Content available exclusively for subscribers
This is a rather unusual scenario . . .
It’s not unusual for a player, under contract, who might be traded or cut, being allowed to talk to another team, and try to facilitate a trade.
You saw that with Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints. The Las Vegas Raiders were looking to trade Carr after the season, so they allowed him to visit New Orleans. They couldn’t work out a contract during the visit, so the Raiders released him, and then eventually Carr and the Saints worked out a deal on Monday.
But it’s kind of unusual for a player, under contract with a team, to meet with another team, with there being a chance that he goes back to his current team. That is what we are looking at with Aaron Rodgers.
I can’t recall this ever happening.
If the Jets didn’t convince Rodgers to play for them during their meetings on Tuesday, the QB very well could stay put in Green Bay.
Where else would he go if not to the Jets?
We thought the Las Vegas Raiders would be in play, but it doesn’t look that way.
“Ziegler and McDaniels have apparently agreed that they won’t be in on the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes if he does decide he does not want to return to Green Bay,” tweeted Raiders beat writer Vic Tafur. “The Raiders just have too many holes on their roster to trade high picks for a 39-year-old QB.”
So unless there is a mystery team that comes out of nowhere, it’s either a trade to the Jets or he stays with the Packers. With $59 million guaranteed this year, retirement is a major longshot. Very few humans would walk away from that kind of money.
Trey Wingo of the Pro Football Network website tweeted on Monday: “[Rodgers] is open to the idea of playing in NY.”
Four people flew out to California to woo him. They might have been better off with less.
Long-time Packers beat writer Tom Silverstein brought up two things that he thinks were addressed for sure:
“Undoubtedly will address how long he wants to play and what can be done to help the Jets take on his contract,” wrote Silverstein.
How long he wants to play a part is very important because it plays into what kind of trade compensation you send to Green Bay for him. Are you going to give up two high draft picks for a player who plays one season? Two seasons make two high picks more worth it.
The Packers do have a tough decision. They can talk all they want about how they think Jordan Love is ready, but they don’t know that. Looking good in practice is one thing, but that doesn’t mean much, because you can’t touch the QB in practice. It’s not real football. QBs looking good in NFL practices is SO overrated.
They have little idea how Love will do as the full-time starter in real games.
So if they trade Rodgers to the Jets, and go with Love, and he flounders, they are going to get roasted by Green Bay fans, who are also the owners of the team. The Packers are a public trust.
March 8, 2023
Premium will return by 9:30 pm or sooner on Thursday.