1:50PM: The Aaron Rodgers saga has apparently reached a conclusion. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that he has signed a four-year, $200MM extension with the Packers (Twitter link). 
Rodgers himself has tweeted a rebuttal to the reported deal, though he confirms that he is staying in Green Bay.
The $50MM per-year average will indeed make the reigning MVP the highest-paid player in NFL history, something which had been reported in the build-up to today’s news. Rapoport adds that the deal includes $153MM in guaranteed money, and will lower his 2022 cap hit.
12:37PM: In a follow-up, Rapoport reports that Rodgers’ 2022 cap hit is set to go “way down”, and that in 2023, it won’t rank in the top ten amongst QBs (video link).
Rapoport’s colleague Tom Pelissero adds that the 38-year-old “figures to be year-to-year” until he decides to retire (Twitter link). With this extension signed, it is now all but a certainty he will end up having played exclusively for the Packers, regardless of when he hangs up his cleats.
Rodgers had been the center of speculation on a number of fronts throughout the offseason, as retirement and trades to AFC teams – especially the Broncos – were named as distinct possibilities. The hiring of Nathaniel Hackett in Denver in particular was thought to be one of the reasons Denver was fully committed to bringing in Rodgers, and in doing so ending their own search for a franchise QB dating back to Peyton Manning‘s retirement.
Reporting then focused more on the specific actions taken by the Packers to accommodate not only Rodgers’ contract wishes, but also to manufacture the needed cap space to keep him and pending free agent Davante Adams. Through a series of restructures, along with the particular details of this new contract, the team should be able to field a team similar in strength to the one which earned the NFC’s No.1 seed in 2021. It had been reported recently that the team was intending to keep 2020 first rounder Jordan Love; today’s deal may change the organization’s stance on that front.
With the biggest domino in the QB market – and the offseason as a whole – now having fallen, attention will turn to other big names such as Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson and Allen Robinson. Plenty of other big moves are likely to be made involving at least some of those names. For the Packers, at least, the Super Bowl window will remain open for the near future.
WOW
The Diva gets his money. Packers get an old QB who can’t play in the cold.
Wonder if the woke mob gets blamed for his failures next year.
MVP is a pretty big failure, you’re right.
Yikes. They’re going to regret this.
Yeah that’s what I’m worrying about. Rodgers will obviously be his old self for at least a year or two, but will he decline like Ben or stay productive like Brady? I would think he would stay productive, but this is a lot to pay a guy into his forties.
Even if he stays productive, it’s a little harder to build a good team around him with that much money tied up in Rodgers.
Free agents won’t be signed, cuts will be coming
What a ridiculous take. Best QB in the NFC if not the NFL. Dont be bitter because the story isn’t what you wanted. Stop reading national reporters….they are CLUELESS.
Wow. Your kool aid must be tasting a bit funky by now. They just broke the bank for a dude who is DEFINITELY on the decline. Not to mention his amazing ability to choke, even when he is armed with stud receivers. I look forward to watching the NFC North tables turn over the next couple years.
Which stud receivers? And this decline you speak of is…what exactly?
Just say you don’t like him, that’s more factual than what you went with. I agree that I don’t expect much different from a team that flip flops between competing and building for the future, and that Rodgers is closer to the end than the start, but your comment doesn’t hold up.
well bye-bye all his weapons
adams will get extended. beyond that what weapons
Having 80 mil per tied up in two players. That’s exactly what fans will be saying because they are gonna be cal strapped. Throw in bahktiati deal on top of that… looking at having 50% plus of their cap tied up in 3 guys. If they win a Super Bowl it’s worth it. If not, it will be a complete failure.
You have zero clue how the cap works…..NONE.
Just tagged.
Are you saying guys like Lazard and Valdez-Scanting can’t be replaced by 5th-7th round picks at a fraction of the cost? Come on man.
Yeah. Lazard and Valdez-Scantling are good, but replaceable. Problem is, Rodgers wants guys that he trusts, not rookies. If the Packers can get one of the two back I’m happy.
Easy Joe
Great… More NFC conf championship losses.
It’s never shocking when the latest QB to get a new deal sets a record, let alone when he’s gone back to back 13-win MVP. At the same time, how bad must Jordan Love look in practice?
