Packers End of an Era?

They sealed their fate when they had a top 3 QB and a top 10 running back under contract, coming off an NFC championship game loss, and they used their first two draft picks on a QB and RB.

Even if Love turns into a top 15 QB, or heck, even a top 5 QB, it was just too big of a missed opportunity. Not to mention IF Love is the answer, they gain no salary benefit from drafting a young QB because he’s already going to need to be resigned before you even know if he’s the answer.

They obviously were planning on moving on from Rodgers and then lost their nerve. In doing so they screwed Rodgers/the team for the next couple of years AND they kind of screwed their immediate post-Rodgers future as well.

Probably a bit of hubris involved after having HOF QB play for 30 years. Not understanding how unlikely it is that Love actually pans out, and what it’s like trying to consistently compete for a super bowl without a top notch QB.

Aaron Rodgers has publicly stated he will be making his annual offseason decision on whether to request a trade, retire, or return to Green Bay next season after he spends 4 days in a dark house. No, not the type of dark house you use when you’re spearing pike lol. Its an actual house without windows and you live in it without any artificial lights for 4 days while going into very deep thought.

Rodgers is certainly an odd duck. I bet he moves on. Vegas would be a great landing spot for him. The Packers would have to retain salary Im sure or convert it somehow.

gim wrote:

No, not the type of dark house you use when you’re spearing pike lol. Its an actual house without windows and you live in it without any artificial lights for 4 days while going into very deep thought.

I heard that on the radio this morning to and wondered haven’t these clowns heard of shrooms. I bet he is paying thousands of dollars to basically be tortured for 4 days. To what find yourself? That guy is some kind of fruit loop.

John Rasmussen wrote:

I heard that on the radio this morning to and wondered haven’t these clowns heard of shrooms. I bet he is paying thousands of dollars to basically be tortured for 4 days. To what find yourself? That guy is some kind of fruit loop.

you must not be up to speed on his ayahuasca trips

when the Jordan Love led Packers beat the Vikings next year though…

it’s the simple joys that make life worthwhile.

Michael C. Winther wrote:

when the Jordan Love led Packers beat the Vikings next year though…

it’s the simple joys that make life worthwhile.

You better hope so, as the 5th year option for 2024 will be at least $20M (up to $29M if he makes the Pro Bowl next year), and if he’s decent you’ll have to pay him more than Kirk on an extension with how the market’s changed! Which would be great problem to have, if he’s just mediocre then you will have to pay him AND look for another QB…

And the 40 million that Rodgers will get even if he retires. One position and it could eat 60 to 70 million of your cap. That will not leave much for the rest of the team.

I just hope the Pack can trade Rodgers. The cap hit this year will be excessive whether he stays or not. Thirty some million if he plays and around 40 million if he is traded. Biggest problem I see is next year where cap hit is I believe in the 50-60 million dollar range. How do you field a team with that much going to one player, regardless who they are. Nobody has won SB by having a hall of fame QB and nobody else on the team. I think the Pack’s upper management really screwed up with Rodgers last contract.

Michael C. Winther wrote:

when the Jordan Love led Packers beat the Vikings next year though…

it’s the simple joys that make life worthwhile.

Wow, a Packer fan looking “forward”…

James Almquist wrote:

And the 40 million that Rodgers will get even if he retires. One position and it could eat 60 to 70 million of your cap. That will not leave much for the rest of the team.

^That is most likely incorrect, or not how this will play out.

Retirement:

If he elects to retire, it’s been reported that it will take place under a restructured deal that allows him to receive ~16 million in 2023 and the rest later. At the start of the new league year once his retirement is processed, his base salary would come off the books freeing up another ~1.5 million. This move alone would get the Packers under the salary cap with room to spare for the upcoming season…before some anticipated cuts and restructuring.
Rodgers has all the control, but if the Packers play nice (as they have so far), there’s clear upside for both parties.

Trade:

As far as a trade goes Rodgers does NOT have a no-trade clause, but the Packers won’t trade him anywhere he doesn’t want to go as then he can simply retire and leave them with the cap hit and not agree to restructure as a part of his retirement. They also are not going to trade him in the NFC. This basically leaves the Raiders, Jets, and Titans (in that order) of likely destinations. The Packers would probably be lucky to get a 2nd or 3rd round pick for Rodgers + be looking at paying a portion of his cap hit for the season.

