Report: Rodgers wants new contract (Update: May not want to return in 2021)

[SeaBass]

I think this probably deserves its own topic.

 

 

Brilliant move by Rodgers if this is true, I knew he wouldn't just outright ask for a trade, this puts the ball firmly in the Packers court.

 

I respect this move. I made peace with the Packers draft choices fairly quickly and I remain at peace with those choices, but here's the counterstroke to that and I gotta say I do not fault Rodgers one bit for putting this pressure on the Packers. We've been pretty fortunate to have a HOF QB that has not played hardball with his contract over the last decade or so, he rightfully understands that the front office has not given him any reason to continue to sit quietly and accept actions he doesn't agree with. The Packers may have felt they had a comfortable path to parting with Rodgers on their terms but he just crashed through those safe walls with an MVP season sized wrecking ball. Commit to winning right now or bust it all up, right now.

 

This could be painful but it's sure not going to be boring.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'd like to see it verified a little. But I have no issue with it. If this is true, I think he probably knows this is not going to happen. It just gives him an answer sooner than later.

[PeaveyFury]

I too would like to hear this from a local Packers source before reading too much into it. It seems odd to come from a random national source rather than a guy like Wilde who has basically been a Rodgers media mouthpiece for years.

 

Still, it also has a couple of potential meanings- is Rodgers just showing a willingness to restructure to help with the cap for 2021? Or truly trying to force him he Packers’ hand? You could argue that the best chance for both sides to win a Super Bowl is with each other in 2021, and opening up cap would help both sides reach that goal....

[PeaveyFury]

Just to follow up on the point above, if this is really about a 'restructure', he'd free up $14.4 million on the cap next year, which would give the Packers a literal TON of flexibility. Coupled with an Adams extension/restructure, it would dramatically improve the possibility of retentions/additions....

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think the leakage by national media makes it slightly more likely it came from the Rodgers camp. The timing of it is what makes me skeptical. It has literally been one day.

[JosephC]

Here are some numbers to consider.

 

Rodgers has already earned over 240 million.

 

If he completes the current contract, he will have earned just under 320 million in his NFL career.

 

His 2021 cap number projects to being 20.6% of the team's cap number.

 

His 2021 cap number would be the third highest in league.

 

Even though the current extension started several seasons ago, the average dollars/year is tied for fifth highest.

 

This is the way the NFL and the player pay structure works. Each year the salary cap goes up. Granted, there can be a real oddity like COVID-19 that will impact this, but generally speaking it's pretty safe to say that the cap goes up every year. Therefore, the top players with expiring contracts end up being the top paid players at their position, largely because teams have more money to spend, and then the next year there are a couple new top paid guys at their position, etc. So Rodgers was the top paid guy at the position when he signed the extension, then he gets bumped down a couple spots the next year, then he gets bumped down a couple more spots the next year. Packer fans know this concept first hand from when Jordy Nelson got a big deal, then Randall Cobb was up for free agency and everyone was wringing their hands wondering if and how the Packers could pay Cobb more than Nelson. This is just how the system works.

 

Rodgers signed the extension before 2018 so considering he's still top 5 in average dollars per year, seems to indicate that it was a pretty good deal for him.

 

Also love the way ProFootballTalk says that Rodgers is paid the same as Goff; therefore, he is massively underpaid. Good concept. Let's just cherry-pick the worst contracts at QB, WR, LT, pass-rusher, CB and base all of our player pay on those bad contracts. Sounds like that would work real well with a salary cap. Do you guys realize that Trey Flowers has a near 20 million dollar cap number for 2021? Looks like we will need to give Za'Darius Smith a new contract worth 40 million per season.

[GAME05]

Bleacher Report has the article on it, too.

 

Reasonable demand from Rodgers. Make a long-term commitment to me and I'll restructure to help you sign Linsley and Jones. Also pretty understandable that he wants to know for sure what his future is going to look like. He's earned that. And maybe if the Packers tell him that Love will be taking over, he'd want out sooner rather than later. Plus maybe at that point a restructure could still happen just to make it more feasible to trade him this offseason rather than next.

[homer]

PFT with a click-baity title. Water is wet.

 

I'll wait and see others confirm this. It wouldn't be the first time PFT has posted something that Rodgers laughs at after the fact.

[pacopete4]

Florio is the absolute worst.

