I don’t think either team would hold off other moves for the possibility of Rogers.
I certainly don’t want him on the Giants.
Both teams likely need to know if they have a stop gap starter when they head into the draft. If they don’t, it probably impacts their draft strategy. Also, the only other 2 veteran QB options are Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins. Wilson probably lands wherever Rodgers doesn’t. Cousins wants a trade, but the Falcons seem to want to keep him. Both teams will need to work out a trade if they want a veteran but can’t count on Rodgers or Wilson. The Steelers have already done the Wilson thing, and the fact he’s still out there makes it seem like they aren’t interested in a repeat.
There’s a few other options out there, but they are bleak. Winston is probably the least embarrassing. Drew Lock, Gardner Minshew, Carson Wentz, Trey Lance, Desmond Ritter?
Cleveland doesn’t have a QB yet either, but everyone assumes they are going with a rookie. But they definitely could take a guy like Wilson off the market giving Rodgers even more leverage. The Giants aren’t quite as screwed as the Steelers since they have a high pick, but it doesn’t seem like that staff wants to limp into 2025 starting a rookie in an unimpressive QB class.
The Steelers are completely fucked if they don’t get Rodgers. They are probably fucked with him too, but at least they’ll look like they tried.
Minshew is now off the market, having signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs to back up Patrick Mahomes (and replacing Wentz in that role).
Could it just mean Wilson has unrealistic expectations? He is holding out for another mega pay day and he finds out noone will pay him more thsn thre Steelers he re-signs.
The Steelers just picked up Mason Rudolph so everything’s great.
At this point in his career Rogers refuses to come in and work with his receivers until he absolutely has to. He refuses to make any adjustments. He tells coaches what to do not the other way around. He refuses to do simple changes like adding in motion. Last year defenses saw the same look over and over and he wouldn’t change. And of course it was never his fault. He doesn’t have the talent level to overcome that. Any team he goes to is going to take a huge step back. It’s not like he’s going to come in and help a young QB.
If I ran a team I would take anyone but him.
Maybe. Haven’t heard any reporting to that effect. But it would represent a total disconnect from reality if he thought he was getting a 9 figure deal. Then again, I already laid out the situation and you can’t deny that he has pretty good leverage.
It just occurred to me that Seattle has two quarterbacks and they’re both named Sam.
Maybe if Sam Hartman of the Commanders gets cut Seattle can pick him up as their 3rd string or practice squad guy.
Cooper Kupp to Seattle. If only he could throw to himself.
He doesn’t have to, he’ll have a decent QB to do it for him (if indeed last year’s Darnold was for real). I’m cautiously optimistic.
A lot will depend on if Seattle can improve their o-line though.
I just hope he can stay healthy, He’s missed at least 5 ganes in each of the last 3 seasons.
Matt Flynn 2.0?
Darnold, at least, has a much larger body of work than Flynn did when the Seahawks signed him.
Most of it bad. He had a decent season which came crashing back to reality in the playoffs. He is not a guy who’s hands I would put my future in. He’s Geno Smith 2.0. He’ll get you some wins but you aren’t going to the next level with him.
i was mostly teasing. I was actually really high on Darnold coming out of USC. When he was playing well this year, it seemed to somewhat validate what I saw in him as a rookie.
Of course that implies that his issues with the Jets and Panthers were mostly circumstantial. And that’s a tough sell. Dude got a lot of snaps and at some point you are what you are.
But, if that run in Minnesota was all smoke and mirrors, then Kevin O’Connell must be the greatest coach on the planet.
I don’t think it was smoke and mirrors. Minnesota is really good. They just need a better QB to take them to the next level.
Minnesota is the best place for Rodgers to go. They can win now and need a veteran. The big question is if Roger’s ego allows him to go to a team that already has his replacement (they hope).
Rodgers has to go to Minnesota simply to complete his mirroring of Favre’s career.
Minnesota is where Rodgers goes if he can actually manage to swallow his pride and do what other people tell him.
He’s the type to want his own guys around him and call the shots on the field. If they are insane enough to sign him and he does his normal thing, the Vikings can say goodbye to contention for the next 3-5 seasons as they go into damage control for whatever idiot free agent signings they are forced into and as Rodgers wastes the potential of their coaches and other players.
Or, if they refuse to play his game while still signing him, watch him waste their time sulking like the prima donna he is.
Unlike Favre, who really did at least try, Rodgers would be doing Green Bay a big favor by playing in the same division.
I think it would be hilarious for Rodgers to end up in Minny, but I can’t believe that they’d consider him. They have McCarthy sitting there and I can’t imagine him cooling his heels for 1-2 more years on the bench burning his rookie deal years and not getting a chance to develop.
I thought that their reluctance to do more to keep Darnold showed that they were willing to try to have McCarthy as a starter.
ETA: Someone at CBS agrees with me at least.
Yes, that seemed like the case even as far back as the start of last season. Darnold was pretty much assumed to be a 1-year stop gap from the get-go. Him playing well added some fuel to the sports commentary fire this season, but that was mostly just noise, I think. Even had the market for Darnold been soft, and the Vikings have resigned him, it would have been as a presumptive backup barring a McCarthy bed-shitting in the preseason.
What I can’t tell is if this Rodgers thing is 100% internet memeing, or if there’s even a sliver of interest from the Vikings. Are the Vikings looking at Rodgers and thinking that with Jettas and that OL that he can recapture his Green Bay form and improve on Darnold’s output while there seems to be an open Super Bowl window? Or are the memelords just projecting?