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Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay Packers on the verge of divorce? It depends on who you ask, but the alleged 2020 NFL MVP would like a new contract, if not a complete change of scenery, after a second straight loss at the NFC Championship. Rodgers played down speculation on his post-game comments, which indicated his future at Green Bay was “uncertain,” and team management insisted the eternal Pro Bowler would return in 2021. But since the team made a first-round pick. about his likely successor last April, the handwriting was on the wall, and coming from Rodgers’ mouth: A change, at some point, will come.
Can this happen this offseason? It certainly can, whatever the Packers say. Green Bay would save $ 5.5 million by trading the legendary caller in early 2021, and as Over The Cap reports, it could save up to $ 22 million by trading it after June 1, not to mention 22. An additional $ 6 million in 2022 and $ 28.3. M in 2023. That’s a lot of dough, especially when you consider Rodgers’ big deal – and reported desires for a new deal – would apparently bar Green Bay from quickly switching to Jordan Love.
Where could Rodgers end up, if he actually forces Green Bay’s hand? Here are five of the most likely landing points:
5. Denver Broncos
John Elway just spent a year gifting Drew Lock with all kinds of new toys, and at times he seemed genuinely determined to let the former second-rounder become Denver’s clear leader. Retaining both coach Vic Fangio and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur could be seen as another vote of confidence in Lock’s favor.
But Lock stumbled pretty badly throughout 2020 (when he wasn’t injured or on the COVID roster), as rival Kansas City chiefs rolled around and the Los Angeles Chargers featured a senior young QB. Is it crazy to suggest Elway might be tempted to make a good return to veteran QB, not just because he worked with Peyton Manning and because Rodgers would represent a similar bet, but because Lock never cost Denver? a higher price? Green Bay, meanwhile, would keep Rodgers out of the NFC, and Rodgers himself would have Colorado time.
4. Las Vegas Raiders
Derek Carr has managed to endure years of speculation over Jon Gruden’s desire for a new QB, and yet he wasn’t rooted enough to prevent the team from adding Marcus Mariota as a potential replacement in 2020. Mike Mayock already has praised him for his subsequent performance, but Rodgers is a different breed. And the Raiders can cut Carr down and save nearly $ 20 million, almost instantly pushing them back below the 2021 cap.
Edgar Bennett, who is on Gruden’s offensive staff, spent 2015-17 as the Packers’ offensive coordinator, and in his first two years at the helm Rodgers threw 71 touchdowns and just 15 interceptions. Gruden’s track record of QB development – or lack thereof – says even more: We talk every year that he and the Raiders potentially eye a top rookie, but Gruden just born writes QBs, and if he does, he doesn’t write them out loud. The guy loves vets. And if there’s one vet he could surely convince Mayock to pursue, it’s prime-time darling Rodgers. Talk about reviving a new NFL market!
3. Indianapolis Colts
After taking gold on two local prospects at Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, the Colts aren’t hitting us like a team that wants being in the business of leaning on big names recycled beyond Philip Rivers in 2020. But Rivers is already gone, and Indy is not within reach of QB’s better hope in the project. It’s also hard to think the fourth round Jacob Eason would stop Chris Ballard from thinking long and hard about a QB of Rodgers ‘caliber, was the Packers’ longtime star in the market.
Designed to win now, the Colts are in desperate need of a more secure franchise QB in 2021, two years away from Luck’s abrupt retirement. And if Frank Reich’s interest was piqued by a reunion with Rivers, well, odds are he’s embracing a team with Rodgers, whom he once declared NFL’s Steph Curry. (Rodgers at 37 will be on a whole different level than Rivers at 38.) Few passersby would not only sell tickets, but bring them closer to the Promised Land.
2. New England Patriots
The Pats have apparently been content to continue with the uncertainty at QB following the departure of Tom Brady, and it’s very possible that Bill Belichick thinks his team will be able to draft a true successor in 2021. But let’s face it not: if Rodgers was. available, Belichick should make a call. It has more than enough space to play with.
Longtime Packers staff Eliot Wolf, who was in Green Bay when the Pack drafted Rodgers and when Rodgers won both the MVP and a Super Bowl, now resides in the New England front office. And whatever you have to say about the Patriots’ offensive system, does anyone really think Robert Kraft and the entire management team wouldn’t jump at the chance to put one on the rest of the game? league and move from Tom Brady to Aaron Rodgers in a few years? Instantly, they would regain the favorite medium of the title. Rodgers would have the chance to take over the mantle of a dynasty. And the rest of the football world would come back to rooting against the Patriots.
1. San Francisco 49ers
Niners management is lukewarm enough to believe in Jimmy Garoppolo, who only has one year left in the Super Bowl. But they didn’t believe in him enough to do not entertain a Tom Brady chase in 2020, and this offseason, they doubled the opportunity to pursue an upgrade. San Francisco can cut Jimmy G squarely and instantly save over $ 24 million, with a dead cap of just $ 2.8 million, and that’s assuming they can’t find a taker in the trade market. In other words, if Kyle Shanahan wants a flashy new QB, John Lynch can make it happen, and it won’t ruin the team’s finances.
Best of all, Rodgers and San Francisco are pretty darn close to a made-in-heaven game. Relationships with staff aren’t obvious, but Rodgers, remember, grew up less than three hours outside of town. He’s a Californian boy, through and through, and was a Niners fan growing up. Heck, man thought he was going # 1 at the 49ers on his infamous 2005 Draft Day Slide. Not only would the storylines be gorgeous – San Francisco finally embracing its true QB franchise, more than a decade later – but the adjustment on the pitch would make sense. Rodgers would easily be Shanahan’s most talented arm, and you should think running play and defense will still be developed enough to relieve 12th place for more Super Bowl runs.
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