[MrTPlush]

I mean personally I’d like to see the Packers restructure the deal to kick the can down the road as far as the cap. I’d like to see them put a lot of eggs in the basket for the next few years, but I doubt it happens after they moved up to take QB last year.

 

The next few years will (arguably) be their best chance to win a Super Bowl in the next 10+ years. Not holding my breath Love is the next Rodgers or anything close to it. I think the Packers are making a big mistake if they don’t try and make something happen before Rodgers is gone.

 

Of course this off-season should be pretty telling what the future direction of the team is.

[SeaBass]

Again, the way I see it, I think this comes from Rodgers feeling like he doesn't have to play the "loyal soldier" part anymore. Rodgers just went out and had an MVP season and was a 1st team All Pro, he has a measure of justification for seeking a restructure or extension. And it is true that asking for a new contract doesn't signal the end of times and could work out positively for the Packers.

 

As far as Mike Florio and PFT I really don't know what his reputation is, I've been watching some of the PFT content throughout the season and he seems intelligent and reasonable enough not to make stuff up just for clicks but that doesn't mean he wouldn't either.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Restructure/extend Rodgers. Use Love to trade up in the draft/trade for impact player (JJWatt and Kenny Stills??). There are countless possibilities. But the Packers would be foolish to not keep Rodgers around for awhile. Hall of fame QBs don’t come around each cycle like we are used to.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

PFT basically throws everything at the wall. This being true is not a big shock to me, I just would like some verification rather than ominous "report" 24 hours after the NFCCG. I'm with TPlush. In my ideal world, Love looks OK in preseason and can be traded, and they address 'moving on' in 4 years. They can suck at that point, that's fine. Why moving on is even on their radar with someone playing as well as Rodgers, and not really being THAT old by current QB standards, I don't know.

 

But trading up just to trade a guy later would be an odd move.

 

The other wild card, is, of course, Rodgers gets hurt next year and Love gets to play. That could change the whole conversation.

[PeaveyFury]

PFT basically throws everything at the wall. This being true is not a big shock to me, I just would like some verification rather than ominous "report" 24 hours after the NFCCG.

 

Yep. Like I said earlier, if him or his reps were going to float this, they'd float it through Demovsky, Silverstein, or most likely Wilde. Doesn't mean it's not true, it's just more likely that it's PFT reporting on something that is more of an educated guess vs. directly from Rodgers' reps.

 

And, there's basically zero chance they trade Love this off season. Next? Maybe, if Rodgers is still playing at a high level. But not this year.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I love Aaron Rodgers and what he's done in his career. But I'm far more of a Green Bay Packers fan than I am an Aaron Rodgers fan, so if he starts pulling any "Brett Favre circa 2007" crap and creating drama, or making demands, he should be gone. I personally think this is much ado about nothing, though. Click bait.

 

I think the Packers are going to find a way to load up for a "go for it" year in 2021. That likely includes getting a high-quality #2 receiver on offense (think Allen Robinson), and making some wholesale defensive changes, likely starting with a change at defensive coordinator. They need another disruptor on the D-line, and more speed at ILB. They also need a better quality CB opposite Alexander. Can they do all this? It's going to be tough, and will likely set them up for salary cap hell down the road, but enough is enough. I'm sick of being "almost good enough".

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Correct, I meant that Love actually gets to play, which he has not at this point, even in preseason, and looks good enough that someone is interested beyond next season.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Can they do all this?

 

No, but the NFL is about picking your spots. Everybody has holes, it's just which ones can you get away with half-filling. IMO, CB is the biggest need that can most realistically be filled as it doesn't really have to be a star, they already have one. I expect they draft a WR or RB or both somewhere, but there is enough there to win now. A "go for it" type move would be a splash player in the front 7, either via trade or FA.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

PFT basically throws everything at the wall. This being true is not a big shock to me, I just would like some verification rather than ominous "report" 24 hours after the NFCCG. I'm with TPlush. In my ideal world, Love looks OK in preseason and can be traded, and they address 'moving on' in 4 years. They can suck at that point, that's fine. Why moving on is even on their radar with someone playing as well as Rodgers, and not really being THAT old by current QB standards, I don't know.

 

But trading up just to trade a guy later would be an odd move.

 

The other wild card, is, of course, Rodgers gets hurt next year and Love gets to play. That could change the whole conversation.

