The Green Bay Packers are reportedly ready to ‘move on’ from four-time MVP and former Super Bowl champion quarterback Aaron Rodgers this offseason.
Rodgers - who was drafted by the Packers in 2005 before assuming the starting role from Brett Favre in 2008 - has refused to rule out joining a new franchise via trade this offseason. The four-time MVP has declared a number of times that he will take the coming weeks to discover whether he will retire or return for the 2023 campaign.
The 39-year-old signed a monster new contract last offseason to earn $50.27 million per year through the 2026 season, when he will be 43 years of age. Rodgers finished 2022 with 12 interceptions - the most he threw in a single campaign since 2008, his first year as a starter - while he also failed to post a single 300-yard passing game for the first time in his career.
Green Bay are reportedly open to trading the veteran, and while head coach Matt LaFleur has publicly stated he hopes Rodgers will return for the 2023 season, members of the front office appear to be less keen on the idea. According to a report by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, general manager Brian Gutekunst has already planned to hand the reins of the franchise to Jordan Love in 2023.
“At one point late last year, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told an NFL colleague he was convinced it was time the organisation move on from (Rodgers),” Silverstein reported. He added it is the GM’s plan to install Love, who they selected 26th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Rodgers is currently enjoying a highly-publicised four-day darkness retreat, and is believed to make a decision over his future once he emerges. Both he and the Packers are reportedly interested in trading the veteran given Green Bay have Love on the books and are interested to see how he will lead the franchise.
The Packers are reportedly willing to deal Rodgers to the AFC if a trade is sanctioned. Rodgers has been linked with a move to the Las Vegas Raiders, as well as the New York Jets after they hired former Packers assistant Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator.
It will be interesting to see how any such trade is facilitated. Rodgers’ mega contract means the Packers need to find another franchise willing to compensate them effectively while any suitor would also be wedding themselves to the media circus surrounding the quarterback, who has been in the headlines for taking psychedelic drugs more than he has been for winning playoff games.
