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Rodgers to the Raiders?
You hear rumors that, if Aaron Rodgers is traded, he’d prefer to go to the Las Vegas Raiders over the Jets. His favorite receiver, Davante Adams, is there, and there is no state income tax, so he can take home more of his enormous salary.
From a system standpoint, this Rodgers-to-the-Raiders theory has a hole in it.
Why would Rodgers, who will turn 40 next season, want to go to a team that doesn’t play the same system he’s played forever?
“Every quarterback who has been in a system for a long-time wants to stay in the system they are used to calling because they don’t want to have to relearn a language,” said former NFL GM Mike Lombardi. “It’s like years of learning Chinese and now you’ve got to learn Portuguese. That is why I would make the Jets more of a favorite than the Raiders because (Nate) Hackett’s terminology is similar to what Rodgers already learned.”
Rodgers is going to go on “a darkness retreat’ to help make up his mind.
“It’s a darkness retreat, and I’ve had a number of friends who have done it, and had some profound experiences, and it’s something that’s been on my radar for a few years now, and I felt like it would be awesome to do, regardless of where I was leaning after this season. So it’s been on the calendar for months and months and months, and it’s coming up in a couple of weeks,” Rodgers said.
So he’s going to sit in a dark room for several days to contemplate his next move.
A lot of people are making fun of him for this, but I won’t go there. As Nick Saban always says, “Everyone looks at the world through a different set of eyes.” If this works for some people, all the power to them.
The only thing I don’t get about Rodgers, is why, a guy who is into so many holistic things, and such a deep-thinker, goes on with Pat McAfee every week, such a low-brow show.
It’s weird. Why does he need that weekly appearance on a morning zoo kind of show? It causes so many distractions.
So if he does come to the Jets, this show will be a big part of the Jets’ media landscape, with everybody chasing what he says on that show.
But nonetheless, it will be fascinating to see what he decides after his retreat.
Now some people will say why is about what “he decides?” Is this up to the Green Bay Packers?
No really. He has a no-trade clause. So they can’t just send him anywhere. He has to agree to the destination.
We connect the dots of Rodgers to the Jets based on Hackett, and it seems like the Jets are willing to do what they have to do to make this happen, vis-a-vis, trading picks/players and then paying the QB his huge contract.
The problem for the Raiders is that they just traded a bunch of high picks to Green Bay for Adams, and they might not want to turn around and do that again a year later.
But keep in mind the playbook angle in all this. Does Rodgers really want to start over in a new system at this stage of his career? Going to the Jets would allow him to stay in the system he’s most comfortable.
February 9, 2023
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