By far the NFL’s most discussed player this year, Aaron Rodgers is having another MVP-caliber season. The Packers have the inside track on a third straight playoff bye. But the 17th-year quarterback’s future remains uncertain.
After skipping the Packers’ offseason workouts during his dispute with team management, Rodgers agreed to a revised deal that makes him a free agent in 2023. The sides, however, agreed to meet and discuss the future Hall of Famer’s status for 2022 as well. Returning to the Packers, playing elsewhere, and retirement appear to remain on the table.
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst stood in the crosshairs during Rodgers’ holdout. Ted Thompson‘s successor resided as the chief antagonist in this offseason’s Rodgers drama, with the exec’s decision to trade up for Jordan Love — without informing Rodgers beforehand — doing plenty to fuel the issues between Green Bay’s 14th-year starter and management. The parties’ relationship may be in a better place now.
“There will be a lot of things that I’ll weigh in the offseason,” Rodgers said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “Saying that doesn’t mean, or any of the comments I’ve made, doesn’t mean I’m thinking about [playing] elsewhere.
“The things that I’ve said about the team this year, about Brian’s and I’s relationship, has been heartfelt and genuine, and I do appreciate a lot of the things that I’ve seen from the team that are directly related to conversations we had in the offseason, and that was meaningful to me. I’ve enjoyed being a part of conversations that directly affect my job, which I talked about in the offseason, and Brian’s taken the lead in that, and I do appreciate the way our relationship has grown.”
Retirement surfaced as a possibility this year, but Rodgers relented and reported to the Packers. Rodgers retiring in 2022 seems unlikely. He spoke of enjoying this season’s process, as tumultuous as it has been, and said he will continue to play while he is still performing at a high level. The three-time MVP leads the NFL in QBR.
Rodgers’ performance level has again benefited Davante Adams, who is 15 yards away from a new career-high in receiving yards. Adams, 29, also has a murky future in Green Bay. He is due for free agency in March and broke off extension talks with the Packers this summer. Rodgers’ status will affect Adams’ Wisconsin future.
“Obviously, I love being a Packer and love being here,” Adams said. “We’ll see how everything plays out. But to a certain extent, I will be connected with ’12.’ It’s just not like, if he goes, I’m not going to be here or if he stays, I will. It’s something we’ll have to pay attention to, for sure.
“… There’s a lot that goes into it, so it won’t be the end-all, be-all, but it’ll definitely be something I’m monitoring and paying attention to, to see where his head is at.”
Regardless of Rodgers’ status, the Packers have the franchise tag at their disposal with Adams. Although they have not used the tag since cuffing Ryan Pickett in 2010, the Packers keeping Adams would certainly bolster their hopes at another deep playoff run next season. If Green Bay wants to sign Adams to another extension, he was previously seeking to top DeAndre Hopkins ($27MM AAV) as the NFL’s highest-paid receiver. After the drama of this past year, the Packers are set to navigate another complex offseason in 2022.
If The Packers try to keep both, they won’t have the salary cap space to hold on to any of the other 6 to 8 significant free agents. It’s a tough call.
I fully expect that Shailene Woodley will be announced as the new Packers GM in the next few months.
Well, the Packers definitely paid a lot more attention to Rodgers this year and made more of an aggressive effort to improve the team via free agency and trade (Cobb, of course, signing Mercilus, and trying to trade for Gilmore, taking a chance on Smith). They also allowedRodgers control over his future by allowing him to be a free agent next year. I think there’s a chance now of his staying, as opposed to earlier this year, when there was none.
Of course, a lot of the reason that the Packers changed their tune was the perceived feelings of the other vets-Adams, Bakhtiari, and Z.Smith all had some kind of disappointment of their own or support for Rodgers. They were not nearly as public, but there could be assumed a measure of discontent from them for various reasons. I think that also partially fueled the Packers’ efforts. I don’t think that Adams’ decision will revolve completely around Rodgers’, but I think it’ll make some difference. If Rodgers goes somewhere that has a need and doesn’t have a clear number one receiver (like, say, New Orleans-cap issues aside), I think that could affect Adams’ decision.
