With the offseason officially here and many roster changes on the horizon, things could not be rockier in regard to where things stand with the Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Mike Florio of NBC Sports cited longtime Packers reporter Bob McGinn after his recent podcast appearance with Tyler Dunne in saying that the Packers may be “done with Rodgers.”

“He’s not coming back,” McGinn told Dunne, utilizing his own instincts and information from people with “first-hand knowledge.” “I mean, they’re disgusted with him, and they’re done with him. And they’re moving on.”

If you’re curious who the “they” McGinn is referring to consists of, it’s essentially everybody. McGinn told Dunne that the entire power structure containing CEO Mark Murphy, general manager Brian Gutekunst, and head coach Matt LaFleur are all done with the longtime Packer. Reportedly, they are under the impression that he phoned in the 2022-23 season, thinking he is no longer working hard and that he showed up in less-than-ideal shape after blowing off the offseason training program.

McGinn also noted that the team “fully believes” in former first-round pick Jordan Love and his ability to take over as the full-time starter. McGinn went as far as to assert that even if Rodgers insists on returning to Green Bay, he will do so as Love’s backup. This differs from Gutekunst’s public comments in January, when the veteran GM pointed to Rodgers still giving the Packers the best chance to win. Gutekunst also conveyed that Love was ready to play. A subsequent report indicated the Packers are seriously considering the prospect of a Rodgers trade — to an AFC team — and the all-time great’s weekly conversations with Pat McAfee have continued to circle back to the trade topic.

The situation as it has been illustrated points to an inevitable trade. There is simply no way to move forward together if McGinn’s reporting is accurate. After Rodgers came back following a flirtation with retirement last year, the Packers are apparently ready to take the option out of the four-time MVP’s hands. Unfortunately, the way the situation has deteriorated will make it harder for Green Bay to dictate the terms. Knowing the Packers are done with him will allow other teams to low-ball offers for the future Hall of Famer who turned 39 two months ago.

Regardless, it appears that Rodgers’ time in Wisconsin is coming to an end. Whether he decides to retire or is traded to a team desperate for an upgrade at quarterback, the Packers may well be set to move forward with Love under center.

12:55pm: When making his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show today, Rodgers provided further detail on his injury, while adding that his scans yielded encouraging results (video link). As a result, he intends to play on Sunday against the Bears.

11:50am: Not much, if anything, has gone according to plan in 2022 for the Packers, and the team is now at something of a crossroads with respect to their quarterback situation. Aaron Rodgers is dealing with multiple injuries at the moment, leaving his availability for the immediate future in the air.

The 38-year-old exited Sunday night’s loss to the Eagles with a rib injury, and did not return. That, in turn, came not long after Rodgers publicly acknowledged that he had already been dealing with a broken thumb in his throwing hand for weeks – something he stated would not be sufficient to keep him from playing.

This latest ailment is one that the reigning MVP is likewise aiming to play through, so long as he can recover in time to suit up on Sunday against the Bears. Green Bay sits at 4-8 and therefore faces very long odds to reach the postseason, leading to questions about the fruitfulness of keeping Rodgers in the No. 1 spot at the expense of an extended run with backup Jordan Love. Head coach Matt LaFleur remains committed to the veteran at this point, however.

“Aaron’s the starting quarterback,” LaFleur said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “He’s battled through a lot throughout the course of his career. It’s pretty well documented, and I think he’s been able to play at a pretty high level through a lot of different situations. So again, we’ll take it one game at a time and make the best decision moving forward.”

Love, drafted in the first round in 2020 to one day succeed Rodgers, has started just one game to date. His level of play in relief of Rodgers on Sunday was impressive, and has led to many calls for a QB swap as the Packers play out the remainder of the season. Looming over this situation from a big-picture perspective is the relative uncertainty surrounding Rodgers’ retirement plans, in spite of significant term and money remaining on his deal beyond 2022.

The Packers will have their bye week following the Bears game, something which could play a large role in determining their Week 13 starter. LaFleur (who, when speaking to the media, also doubled down on his support of maligned defensive coordinator Joe Barry) acknowledged that testing on Rodgers’ injury was still somewhat inconclusive, but added that “he’s feeling a little bit better.” So long as he continues to recover, the matter of who will start under center moving forward will likely be resolved.

With the months-old Packers-Aaron Rodgers stalemate looking set to drag into training camp, the team is in a holding pattern at quarterback. The longer this goes, the more relevant Jordan Love‘s readiness becomes.

Coming into the offseason, the Packers’ confidence appeared low in the 2020 first-round pick being prepared to make starts this season. That view seems to have changed, to some degree. Love made progress after handling a busy workload this offseason, Albert Breer of SI.com notes, with the second-year passer making particular strides with his footwork.

