for me but you should these are the reasons why. I like him but he talks out of both sides of his butt. He then says in March he wanted to have a say in free agency..Packers didn’t have any free agents to go after because of cap space and they signed their own players .. Kenny Clark. David Bakhteri(sp), and Aaron Jones.
I love Rodgers and everything he does and it makes me so happy when he tears down people, no matter what he says he is good and gutenkunst is a moron for allowing all this to happen under his watch, what a pathetically run organization with a hall of fame quarterback
You sir are clueless, Rodgers gonna recruit what free agents with what money. They resigned star rb, a Jones, paid his left tackle and kept Kenny Clark. What else could they afford with cap.
Plenty, if they restructured Rodgers’ contract…
Pars, pathetically run organization? Right there you lost any credibility. Over the 25 years their is maybe 2 or 3 organizations that wish they had the Packers success. That right there is the worst comment of the year. You must be a Viking, Bears, or Lions fan. Those are pathetic franchises.
Is there nothing else going on for Zach to write about?
It will be a good day when Gute is fired….although if by chance the Pack win the SB this year, he’ll take all the credit and that will buy him another decade….which was why we were stuck with McCarthy for so long and his BFF Capers. (Somehow we won a SB in spite of those 2)
Gutekunst doesn’t need advice from Rodgers on how to recruit talent any more than Rodgers needs advice from Gutekunst on how to play QB. I don’t know where Aaron got the idea he would be a great GM. Perhaps he did well in a fantasy league once or won a few games of Madden football.
Nobody said or even indicated Rogers wanted to be a GM, all Rogers wanted was for the GEE M to communicate about personnel moves, don’t you think that Rogers and fans are sick of watching their title hopes go up in smoke because the Defense and Gutey’s defensive coordinator sucked so bad ? Think about all of the free agents that signed with other clubs because Gutecunt was asleep at the switch. You must be a fan for some other team in the division to talk like that.
If all Rodgers wanted was to know what personnel moves the Packers were making he could buy a subscription to PFR. Problem solved!
K first off just cause you ask Rodgers for his insight doesn’t mean your draft will be gold. And secondly packers have a history of not going after many free agents.
That’s part of the problem. We’re sitting here blaming Rodgers for being whiny while their GMs have purposefully ignored obvious moves to win with their current team for some weird nonspecific future plans. It’s not the first time. Ted Thompson passed on a lot of potentially good signings just because he didn’t trust free agency. Then his draft picks started to falter and now the Packers are a five man team relying on a aged star to lead them to the playoffs.
It’s hard watching Gutekunst screw this up (even worse than Thompson did) and watching everyone blaming Rodgers for being unhappy about it. With Thompson, it felt like the team was going 50% every year to win a Super Bowl instead of doing the 100% that another team would. Limit your commitment, hope for the players to carry you. Gutekunst on the other hand feels like he’s just stubbornly following his own model and ignoring the reality that he could have a Super Bowl winner right now if he just committed to it. Rodgers is the one paying the price-he doesn’t have four years to be competitive. Especially since the team refused to give him guarantees. But I’m supposed to blame him for wanting to win and not being a placeholder? I can’t blame him, no matter how passive-aggressive he sounds.
“It’s hard watching Gutekunst screw this up.”
As a Bears fan, I’d be thrilled if we had a GM who screwed up and still managed to put together a team that won 27 of 34 games over the past 2 seasons. It appears Gutekunst would have to walk on water to actually get any respect from some fans.
And to the bears fan….the current GM is rising on players that were mostly already in place as Green Bay doesn’t really get free agents. So it’s hard to know for sure if this GM is riding coat tails
Also to the bears fan, you should be hopeful they can actually find a quarterback who can play. The bears have been a dumpster fire in QB play the past 30 years or so
The only problem I have with your statement is they were really close to making the super bowl. Maybe had they not played the best QB ever might have been different. So I believe they had a super bowl team. So it’s hard to blame them for trying to secure the future. But saying getting him help in the draft could’ve taken them to the bowl is purely speculative
What one rookie was gonna be difference in two losses in NFC championships???
Rodgers has been given one of best offensive lines his whole career. Russel Wilson would have have won two or three more rings with Packers o line
Um, yeah, one rookie could have been the difference in a one possession game. Holy crap that should be obvious. If the Packers picked even one semi-useful player out of the picks they wasted on a third string tight end or a third string quarterback, they could have something at least. Not to mention their other wasted picks on backups. Dillon, a third string running back who played well in limited action at the end of the year, was the only pick who contributed that year.
You don’t think Chase Claypool or Tee Higgins could have helped more than Jordan Love? They were available. No trade up. What about Patrick McQueen on defense? Even if they were half the contributors that they ended up being with their respective teams, that would have been more of a help than who the Packers took. Quit blaming Rodgers for his GM being incompetent. Blame him for being a mercurial passive aggressive rock of smugness, but don’t pretend like Gutekunst has tried his hardest to win a Super Bowl in Green Bay. There were obvious misses that could have capitalized on their momentum, even if their guru coach decided on a field goal late in a close game.
