Packers Rumors

The Packers offered Aaron Rodgers a two-year extension that would have tied him to Green Bay for five more seasons (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). The deal would have made him the highest-paid player in the league, Schefter hears, but Rodgers declined. 

Of course, there are a million ways to measure contracts in the NFL — guarantees and cash flow are the things that really matter. That’s especially true when it comes to the Packers, who like to put the bulk of a player’s guarantees in the signing bonus.

For now, Rodgers is signed through 2023, but the Packers could theoretically cut him next offseason and save $22.7MM against the cap. They’d be left with $17.2MM in dead money, but that wouldn’t cripple them cap-wise, especially since the cap is set to increase next year. Jordan Love, with multiple years to go on his original rookie deal, would be significantly cheaper.

With training camp just one week away, it doesn’t sound like the Packers will have their MVP quarterback on the field. Rodgers, 37, continues to insist on a trade and a fresh start elsewhere. The Packers, meanwhile, have refused to budge.

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Aaron Rodgers has said little throughout what has easily been the most turbulent offseason of his NFL career, but the reigning MVP provided an indication of his timetable Saturday.

During the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament, the Packers quarterback said he plans to “get back to working out and figure things out in a couple weeks” (h/t USA Today’s Ben Kenney). This cryptic comment is certainly not out of the ordinary from Rodgers, who has played it close to the vest throughout this process — which turned into a holdout when he skipped Green Bay’s mandatory minicamp last month. The Packers, however, are set to open training camp in just more than two weeks (July 27).

Rodgers’ comment follows a report that indicated this stalemate was not on track to be resolved until at least training camp. While Rodgers’ loose timeline lines up with Packers camp, his holdout is not believed to be about money. He will face fines of $50,000 for each camp day missed. The 37-year-old superstar has long been entrenched in his desire to leave the Packers, which has stemmed from an issue with team management.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has been resolute against trading Rodgers, and ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler noted recently the trade market for the 16-year veteran is nonexistent (Twitter link). This does not mean no interest has spawned, as the Broncos have been linked to the future Hall of Famer since his desire to leave Green Bay emerged in late April, but that the Packers have not given any indication a trade is realistic.

In addition to skipping the Packers’ offseason program, Rodgers has not linked up with Green Bay pass catchers on his own. That gave presumptive successor Jordan Love plenty of extra reps during OTAs and minicamp. The 2020 first-round pick, whose arrival began this turmoil between Rodgers and the Packers, took roughly 90% of the team’s offseason team reps.

It will be interesting if Rodgers reports to Packers camp, given the acrimony between he and Gutekunst and team president Mark Murphy. Gutekunst, Murphy and Matt LaFleur attempted to resolve this situation for months, prior to Rodgers’ exit hopes becoming public, but no solution came. The Packers have the leverage of holding Rodgers’ rights, while the three-time MVP can withhold his services and essentially drop the team off the Super Bowl contender radar. Either way, this saga will gain clarity later this month.

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Another day, another update in the Aaron Rodgers/Packers saga. This afternoon, the future Hall of Famer participated in ‘The Match’ golf tournament alongside Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson, and Bryson DeChambeau. Rodgers was naturally asked about his standoff with the Packers, and the quarterback decided to play coy.

“I don’t know,” Rodgers said when asked about his future in Green Bay (via Bleacher Report on Twitter). “We’ll see. We’ll see, won’t we?”

The 37-year-old also failed to acknowledge the Packers’ Week 1 matchup against the Saints, instead saying that he was prying information from Brady about the defending champ’s future in the NFL.

Besides the non-quotes from the tournament, we also learned that Rodgers had yet to gather with his wideouts (per Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com). While the veteran avoided offseason workouts and minicamp, he still could have participated in unofficial sessions with the likes of Davante Adams, Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Devin Funchess, and others. This news isn’t a huge surprise since Rodgers has continually committed to his stance that he wants to play elsewhere, but you’d imagine Rodgers would want to get some work in before the regular season starts.

Finally, while it always seemed farfetched, we learned today that Rodgers won’t be opting out of the 2021 campaign. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that no players are believed to have opted out of next season. This path never made a whole lot of sense for the quarterback; he would have sacrificed a hefty payday in 2021 and would have just been delaying the stare down for at least another year.

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When the NFL and NFLPA agreed that players can opt out of the 2021 season, regardless of whether they have been deemed as a high risk for COVID-19 complications, it created a way for Aaron Rodgers to avoid having to play for the Packers again while still keeping his $11.5MM in signing bonus allocation for 2021 and the $6.8MM roster bonus that was earned in March (but that hasn’t been paid out yet). But Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, said Rodgers is unlikely to go that route.

That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. If Rodgers were to opt out, he would have to make that decision by July 2 — just five days from now — and he would not be able to reverse course. He would be committed to sitting out the 2021 season, and the source says the three-time MVP is not ready to make that decision so soon.

That doesn’t mean that Rodgers will actually play this year. The possibility of a pseudo-retirement has been on the table since this saga began, and it remains an option. Rodgers might not be ready to take himself off the field by July 2, but if he does not get what he wants — either a trade or a new contract that commits the Packers to him until he is actually ready to call it a career — by the time training camp rolls around, he could simply announce his retirement.

He might say that 16 years in the NFL have taken a toll on his mind and body, and that he is ready to hang up the cleats. Such a move could eliminate any fines or forfeitures that the Packers would otherwise be entitled to, and Rodgers could simply unretire in 2022 and say that the year off left him feeling fresh and ready to resume his playing career.

So the COVID opt-out is apparently not a real option for Rodgers. Meaning that we will have to wait until the end of July, at the earliest, before we start to get some clarity.

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