There’s a wasted first round pick
You might be right, but the Packers are not the only team ever to have a wasted first round pick.
Not a big believer that Love will be great, but that wasted picked motivated AR to turn around his decline. Also, Love looks about as good as Rodgers did after year 2.
I hope Love has a good career. But looks like it won’t be with GB.
1000% agree Steven! Green Bay is basically admitting to the league that Love is NOT Rodgers successor!! If he were, they would not hesitate moving on from Rodgers like they did Brett Favre.
No there isn’t really any difference in Rodgers and Favre except that Thompson was doing everything in his power to destroy Favre. Brett could have won a SB and Thompson would have ran him out of town. He wanted to be the one to end his run in Green Bay. He did it the most classes way possible
I say keep Love. All he is doing is learning the system. Kinda like what Rodgers did. That’s the problem too many teams expect guys to come in win right away. Then the next year they are drafting the next Brady. Let him sit and learn then when Rodgers retires he will do just fine.
When Rodgers retires, Love will need a new contract with no clear eval on him.
Packers might as well try to salvage the love deal with a conditional 4th that can become a 2nd or even a 1st.
Commanders
Steelers
Seahawks
Colts
All have a pressing need at QB.
You could get a 2nd with ease. But there is no reason to trade Love this year. Next year….perhaps.
If they can get a 2nd take a 2nd. Hes only got 3 years left. Not much game film on him so teams dont know what theyre getting. Rodgers new contract makes him expendable.
Unless the Rodgers contract contains opt outs he’s under contract longer than Love is.
This saga really doesn’t have much to do with drafting an heir to Rodgers (as the Packers could not avoid that indefinitely) It was really about appeasing a player who wanted some managerial power.
Appeasing him would have been drafting Higgins or Pittman. They antagonized him instead.
Had Gutekunst conceded to Rodgers managerial power play he would effectively make himself impotent so he decided to avoid that by offering a record setting extension.
Agreed with Oof. Rodgers is doubtlessly a drama magnet, but all of this could have been avoided with some concession from management years ago. Rodgers is mercurial, and certainly will hold on to slights (perceived or actual) for years. It’s not like management didn’t know that. And, in their inaugural draft where just a pick or two invested in high end receivers could have avoided the initial fiasco, they drafted for depth.
With Rodgers extended, they could draft a receiver or two high and possibly a tight end (Deguara doesn’t seem like a sure thing, and also was a head scratcher to me when he was picked, given the holes elsewhere and the presence of Sternberger, who is a similar player), and certainly a middle linebacker. They’ve committed to extending this window, and with an expensive 38 year old starter, they need to let go of this “building for the future” mindset that’s keep them from competing better for now. They’ve been good enough, but they’ve not committed to being better than that, which is the difference between Green Bay management and other contenders.
Hag the cleats up!
They need to nail their draft picks for this to be worth it. That’s so much money to one guy. I wonder who becomes the casualties to this signing.
Z Smith, MVS, Tonyan, Cobb probably all gone. Restructure some guys. They’ll be fine. They’ll lose Campbell, but there’s a lot of LB talent in the draft.
Funny you say they’ll be fine… even with all of those guys mentioned they couldn’t win a playoff game at home. But I’m sure losing that talent will definitely make them better.
Smith didn’t play last year. Hopefully better health on the offensive line and from Jaire this year. That would be more to gain than those guys are to lose. They have a great secondary locked in. They’ve got Gary and Clark. They’ve got most of a strong line and the best QB-WR tandem in football. They’ve won 13 games three straight years and Tom Brady and Sean Payton are both gone from the conference, while the Cowboys might lose core players, the 49ers are counting on Lance, and the Rams might have a bunch of offensive line turnover. They haven’t made the super bowl these last three years, but they’ve still been really good and they might have the easiest path to it this year, even losing those guys.
Cambell and Douglas both played out of their minds last year replacing Smith and Alexander. You aren’t going to get better production with them healthy. Maybe better name recognition. Time will tell but like I said before IF they extend Adams, 50% of the future cap after this year is tied up in 3 players. That’s not a good recipe for future success. Super Bowl or bust. Rodgers is setting himself up for a whole lot to lose when it comes to his legacy here.
Well would he have a better chance with the Broncos? Eh, I don’t think so.