Rodgers should take course in salary cap math. Don’t know which free agents he was going to recruit. The resigned his star RB, all pro left tackle and Kenny Clarke. Where is there money for anyone else? Adams still wants to be paid as well.
I love Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers but those guys do like to complain. They are first team All Pro in that too.
Both of them care about winning. Could I trade you Kirk Cousins (who shuts up and tows the line in public) for Aaron Rodgers or Brady?
Perhaps the reason Cousins stays quiet is because he knows it’s absurd for a QB as mediocre as himself to be getting over 16% of the teams salary cap.
Ehh, Cousins is really much better than he gets credit for. It’s also hard to get jaded when you’re well compensated, well supported, and have played for a team for three years or so versus over a decade of half-hearted commitment.
That handshake isn’t worth the paper it’s not written on…..
This ^^^ is why I’m too afraid to join a Zen study group.
I don’t see anything wrong in using your star player to recruit your layers that might help the team. His influence, because of all he has accomplished, can provide a valuable resource. Why not use all avenues available to you?
Consider this situation: Your in the hospital requiring surgery to remove a tumor in your brain. There is an excellent podiatrist on staff who is considered elite. Do you want this foot doctor advising the chief surgeon on how the procedure should proceed? I know I wouldn’t.
Gutekunst is hardly a skilled surgeon. He’s more like the receptionist with an ego problem dressed in scrubs. In that case, I would definitely want the podiatrist’s (foot doctor) opinion instead of his.
The point I was trying to make is that many people have knowledge and are highly skilled at a particular thing. It doesn’t mean they can offer worthwhile advice in other areas.
I get that, but usually the surgeon knows what he’s doing. In your example, Gutekunst knows and should be trusted. If the player doesn’t believe that, what should he do? Leave? Rodgers tried. Gutekunst said no. And it’s pretty obvious that Gutekunst doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s handled this just terribly, and really doesn’t have much more to show for it than Rodgers does-minus the fact that Rodgers was already established as a top player before Gutekunst took the reigns. So I think it’s a safer bet to trust Rodgers-especially when he’s identified areas of need (supposedly, I haven’t heard him speak) that nearly all of us agreed were weaknesses as is (my list and others’ being receivers, tight ends, middle linebackers).
Gutekunst is drafting backups while Rodgers is trying to win championships. That’s enough of a bottom line regarding who to trust expertise-wise.
OK, lets say Rogers was given decision making ability to a certain extent. What happens if another valuable player says “Hey wait a minute, I’m just as smart as Aaron and I want to make some decisions too”. I think you can see where this would lead. For good or bad you need to have one person charting the course for the team and that person is the GM.
That’s true, but sometimes the hypothetical differs from the reality. The reality is that Green Bay hired a stubborn idiot to run the franchise. My point is that Rodgers should NOT be the person speaking to these decisions. Unfortunately, because Green Bay has a stubborn buffoon in charge, there’s no one there making good decisions. Employees shouldn’t be in charge of management, but when the manager is incompetent, what are the employees supposed to do?
I agree 100 percent. Use all tools. But at the end of the day if they choose not to include him then they have that right without having a grown man cry and throw a tantrum. I didn’t like what Rodgers was doing but I’m the end he showed up and honoured his contract. I’m impressed.
Didn’t hear him complain about having best offensive line for most of his career …
With what money, amazing job by GM to resign A Jones , his all pro left tackle and Kenny Clark. Who is this free agent? Where the money to pay him? Rodgers not taking lessons now Adams wants more and Smith whining. Do players not understand cap rules???
Another whiney liberal athlete. Let’s stomp our feet when we can’t make every decision in the organization. The player he rattled off were done. Green Bay kept them a year too long. James Jones. Woodson was almost 40
What do his politics have anything to do with it?
Exactly!
@paly2124- A typical whiney Trumpublicon faux news viewer complaining about another supposedly “liberal athlete” simply because the athlete speaks their mind, stands up for their beliefs, and doesn’t bow down to the authoritarian daddy.
Rodgers was/is right about some of the dumb player moves and non-moves in his career by GB GM’s. Problem with the current one Gutenuts is his ego and he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room, if not the business. In other words, he’s probably exactly the kind of guy you worship paly2124.
I didn’t hear him complain about having best offensive line for majority of his 16 years. One of hardest things for GM
Um, the majority? What are you talking about? Green Bay has had some good lines, but they’ve had some major holes over the years. It’s never been consistently the best, especially for 16 years.
Did Rodgers say that his INT at the end of the first half of the NFC championship….a needless and haphazard throw for an MVP…was the major reason why he didn’t play in his second Super Bowl? Just curious.