As with his predecessor, Brett Favre, I liked Rodgers for probably 80% of his career. But the last 12-24 months, he’s proven himself to be a douche. I get it - no stud wants to be told that they’re long in the tooth. But I compare him to Joe Montana and Tom Brady. They didn’t complain; they just went out and did their talking on the field.
If there’s one knock on Rodgers, I think he’s a wee bit narcissistic.
I respect leaving a team to chase a ring or for a big contract more than passive-aggressive complaining, so there’s that. Loyalty to a team is fine but that comes with accepting things when they don’t go your way.
Newsweek is reporting that the Packers and Broncos may be close to a deal on Rodgers. I’m not seeing anything corroborating this from anywhere else just yet.
Yet you pretty much nailed it.
Now he’s a whiny bitch who’s a fantastic QB (he completely earned his MVP award last year) and is a lock for the Hall of Fame. I also respect the way he has sucked it up and carried the team on his back at times, even when hurt (physically he’s got grit). But yeah, he has a tendency to be petty and hold grudges, and he does it out in the open so this isn’t even in the realm of rumors.
Yes Aaron Rodgers is prickly and actually looks for slights to get pissed about, so part of this is his fault. But when Gutey over-drafted Love, it was basically saying to Rodgers: Either we just wasted a ton of resources and didn’t improve or we’re done with you in two years. Nobody, no matter how even keeled, wouldn’t be pissed by that. It was an idiotic move, and the Packers are now, and will likely continue to, pay for it.
The dead money hit for the Packers for trading Rodgers now is $31.5 million, but drops to $14.3 million after June 1st. Perhaps something could happen then. (And we’ll have over a month of “news” about it. )
Oh yeah, Rodgers was 100% justified in being ticked off about that. He’s whiny in general but I don’t blame him at all in this case. Actually I thought his reaction was fantastic; he put in an MVP season as a middle finger to the organization. If he can channel his spite into something productive, good for him. And I also don’t blame him if he wants to now go to a different organization.
I’m generally a fan of him on the field, and really dislike him off the field, but I’m on his side in this one.
There must be some nuance I am missing here. Rodgers is in his late 30s, right? Aren’t good teams supposed to draft their QB of the future when their starter gets long in the tooth and let them sit behind the star for a year or two? Isn’t that exactly what the Packers did with Rodgers/Favre?
I don’t get what was offensive about drafting Love. Hamlet says he was “overdrafted” and that might be 100% true, but we don’t really know that yet until he gets a chance to play, do we?
I mean, I get it to some extent from Rodgers’ perspective - no one wants to get replaced. But that’s the game, that’s the business. Keep playing great and you’ll keep your job.
Rodgers has been pretty solid for the team. Whenever the Packers struggled it was due mostly to not giving Rodgers enough tools around him. After two consecutive losing seasons, they put in a 13-3 season (winning their division), got to the NFC Championship, and seemed to have righted things. And then they traded up in the draft to grab a QB prospect, and blindsided Rodgers with it. They gave every impression that they felt a desperate need to get a new QB as soon as possible. That’s not a move you make if you’re just drafting a developmental guy, that’s something you do when you think you have a serious problem at the position and need a replacement ASAP. Everyone saw that as a slight against Rodgers, not just Rodgers, and it’s hard to see it as anything else. What they did wasn’t a normal move that a team makes when you have an all-time great who is still in his prime and producing for you. That’s saying that there’s something other than his football ability that they have a problem with.
If Love was drafted in a later round (or at least if they didn’t trade up to grab him) it would have been seen as a fairly routine move and wouldn’t have been controversial at all. But the way it was done was a pretty big shock.
I think the New York Post of all places has a pretty good take on it:
Thanks for that explanation.
Excellent explanation, @Atamasama.
One other point, for a comparision to when the Packers drafted Rodgers, while still having Favre: in the 2005 draft, there were two top QB prospects, both of whom were legitimately seen as potential #1 picks: Rodgers and Alex Smith. The Niners, who had the first pick, were known to be in the market for a QB, and a lot of people assumed it would be Rodgers, as he had grown up in the area, and had played collegiately at Cal.