 

It was pretty obvious to me that Love was drafted because the season Rodgers had in 2019 was one of the worst of his storied career. He regularly missed wide open receivers, and it didn't appear he was buying into the new offense. Love was Gute and Lafleur's way of hedging their bet. Rodgers looked to be on the downside.

 

2020, obviously, was a whole different animal. Rodgers looked night and day better. Let Jordan Love sit. If he doesn't play, no one is going to give him big money in another 3 years. Figure it out then.

[PeaveyFury]

Correct, I meant that Love actually gets to play, which he has not at this point, even in preseason, and looks good enough that someone is interested beyond next season.

 

Sorry, though I quoted your post regarding PFT, the Love comment was in response to the trade suggestion above yours.

 

Regarding Allen Robinson, I wanted him the last time he was a FA, so I'd be all about that. You'd probably need the cap to come in at the $196m level for that to be plausible, and even then, you'd have to make the choice to move on from Jones/Linsley, probably.

[MrTPlush]

I have always thought of the Jordan Love thing as a non issue. If Rodgers is great for another 3 years you could probably trade him for a haul. Through preseason and an inevitable Rodgers injury he could easily show enough to other teams. Garoppolo barely ever played and the Patriots traded him for about where they drafted him. Matt Cassel helped get the 34th pick in the draft.

 

If Rodgers plays well enough we have to trade Love a team will want him if he is actually any good...or has a chance to be. We would probably get a 1st round pick the way QBs are valued these days. I mean, a former 1st round pick, sat behind Rodgers, and knows the NFL? It’s not like we would trade Love for a bag of balls.

 

Of course...I don’t think that is even an option for the Packers in all honesty. However, they could probably recoup most of the value and probably plus some if they wanted to down the road.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

But trading up just to trade a guy later would be an odd move.

 

The Packers have zero reason to considering trading Love right now. In a perfect world, he is a talented, cheap backup QB for the next 3 seasons. Rodgers is a pretty durable QB, but there is certainly value in having a talented guy behind him. Even if the Packers cannot recoup a 1st rounder when/if they deal Love down the road, they are still getting the value of having a potential quality backup sitting behind their franchise QB.

[Outlander]

One of the things I liked about having Favre at the end of his career was that whenever they dumped him/traded him he would only count minimally against the cap. Rodgers is a different story, if they traded him today it would only help them a few million cap wise. They are finally at a point after the 2021 season that they would gain significant cap space if they traded him or decided to release in extreme circumstances. For that reason I would not give Rodgers an extension this season. Can consider it after 2021 if he again has an outstanding season. Don't like the risk/reward of an extension now.

[adambr2]

But trading up just to trade a guy later would be an odd move.

 

The Packers have zero reason to considering trading Love right now. In a perfect world, he is a talented, cheap backup QB for the next 3 seasons. Rodgers is a pretty durable QB, but there is certainly value in having a talented guy behind him. Even if the Packers cannot recoup a 1st rounder when/if they deal Love down the road, they are still getting the value of having a potential quality backup sitting behind their franchise QB.

 

I mean, he's not really that cheap. I think Jameis Winston got less than 2 million from New Orleans this year.

 

And Love isn't even the backup. Tim Boyle is. I guess that's not alarming for his rookie season, but if Love is still relegated to being a healthy gameday scratch after a second training camp, that's definitely cause for concern on his development pace.

 

If he does progress as hoped I agree there's value in a good backup, but I don't think you spend a 1st+3rd on a guy with the intent of him being a backup his entire time here.

[PeaveyFury]

And Love isn't even the backup. Tim Boyle is.

 

You must know that this is a technicality, but brought this up multiple times. If Rodgers got hurt this year, Love was starting the next game, not Boyle.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I believe Craig Nall was Favre's initial backup as well. I don't think that's really anything besides a Rite of Passage. Given that there basically was not a camp/preseason, I don't think Boyle's spot on the depth chart is telling of very much. If something were to happen to Rodgers, I'd guess that Boyle would maybe get a start or two and have to be really good to stick.

 

And Love isn't even the backup. Tim Boyle is.

 

If Rodgers got hurt this year, Love was starting the next game, not Boyle.

 

I agree with the larger point, but not sure this is true. I think they would have gone with Boyle, the guy who's been around a bit, over tossing Love to the wolves without even a preseason.