The Utah State alum took approximately 90% of the reps in the Packers’ offseason team drills, per Breer. GM Brian Gutekunst indicated the Packers planned to flood their highly drafted backup with work this year, after the COVID-19 pandemic nixed the 2020 offseason program and Love spent the season as Green Bay’s third-string quarterback.

The Packers’ signings of Blake Bortles, Kurt Benkert and Jacob Dolegala do not appear to have affected Love’s reps this offseason. The younger additions stand to serve as training camp arms — in the likely event Rodgers does not show next month — while Bortles would make sense as insurance if Love will not be ready to go in Week 1. For his part, Love expectedly expressed confidence he would be ready to make a Week 1 start.

It goes without saying the Packers want Rodgers to be their starter this season. That happening after Love went through a QB1 offseason would be a bonus for the Packers, for short- and long-term purposes, but nothing has emerged indicating Rodgers will suit up for the team again. If this scenario were to take place, with Rodgers starting every game for the 2021 Green Bay edition, Love would become the first Round 1 quarterback since Rodgers to spend his first two full NFL seasons on the bench. Beyond Rodgers, Brady Quinn‘s three starts from 2007-08 serve as the current basement for a first-round QB through two years in that span.

The big story of this NFL offseason has been the Aaron Rodgers drama in Green Bay. Depending on how things shake out, the Jordan Love Packers era could start in as early as a few months.

There have been reports that team brass didn’t think Love was particularly close to being ready to start last year, but the Utah State product sounds confident heading into 2021. “A hundred percent,” Love said when asked if he’ll be ready to start come Week 1, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.

“Obviously, this is a time where I’m getting a lot of extremely valuable reps that I might not have been getting in a normal circumstance. So I’m just going to take it day by day. … But yeah, that’s what I’m here for. I was drafted here to play quarterback, so I’ll definitely be ready Week 1.”

Love, of course, was referring to Rodgers’ holdout from the team’s mandatory minicamp. The 26th pick of last year’s draft also interestingly revealed that he’s stayed in touch with Rodgers this offseason. In fact, Demovsky reports that Love said he spoke with Rodgers shortly before arriving in Green Bay for OTAs.

A lot of Rodgers’ beef with the Packers reportedly stems from the process of selecting Love, which he wasn’t in the loop for, but he apparently hasn’t let that effect his relationship with his young potential successor.

Demovsky writes that Love has been hot and cold so far, struggling one day then having stretches of brilliance the next. Despite being in contact Love said he has no idea what Rodgers is going to do, and that he was “surprised” he elected to skip minicamp.

Despite getting drafted in 2020, Love won’t turn 23 until November. At this point, it seems like there’s a good chance he’s thrown into the fire before then.

As of the time of this writing, the Packers have given no public indication that they are planning to capitulate to Aaron Rodgers‘ trade demands. Given the state of the relationship between Rodgers and the team, however, Green Bay brass has certainly had internal conversations about what such a seismic trade would entail.

The Broncos have been the club most closely connected to a Rodgers trade, and early speculation has suggested that Denver (or any team for that matter) would need to part with at least two first-round choices, a second-rounder, and perhaps a quality player. As Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, the Packers will also require their trading partner to send a QB back to Green Bay.

After all, Rodgers’ new club can reasonably be expected to make a postseason run with the three-time MVP under center, so any draft picks that the Packers acquire would presumably come at the end of a given round. And rumor has it that Green Bay does not believe 2020 first-rounder Jordan Love is ready to become the full-time starter just yet, so it makes sense that the club would insist on having another signal-caller be part of a trade package.

On the other hand, there aren’t many teams that are in a position to trade for Rodgers but that also have a quarterback that Green Bay would consider a worthy replacement for the face of its franchise. The 49ers were an obvious fit before they drafted Trey Lance, and while San Francisco could perhaps be persuaded to deal Jimmy Garoppolo in a separate trade with Green Bay, or as part of a three-team swap, the Niners are now out of the Rodgers sweepstakes.

The Raiders are on Rodgers’ list of preferred destinations, and Las Vegas signal-caller Derek Carr is a quality player who is under contract at a reasonable rate through 2022. Since the Raiders play in the AFC, it seems the foundation for a trade is there, but a Rodgers-Jon Gruden marriage is presently considered unlikely.

The Broncos, meanwhile, are rostering Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater, neither of whom appear capable of leading the Packers to a championship. So even though Denver has the cap space and desire to make a Rodgers deal work, it’s unclear if Green Bay considers the Broncos a viable partner.

Per Silverstein, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has indicated he will work with Love as though he will be the starter for now, but LaFleur didn’t exactly offer a ringing endorsement of the Utah State product, and he recently indicated he wants Rodgers back “in the worst way.”