Campbell did not replace Smith. Completely different roles. And Rodgers’ legacy is fine. He’s won 4 MVPs and a Super Bowl.
Campbell, Douglas, both smiths are gone.
false. Douglas and Preston will be back(packers are literally working an extension with him) and Campbell will be back as well. only z of those 4…will be gone. you will see.
so Jordan Love is basically Josh Rosen?
Rosen at least played.
playing bad is as bad as not playing…maybe worse
Who cares! this is year to year not for the future. They will draft another reciever Te etc. Like brady signing with tbay just fit 2 years
Yikes… He basically held the whole franchise hostage.
Love this. Tough playoff losses but it’s an absolute privilege to watch Rodgers in action.
News: Rodgers wants $50m per season.
Rodgers: That’s false. I never asked for that. I want my team to be competitive and I would never lie to you.
News: Rodgers signs 4yr $200m extension.
Rodgers: Cash money baby!
As an nfl fan I love this. I’d rather see an all time great play for one franchise their entire career, personally. They proved they can be the best team and football and may very well have won if their LT was healthy last year.
I understand this will have difficult ramifications for their roster but in a win now league, it would be tough to go from top of the heap to the bottom in one year. Plus the league is better when Green Bay is relevant
My Question is this:
Where would you rank Jordan Love against the incoming QB class ? It’s a weak class.
Is he the best QB available ?
I’d slot him as the 3rd or 4th,
but that’s still a 1st rd pick in this draft.
What kind of compensation would he garner as essentially a rookie w/ a 3 yr deal
who has some experience under NFL tutelage. If GB recoups a 2nd rd pick, I’d call that a win.
I’d call that a shock. Is there any indication Green Bay has any good feelings about drafting him? Has he shown any promise? He was a fringe first round pick with a ton of risk as a small program player who performed poorly his last year of college. You have one season to decide if you want to pick up his 5th year option, which is a lot of money if he’s a total dud (see the Darnold situation). The QB prospects in this year’s draft all come with a lot of risk, but they also all come with four cheap years, and they’re no worse prospects than Love was in his draft year, the top few.
I have no idea what he’d fetch on the trade market, but I doubt it’s a 2nd rounder.
After a quick scan of the draft,
I think it would be very interesting to watch what Denver does. They have 2 second rounders and 2 third rounders.
If they pass on a QB at #9 and #40
Could they conceivably send GB the #64 or #75 or #96 for Love to compete with Lock ? I guess it depends on what Hackett saw of him in practice.
That’s a good point. If anyone has an educated sense of what Love is worth to a team that needs a franchise QB, it’s Hackett. And they have all kinds of draft capital. If Denver doesn’t want to pay up, should anyone else?
Well Denver just used their draft capital to acquire Russel Wilson so I think that eliminates them from Love.
Well, I guess we’ll see if any of New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Tampa, or Carolina thinks Love is worth much.
The point is mute ! Lmao
Did anyone really think he was going to leave?
As a Bears fan, I was hoping he would leave, but I knew it wouldn’t happen.
Hamburgers that’s a lot of money to give a guy til he’s 42
It looks like GB has structured the contract to push a big chunk of the cap hit into future years. So, the cap hit will be even higher than $50 after this year. GB better hope that the cap continues to go up liberally or the pain in the out years will be unbearable.
Pencil Green Bay in for a playoff loss for the rest of Rodgers’s career.
IMHO it’s the 2nd most painfully necessary deal a team has had to pay for a QB in recent history. The first being Joe Flacco after the Ravens won the SB.
Except they paid Flacco for playing better football than he had at any other point in his career. Rodgers is a great QB and the best part of a winning team. That was never really Flacco.
That’s why his is #1. They paid him at his peak…which was more like a hill.
He was never going to do any better than that year, but they couldn’t NOT re-sign him after winning the SB.
Will a $50/year QB get the Pack a trophy? We’ll see.
Flacco has won a Super Bowl in the past decade.
So has Nick Foles.
Right, even Foles has one more than Rodgers in the past decade.
OK, well five of the last ten Super Bowls were won by QBs who are retired now and another two by QBs who will never be starters by design again, so maybe that single criteria is a dopey way to judge who has a shot at what.
