Report: Aaron Rodgers has had it with the Green Bay Packers
This story has been holding weight for a while, but as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday afternoon, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has expressed a degree of disgruntlement with his team that could preclude his return to the team. Like… ever.
Reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers is so disgruntled with the Green Bay Packers that he has told some within the organization that he does not want to return to the team, league and team sources told ESPN on Thursday.
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— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 29, 2021
There are two issues. The first issue is that the Packers traded up in the 2020 draft to select Utah State quarterback Jordan Love with the 26th overall pick, as opposed to giving Rodgers the kinds of weapons he wanted, either in the draft or in free agency.
“I was watching the draft feed with A.J. Hawk and Pat McAfee, and my first reaction was surprise,” Rodgers said of the pick last May. “I wasn’t thrilled by the pick. obviously, but the organization is thinking about the present and the future, obviously. He is such a talent that they wanted to move up and get him.
“You can only control what you can control. It’s a mantra for any great athlete. It’s something that’s out of my control. What I can control is how I play, and to make that decision a hard one.”
Rodgers did his best to make the decision a hard one by winning his third NFL MVP award in 2020, taking the Packers to the NFC Championship game.
“Aaron is our guy,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said Monday during his pre-draft press conference. “He is going to be our quarterback for the foreseeable future.”
Well, maybe not. There’s also the news that the 49ers, who currently hold the third overall pick, called the Packers and offered a trade for Rodgers, but were turned down. Apparently, they were not the only team to do so.
What does that mean in the longer term? If Rodgers really is done with the Packers, he’s still got three years left on the four-year, $134 million contract extension he signed in 2018. The contract technically runs through 2023, when Rodgers will be 40 years old, and the cap hit for Rodgers in 2021 is $38,356 pre-June 1, and $21,152 million post-June 1.
The NFL changed when Tom Brady called his shot, moving from Foxboro to Tampa and winning another Super Bowl in the process. Quarterbacks from Russell Wilson on down are less shy about expressing their displeasure with their teams’ processes, and this is the highest-profile example to date.