Remain With Packers:

This is the most lucrative option for Rodgers personally with the fully guaranteed money. However, it’s highly unlikely that he would be playing with his preferred teammates (Crosby, Mercedes Lewis, Cobb, maybe Bakhtiari). He has also went on the record stating finances of the situation will have minimal impact as he’s made over 300 million in his career without beginning to factor in any endorsements. This option also would create the same offseason story in the Spring of 2024 with Rodgers again having all the leverage and more dead money considerations coming. The wildcard is that Rodgers stays in Green Bay AND agrees to some sort of restructuring of his contract. He’s not taking a discount where he walks away from 10s of millions of dollars, but he may reconsider cap flexibility this season for hand chosen roster additons.

BigWerm wrote:

You better hope so, as the 5th year option for 2024 will be at least $20M (up to $29M if he makes the Pro Bowl next year), and if he’s decent you’ll have to pay him more than Kirk on an extension with how the market’s changed! Which would be great problem to have, if he’s just mediocre then you will have to pay him AND look for another QB…

the money seems like a lot, but that $20M would put him just about exactly in the middle of NFL quarterback salaries. a little more than Kyler Murray but a lot less than Derek Carr.

if Rodgers leaves, i think sticking with Jordan Love through the 5th year option might actually be a “cheap” and quite appealing option for the Packers to go with next year:
– doesn’t need to learn the system like a newly drafted rookie
– team is only committed for 1 year, no lingering cap hit issues
– buys times to see him play as a starter, consider a new contract
– buys more time to look for a different player in draft or free agency
– Love is playing for his next contract, you’d think he’d come to ready

Michael C. Winther wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
You better hope so, as the 5th year option for 2024 will be at least $20M (up to $29M if he makes the Pro Bowl next year), and if he’s decent you’ll have to pay him more than Kirk on an extension with how the market’s changed! Which would be great problem to have, if he’s just mediocre then you will have to pay him AND look for another QB…

the money seems like a lot, but that $20M would put him just about exactly in the middle of NFL quarterback salaries. a little more than Kyler Murray but a lot less than Derek Carr.

if Rodgers leaves, i think sticking with Jordan Love through the 5th year option might actually be a “cheap” and quite appealing option for the Packers to go with next year:
– doesn’t need to learn the system like a newly drafted rookie
– team is only committed for 1 year, no lingering cap hit issues
– buys times to see him play as a starter, consider a new contract
– buys more time to look for a different player in draft or free agency
– Love is playing for his next contract, you’d think he’d come to ready

Many people are also forgetting that the $20 million is not for the upcoming season (Year 4), but rather the following season (Year 5). His cap hit for the upcoming year as possibly the starter will only be $3.9 million. By the following year I’d bet that $20 million is a bargain, well below the average salary of most starting QBs.

Love’s contract situation is not an anchor for the Packers, rather an asset. Had Rodgers been less of a baby in the offseason and made a decision earlier, that asset may have been traded for pieces to help.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh… I think he is in the darkhouse now.

big_g wrote:

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh… I think he is in the darkhouse now.

…imagine the drugs and hallucinations he’s currently enjoying!

I have not heard about a restructuring for retirement, but I know Rodgers has stated that a contract restructuring would possibly need to happen if he was traded. I haven’t heard him say that he would restructure for the Pack so they could get/sign/keep the players needed to be competitive. Just seems that just like Favre years ago, every year seems to be the same old will he play or retire. This year is a little different in that a trade is talked about more.

big_g wrote:

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh… I think he is in the darkhouse now.

Maybe he will just never come out.

I don’t know if he thinks he’s Jesus or a groundhog anymore.

AR will retire in GB, but not for the next 2 or 3 seasons. So, you mud ducks can take all of your wishful thinking and blow it out of your bagpipes. We should have gotten a new DC, but I’m not sure that a better one was available. Wide receiver will be a need and we need to plug some other gaps. Not going speculate beyond AR coming back with a new contract.

