After 17 years, there’s a chance that Packers fans may have seen the last of Aaron Rodgers in green and yellow as Rodgers spends the offseason deciding if he wants to return to Green Bay or not.
According to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, the veteran signal-caller is reportedly torn over where he wants to play in the upcoming season, but he has three preferred landing spots if he decides to go that route: Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, and Tennessee Titans.
Per BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review), the Titans are out of the picture as they are still counting on Ryan Tannehill but the Broncos and Steelers look promising:
Broncos -150
Steelers +600
Dolphins +750
Buccaneers +750
Colts +1000
Raiders +1400
However, the question remains, ‘should Packers let their star vet get away?’ One former Packers player and Hall of Famer believes it’s time.
Rodgers’ former Super Bowl teammate, Charles Woodson, gave his stance on why the Packers should trade away the MVP during an episode of “Good Morning Football” on NFL Network in February.
“From a fan’s standpoint, and someone who’s played with the Packers, organizationally I think you would want to see Aaron Rodgers back because you know how this league is,” Woodson said. “If you have a quarterback, you have a shot. You look at the teams that are in the Super Bowl now, they have a great quarterback.
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“But I’m just looking at the situation, and if I’m putting on my GM hat, when you say what are we going to do next season when I’m looking at the roster that we have, you know what? I’m thinking about trading Aaron Rodgers and seeing what I can get in return for him.”
Woodson pointed out Green Bay’s salary cap situation, their reliable defense, and the potential return the team could get as reasons to make the move.
“Maybe I can get a quarterback to steady my quarterback room and get some competition for Jordan Love,” he said. “I’m telling [Matt] LaFleur, ‘Hey, Jordan Love does not leave the building this offseason. We’re gonna get him prepared to play.’ Because when I look at the team and this defense, and the way that defense performed, they have a good team. So, they’ll be able to go into next season solid on that side of the ball, and then let the offense catch up the rest of the season. It will also help their cap situation.
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“So if I’m the Packers, you flirted a little bit [last] offseason with life without Aaron Rodgers. Now you’re really thinking about the future. So I’m thinking about trading Aaron Rodgers this offseason if I can.”
According to Over the Cap Rodgers’ contract has a cap hit of $46.6M this season and a dead cap number of just $26.8M.
This means that trading him would save the team $20M in 2022. Or if the team would rather trade Rodgers after June 1, 2022, then they have the option of spreading that cap hit out over two years, making it $19.2M in 2022 and $7.6M next year.
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Not to mention that if the Packers decide to take a chance on quarterback Jordan Love, a trade would also give Green Bay some more draft capital to build around the young QB.
And not to be so cliche, but Rodgers has been talking about potentially getting out of Lambeau for over a year now and if he’s not happy there anymore, why not let him finish his job elsewhere and make both parties happy? It’s time for a new era in Green Bay.