Back to back HOF QB’s and, what, 2 SB wins to show for 25+ years? Horrible management from the cheese heads.
That’s a glass half empty view.
2 HOF QB’s, 2 SB and a bunch of competitive years with Super Bowl and NFC championship appearances.
That’s a great 25 years that any fan base would be lucky to experience.
Tom, Peyton, Eli, Troy A, Joe M, & Terry B to name a few would agree with me. But enjoy what you want.
Imagine how awful the past 25 years would look without them. Possibly talking Lions or Cleveland level futility, and clinging to that 1 year of Don Majkowski plus “after further review, the Bears still suck (they [still] do, by the way]” but I guess everything is open to individual perception.
Everyone says it, when you have the most valuable player in team sport’s, a (HoF) NFL QB, you should have more Lombardis’ to show for it. Besides Both Farve and Rodgers want(ed) out of GB for some reason, right?
Favre’s entire issue was his own making. Unable to make up his mind about retirement led to GB landing Rodgers (which we all know he fell into their lap). He didn’t want out of GB until they finally refused to allow him to change his mind a 4th year, and see what Rodgers could do.. GB also made it to consecutive SB’s with Favre, who then threw yet another infamous game-costing INT. So yeah, they should/could’ve had 1 more with him.
And last I checked, its still a team sport. Seattle only got 1 with Wilson, correct? Brees only got 1, correct?
Favre wanted out. He openly campaigned to be traded to Minny. Obviously, GB wasn’t going to do that so they traded him to the Jets. A year later, Favre went to Minny and beat them twice. Pretty sure he had issues w/ management, but I could be wrong.
Brees and Wilson’s time combined, wouldn’t be the same as GB’s w/ 2 HoF’ers and yet have the same win total in SB’s.
Yes, Favre wanted out…because he kept playing the “I’m retiring, no I’m not” card, and they got tired of it. Translation: he caused that rift, not management. He didn’t demand a trade until he tried coming out of retirement for the 4th year in a row, and be handed the starting job. He. Caused. The. Rift.
And no, the combined number of years between Brees and Wilson doesn’t add up to the combined years of Favre + Rodgers. The point is, each of them has 1, over a lengthy period of time, and came up short other years, just like Rodgers and Favre.
I don’t recall the entire Favre episode. But he clearly had issues there. Much more than ‘do I retire or not?’. All that talk went away in NY & Minny right? He played another 3 years. 1 w/ the Jets and 2 in Minny? I believe that’s right.
As for the QB’s, It’s all about winning it. Simple as that. I have no idea how many division titles Aaron & Brett won, but I do know, as we all do, Bret is 1-1 and Aaron is 1-0 in the big game. I’m an old Skins guy, Joe T went to 2 SB’s winning 1.
I believe Favre wanted the G.O. to acquire various offensive weapons (Moss and Tony Gonzalez come to mind off the top of my head), and efforts were made to appease him (in those 2 situations). From what I recall, a deal was reached to acquire Moss, to be finalized ‘in the morning’ but Belichick stepped in overnight and got him. I believe a deal for Gonzalez was close also, but I don’t recall why it fell through. Seems like both of those were after his retirement game was in full swing, so management was still trying to make him happy.
Oh, just because..Dan Marino never won a SB. Are we back to the argument that he was a failure too..?
Dan said he’ll never know what it’s like to walk off the field as a SB winner. His words.
I certainly don’t care about the situations between Bret and Aaron vs different management people. But both got really tired of being there. And both openly love Wisconsin. You defending the organization more so than the 2 QB’s. That says a lot to me.
It’s pretty rare for me to defend Favre for anything. Exciting to watch, but drove me nuts with the whole gunslinger mentality. Even worse with the retirement game he played for years.
As for Rodgers, I’ve been accused of defending him at every turn, so this is a little odd. I’ve tried to explain that I understand his desire to have been informed (not necessarily involved) of the plan to draft his replacement, and the frustration of seeing guys he liked not kept around. I also understand that the salary cap simply would not allow it.
That’s my newest argument. Why would you not listen to HoF QB’s for building a roster?
I don’t mean Peyton, Tom, Russ, AR, Bret et al. Have to have the final say. But why wouldn’t you listen to them? QB’s are always the ‘face of the franchise’ w/ 0 input, why?
