An offseason trade from Aaron Rodgers remains an option for the Green Bay Packers for a variety of reasons, league sources told ESPN.
A scenario that once seemed unthinkable, a Rodgers trade could be driven by financial reasons, the state of the Packers franchise and ultimately the feelings of the team and the star quarterback.
League sources believe the franchise may prefer to walk away from Rodgers, just as it once did with Brett Favre. These sources also believe Rodgers is aware of the Packers’ feelings regarding the situation.
Rodgers said in an interview with The Pat McAfee Show last week that he was “open to any honest and direct conversations” with the Packers and that a trade “wouldn’t offend me and wouldn’t make me feel like a victim.”
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Rodgers also noted in the interview that any potential trade at this point is “guesses” until he decides what he wants to do “to move forward for myself.”
But regardless of Rodgers’ decision, changes are coming to Green Bay — it’s just a question of how big they will be. Rodgers himself quipped during the interview, “Is it a reload or a rebuild?”
The Packers are currently expected to be more than $16 million over next season’s salary cap and have an upcoming free agent roster that includes some of Rodgers’ closest friends on the team: Randall Cobb, Marcedes Lewis, Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard and Mason Crosby.
Aaron Jones is also said to have a $20 million cap, and the Packers could save $10.4 million against the cap if they cut or traded the running star. Green Bay could also save $16 million if Jones calls it a post-June 1 cut.
So this is a Packers franchise at a crossroads — no more so than at quarterback, where Rodgers is due $59.5 million in guaranteed money this year and another $49.25 million in 2024.
The Packers used a very complex contract structure with Rodgers when the sides agreed to an extension last offseason. Of the guaranteed money owed to Rodgers in 2023, $58.3 million is structured as an option bonus. The window to exercise this option is from the first day of the new league year (March 15) to one day before Green Bay’s regular season opener in September.
The inclusion of this option bonus in Rodger’s contract gives both sides more than enough time to find a trading partner. Once the option is exercised, Rodgers’ cap for 2023 is $31,623,570.
While Rodgers is owed nearly $110 million in guaranteed money over the next two years — money he’s not expected to walk away from — the Packers must also settle on quarterback Jordan Love’s fifth-year option, which is about $20 million US dollar value would be fully guaranteed until May 1st.
The love flashed in a game against Philadelphia last season, completing 6 of 9 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown.
“They called in my surrogate, and if I hadn’t won two COVID MVPs, this conversation probably would have happened sooner,” Rodgers said during Tuesday’s interview. “But in a year where I won’t win an MVP, it allows for all the different guesses as to whether Jordan is ready and whether it’s time to move on.”
Rodgers, 39, ultimately has a big voice on what he wants to do in 2023 — whether it’s playing Green Bay or another team, or retiring. At no point during his comments on “The Pat McAfee Show” or to reporters at the end of the season, did Rodgers state that he would be back in Green Bay. In fact, his words and actions proved otherwise.
Rodgers, who spent his entire 18-year career with the Packers, is said to have been emotional on the field during the pregame warm-up prior to Green Bay’s loss to the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field.
After the game, Rodgers turned down Lions rookie wide receiver Jameson Williams’ request for his No. 12 jersey, saying, “I’m going to stick with this one,” before walking off the field, looking up at the Lambeau crowd and entering the tunnel with his Arm wrapped around Cobb’s shoulder.
Rodgers tops a list of quarterbacks facing key offseason questions including Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo.
If this situation sounds familiar to Green Bay, it should. Favre was 38 when Green Bay traded him to the New York Jets and was 39 when he played his first season outside the Packers.
There would be significant interest in Rodgers’ services across the league should the Packers decide to trade him.