Interesting article in Feb 15 Wall Street Journal on AR’s darkness retreat. Apparently others go to these resorts for “isolation, meditation, dealing with your thoughts “.

grpubl7 wrote:

AR will retire in GB, but not for the next 2 or 3 seasons. So, you mud ducks can take all of your wishful thinking and blow it out of your bagpipes. We should have gotten a new DC, but I’m not sure that a better one was available. Wide receiver will be a need and we need to plug some other gaps. Not going speculate beyond AR coming back with a new contract.

I want some of what you’re smoking!
Pretty sure both sides have already stated it’s time to move on.

He’s not going to be playing for GB next year. Move along…

I go back to when LaFluer said, “if someone takes all the credit when we win, then they need to take it when we lose too”

He gone.

Yup he gone. To the Jets, eerily similar to the end of Favre’s tenure on the tundra. Apparently the Packers Way is drug out drama filled offseasons with their HOF QB’s before offloading the face of the franchise for a fraction of what comparable QB’s go for.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/aaron-rodgers-says-he-wants-to-play-for-jets-blames-packers-for-communication-and-hold-up-in-trade/ar-AA18FG0P

Wow. What a weak ending to his career. Good luck at his age and in that division. He dithered around too long and ran out of options I think.

Hmmmm –
Doesn’t Cousins only have one more year here? Just reading the tea leaves.

I think the Jets have the potential to be awful good. They had a lot of down years so their roster has a lot of young, higher-drafted talent. Last year they had the offensive (WR Garrett Wilson) and defensive (stud CB Sauce Gardner) players of the year, plus another first-round pick that played immediately and was good (D-line maybe?). I saw something saying they were now the favorites to win their division-yes, even with the Bills in that division.

Having said that…man, is there a better example of “making it all about me” in the history of pro sports? I gotta imagine there’s a good percentage of Jets fans thinking “I can’t stand this guy but I hope it helps them win.”

BigWerm wrote:

Yup he gone. To the Jets, eerily similar to the end of Favre’s tenure on the tundra

That better be where the similarities end.

Dan wrote:

I think the Jets have the potential to be awful good. They had a lot of down years so their roster has a lot of young, higher-drafted talent. Last year they had the offensive (WR Garrett Wilson) and defensive (stud CB Sauce Gardner) players of the year, plus another first-round pick that played immediately and was good (D-line maybe?). I saw something saying they were now the favorites to win their division-yes, even with the Bills in that division.

Having said that…man, is there a better example of “making it all about me” in the history of pro sports? I gotta imagine there’s a good percentage of Jets fans thinking “I can’t stand this guy but I hope it helps them win.”

I agree the Jets should be good, and that Rodgers loves making it all about him. But this is just as much about how terribly the Packers handled the situation, from drafting Love/Dillon instead of an impact player, to never drafting a top 3 round WR since Devante Adams, to drawing lines in the sand and not collaborating with their HOF QB’s (plural).

Oh yeah I agree. And maybe I’m in the minority but I feel like if Jordan Love is decent the Packers could be sitting better than they are at this moment if they get two first-round picks in return.

Dan wrote:

Oh yeah I agree. And maybe I’m in the minority but I feel like if Jordan Love is decent the Packers could be sitting better than they are at this moment if they get two first-round picks in return.

The Jets would be crazy to send x2 first round picks. I’m not big on Lamar and wouldn’t offer what he allegedly wants…but I’d probably send x2 picks to Baltimore and sign Lamar to a 3 year, 120 million fully guaranteed deal before paying Rodgers and giving up the same picks.

It’s a crazy, unprecedented situation where both team needs the transaction to happen in the worst way, and neither is appearing to blink thinking they have the leverage.

The Packers want his contract off the books as soon as possible as they cannot afford to have him retire and take that dead money OR have him come back against his will and make over 50 million sitting in a T-shirt. They also have been completely inactive in free agency while this all goes on not knowing their financial future.

The Jets have watched other QB options dry up around them and head different ways around the league. They also have players publicly begging for Rodgers to join them. The Jets have a roster with some really good players on affordable contracts. A QB that’s not on his last year seems like the best fit? If they retain this year’s picks and add to their already decent young roster, they could build something more similar to what the Bills have done than taking a Rams “swing for the fences” approach.