I’d take any of those QB’s opinions over any suit that went for Mayfield, Goff, D Jones(NYG), Stafford…..
I don’t think we, as fans, know enough..from either side..to choose who’s right or wrong in this specific situation. Another thing I’ve tried to say is, how can fans attack Rodgers OR the front office (besides maybe their absolute refusal to draft a playmaker, or inside LB’er) when all we get is reports from Schefter and Co, and guys like Skip Bayless, Stevie Ray Smith or the like spewing gibberish everyday.
My issue, I guess, is if not being involved or informed or whatever for all those years is the main issue, why did it take so long for him to say it publicly? I just want to watch football, and I’d prefer 12 taking snaps (for as long as he’s playing well and wants to) than an unproven Jordan Love or whoever.
And patriots without brady
So far 1-1. At worse, 9-8 this season for the Pats. Bill was proven wrong not to include Tom into the meetings/philosophy if you will. That’s 100% on him.
Bruce A has let him and Gronk do ads, goof off, take charge on the field. Many times bruce has called Tom a coach on the field.
Bill clearly lost that tug of war.
Worse than that statement is Tampa has a ring with Tom. 1 year later
You both are correct
Arty is under the impression that a HOF QB guarantees a championship but this century only once has the most efficient team at scoring won a SB and that was the Saints. The most efficient team at preventing scoring has won 6 SBs however. Clearly a stacked defense can neutralize even the best QB and that was proven as recently as last season.
I never said that having a HoF QB guarantees a SB. But if you look at just the SB winners this century, clearly you can see having a HoF QB is really helpful.
K Warner, Brady x7, Ben x2, Peyton x2, Eli x2, Brees, Russell, Mahomes. 17 Super Bowls out of 20 were won by HoF’ers this century. Then factor in Brady, Ben, Mahomes & Peyton also lost some. That’s a whole lot of SB games due to having awesome QB’s.
Cinny seems pretty happy to have Joe’s input on why Chase would be so valuable. 2nd year QB with more input over many on the list above? Pretty telling to me.
$263 million with no worldly obligations seems like enough cash to retire on.
This dude should know that his best chance to win a super bowl is with green bay . . . name any organization willing to move on from their quarterback that Rodgers would have a BETTER chance of winning a Super Bowl with.
After THIS year, with the cap situation, how good is GB’s going forward?
Without knowing other team’s cap situations, I’d say if there’s a team out there with a good chunk of space (to fit Rodgers, Adams and a couple lower price guys he favors) and a top 10 defense, that’s where (I think Washington and Denver sorta fit the bill).
I can name a couple.
Denver has better receivers and defense. They certainly would have no problem moving on from Bridgewater or Lock. Washington should have a stronger defense next year, and their receiver situation is not great, but they play in a weaker division. There’s an argument to be made there. New Orleans is in a tougher division, but has an elite defense, a better line, an elite coach, and just needs a couple of receivers. If we consider that Adams may attempt to leave as well, a few of these teams (such as New Orleans) become more attractive. If the Saints’ defense continues to frustrate Tom Brady, playing the Bucs twice a year is really no big deal.
The Colts are unlikely to move on from Wentz, and the Titans are unlikely to move on from Tannehill, but those would be two teams better positioned to win that have good yet not irreplaceable quarterbacks. The point of adding them here is not to argue that Rodgers will go there, but just to show that there are teams who would likely be better with Rodgers and are already playoff contenders. The Niners also fit into this category of not likely to move on but could improve next year with Rodgers, despite my personal misgivings about Shanahan as a coach.
The argument could be made that the receiver situation may not matter as much. Rodgers has improved the offense and his receivers/tight ends in Green Bay a great deal the last few years, so any team that is deficient at that position really is not extremely different from what he’s had, though he’ll have to start over in training them.
Aaron Rodgers gets traded to the Raiders for Carr plus a couple high round drafts picks over the next two years.
Davante Adams follows him to the Raiders via FA.
Adams/Waller/Edwards/Renfroe/Jones with Jacobs and Drake in the backfield and Rodgers lights up the weak defenses in the AFC West.