What a difference a few months can make.
In July, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers begged the team to let him have more input on personnel decisions. Now, after a stunning playoff defeat, Rodgers said he has no interest in being part of a rebuild in Green Bay.
“I don’t want to be a part of a rebuild if I’m going to keep playing,” Rodgers said after Saturday night’s 13-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Packers are deep in salary-cap debt entering the offseason and have numerous players with expiring contracts or uncertain futures, including Rodgers, All-Pro Davante Adams and edge rusher Za’Darius Smith.
“There’s a lot of players whose futures are up in the air, so definitely will be interesting to see which way some of those decisions will go,” Rodgers said.
The message came across clear: Rodgers, now 38, doesn’t want to play in Green Bay if the Packers aren’t going to be a true contender, so general manager Brian Gutekunst better have a plan to perform more salary-cap magic to keep the team together or he’s gone.
It’s funny. Maybe players, even great players, shouldn’t dictate the way a team is run, especially on the personnel side.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur said the team would be “crazy” to not want Rodgers back. And if Gutekunst’s words from this past summer are to be believed, the Packers do want Rodgers in Green Bay long-term.
But the decision ahead will be a difficult one.
Gutekunst already mortgaged a big part of the future this past offseason to keep the team together and give Rodgers another chance to get back to the Super Bowl. The Packers restructured every veteran contract available and used void years to push out cap charges to future years. The team maxed out the credit card for the “Last Dance.” And now it’s clear that Rodgers wants the team to take another few cards and max them out too, or he’s going to retire or demand a trade elsewhere.
Rodgers has all the control here, and he knows it.
It makes sense from the player’s viewpoint. Rodgers doesn’t want to come back and try to carry a top-heavy team. He’s done it before, and it never ends in achieving the final goal. If the Packers find a way to bring back Rodgers and Adams, the roster could be one of the weakest in years. And it won’t be nearly as deep or experienced or talented as this last one.
The idea of starting over and digging out of the salary cap hole in more traditional ways has to be somewhat attractive to the Packers, especially after failing so catastrophically to end this season. The Packers had everything lined up the last two years and couldn’t get it done. Now, Rodgers isn’t sure he wants to keep playing, and Jordan Love is entering Year 3. If there’s ever a time to hit refresh, it’s probably now.
Rodgers is going to talk to the team, take some time away and weigh his options. The guess here is that he really just wants to know if the Packers plan to keep kicking the salary-cap can down the road or if they truly want to tear the roster down to the studs.
The next few weeks ahead look rather simple: If the Packers want Rodgers back, they’ll have to somehow move mountains to keep everyone of significance in Green Bay. And if the Packers aren’t willing, Rodgers wants out.
The ball is now in Brian Gutekunst’s court.