But, the Niners picked Smith, and then teams kept passing on Rodgers. By the time that the Packers pick came along, at #24, they felt like Rodgers had fallen into their laps. Even if they might have had a greater need at other positions, they knew that Favre was getting long in the tooth, and was not playing at the level that he had been previously, and they couldn’t pass up picking a guy who was arguably the #1 player in the draft.
I’m a pretty big sports fan who follows football and I mostly agree with you. I understand the reasoning in Atamasama’s post and the Packers could have handled it differently but I don’t think they were unjustified.
Speaking as a Packer fan / shareholder / season ticket holder:
Yes, the Packers should have been planning for the post-Rodgers era, because of Rodgers’ age, if nothing else. But, their actions in taking Love were both (a) the sign of a team which thinks they need a new QB now, and (b) not going to do anything to help a team which fell just short of the Super Bowl in 2019 get there in 2020.
Also, rightly or wrongly, Rodgers feels that, given his role with the team, he should be consulted on major things, or at least informed about the team’s plans. Even if team leadership wasn’t actively trying to burn bridges with Rodgers, it should have been obvious to them that their actions were going to do exactly that.
Exactly, kenobi. Some of this drama could have easily been avoided with a conversation, something Gutekunst all but admitted this week when he said: "Some of the communication issues, we could’ve done better. No doubt about it,” Then trading up to over-draft Love would have been just stupid, and not stupid and damaging to your relationship with your HoF QB.
The best step from here needs to be that Gutey admits he fucked up drafting Love, sign Rodgers to a cap friendly extension, and get Love playing time to increase his trade value/backup status.
But that will never happen, at least publicly, if for no other reason than that it is at odds with
You don’t say “I screwed up drafting this guy, but give me a high round draft pick in exchange anyway.”
Unless you’re referring to preseason snaps, these suggestions are mutually exclusive. Honestly, there’s only really 3 ways out.
- Go nuclear and trade Rodgers for a boatload. Alienate the fan base for a generation.
- Trade Love now for literally anything. Sign Rodgers to a 4-5 year extension at market rates.
- Publicly admit that you fucked up royally. That you’re 100% committed to Rodgers and that you’re willing to sign what amount to year-to-year contracts with player options. Promise Rodgers that he’s basically the Vice GM going forward.
If you keep grooming Love, even if the stated goal is to create trade value, Rodgers will be mad and he probably won’t believe you. And why should he? If they find a way to get Love meaningful snaps and he’s amazing you definitely aren’t trading him.
I was.
After the Bears traded to draft Tevin Jenkins and Larry Borom at OT they have decided to release LT Charles Leno in a cap cutting move which saves them $9M.
Certainly Leno is a guy that probably isn’t irreplaceable but he’s been a fixture on the left side for a long time now and he was generally solid if unspectacular. I do think he was overpaid. The Bears also parted ways with their RT Bobbie Massie earlier this offseason which means we’re trying to replace both tackles while onboarding a new QB or two. It’s a scary situation and while I believe that Jenkins can start right away, Borom looks to me like a better fit inside in the NFL. His lateral quickness and ability to cut off the edge worries me and he plays way too high.
I don’t know who will play RT on this roster today. Geramin Ifedi was brought in on a 1-year prove-it deal past season and could be brought back. We could go for another FA but there aren’t a lot of great RT options out there, most are long in the tooth and injury prone. Maybe they look to address the left side with an FA and start Jenkins at RT which has some appeal. Rolling the dice with Okung at LT is an interesting option. Kelvin Beachum or Alejandro Villanueva are also options to consider and all would probably be an upgrade over Leno…but none of these guy would fit on the right side, so it all depends on the plan for Jenkins in year one.
Interesting, the Bills threatening to cut players who don’t get the vaccine.
No idea if they’re just sabre rattling, but I can see a team wanting to make damn sure they don’t go through the scheduling nonsense of last season and the postponed games