Or maybe it shows that Rodgers hasn’t won in a long while…and if Mike Wallace didn’t pee himself on that final drive, he might have never won a thing…and that having him guarantees nothing.
I’d have listened hard to that Broncos offer.
Ok. I’d have listened too, but this idea of Rodgers being incapable of winning when he’s putting them in striking distance every season is ridiculous. The list of current starting QBs in the league who’ve won a super bowl is really short. I’m not a Rodgers defender off the field, but some of the criticisms on here are untethered from reality.
Great QB. And being a great QB has still not been enough for a dozen years.
I’d have listened real hard to that Broncos offer.
Since the Wilson trade, I can’t HELP but to wonder what the Broncos would have offered for Rodgers…
I think the valid rumor got out early that GB was ready to hand Rodgers $50M a year for multiple years. That’s why Gutekunst was pretty much bragging that ‘nobody has reached out” with trade offers.
Nobody was willing to discuss the equivalent trade value for that and THEN have to pay his contract. It would crush any team.
So GB pulling out 4 big ones like a four-of-a-kind, pushed every team off the table and would’ve basically forced Rodgers into retirement if he didn’t just play ball with GB.
It just makes hard sense and (as a Broncos fan) I was relieved when I heard the Rodgers news. (…then elated about the Wilson news)
I also think that Gutekunst was lying regarding the offers. Denver certainly had offers together for both Wilson and Rodgers (and possibly Matt Ryan) in the case that any were available. I thought that Denver would be a great fit, but I also am not sure what Gutekunst’s strategy has been this whole time.
Why alienate Rodgers if he was your plan all along? Why trade up for and then waste a pick on Love if Rodgers was the plan? I don’t see the strategy in this, except that Gutekunst came to the conclusion that he messed up somewhere along the line and then tried to fix it without outright admitting that he messed up. Making that statement about “no offers” had to have been made with some sort of loophole or contingency on his end to make that exact wording true or something, or he was outright lying about it.
lying – yeah, it’s possible. He was either lying and there was an overnight trade option to flip if Rodgers said no. Or there was a brick wall that no team cared to counter.
That sort of thing (offers, etc.) will probably leak out in time if that’s actually the case.
Possibly. I don’t think time will be kind to the Gutekunst regime anyway, after Rodgers goes. The question for me would be whether or not he’ll get him enough to win another championship. I’m not sure that Green Bay will ever get there, as they’ve consistently come short on adding the final piece and settling for just good enough.
To me, that’s not really on Rodgers, but on the organization for just expecting him to do more personally instead of just adding another player. But it is what it is, and for now, we’ll just have to see how Rodgers’ contract shapes their future plans. Rodgers is great, but $50+ million a year is a huge number to absorb whenever it kicks in-though I think that he would have taken less from another team.
Congratulations. Now onto the rest. He counts 50ish million on a 208 million dollar cap? Anyone want to talk about overpaying? Keep in mind Rodgers hasn’t brought them a SB in over a decade. Rodgers went out and whined about not having players to be competitive? NOW the truth is in the pudding. A-ARON cared about A-Aron’s pocketbook!
his cap hit isnt anywhere near 50 million lol. and it actually helps this immediate cap by 20 million. the contract is built to be cap friendly and the big cap hits wont hit until the cap has already exploded. 2023 and beyond.
“The Aaron Rodgers saga has apparently reached a conclusion.”
THIS Aaron Rodgers saga.
NPD never sleeps.
Seattle trades Wilson for Lawrence and a 3rd rnd pick this year and a 2nd rnd next year. Wilson also gets an extension. It will be 5 years for $255 mill with $155 mill guaranteed.
Not saying I would or would not do this I would have to really know what Wilson is thinking. Is he staying or wanting out. I know some might say the it is too much for Wilson many Seattle will say not enough plus others. I don’t know just spitballing here.
On his way to Denver
What… what… what… what… WHAT… NO… WHY
FINALLY some of the Steelers fans can let go of the Rodgers fantasy acquisition
One FM talk show host in Pittsburgh (who is a Giants fan) aside, NO ONE in Pittsburgh ever one thought that would happen.
And I’d be the first to laugh at the yinzers were it true.
But these yinzers are in your head.
Trade Love to Minnesota so he can learn from Cousins and subsequently take over once he starts to fall apart (which realistically could happen in a couple years).