This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Charles Curtis is filling in for Andy Nesbitt.
It truly was the Last Dance for Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams with the Green Bay Packers. Just not in the way we expected.
The franchise traded the superstar wideout to the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday, a shock to everyone especially if he did indeed turn down a similar contract that he’ll get from the Raiders.
There were a lot of thoughts we all had the moment the news dropped — many of them about Rodgers, who is (checks notes) still a Packer after signing a mammoth deal this offseason — but the one that hit me third or fourth was: Man, this makes the Jordan Love draft pick look SO MUCH WORSE.
The Packers have never really given Rodgers the wide receiver help he’s needed in recent years beyond retaining Adams. And while it’s resulted in two MVP seasons for the QB, imagine what it might have looked like if he had better wideouts to throw to beyond Adams.
Back in 2020, they had the 26th overall pick and decided to pick Rodgers’ heir, Love, out of Utah State. It would have been a good idea if Rodgers was on the decline, and I did understand the idea of grooming the next QB in today’s NFL.
However! What unfolded was so much unnecessary drama, nullifying the “heir apparent” value of the Love pick. Instead? Here is a list of receivers the Packers could have taken:
Tee Higgins. Michael Pittman Jr. Laviska Shenault. Chase Claypool. Van Jefferson.
Suddenly, an Adams trade includes a succession plan instead of Love sitting for another couple of years. Yes, the Packers could sign one of the free agents around, but it’s not the most inspiring of lists for a win-now franchise: Jarvis Landy, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr., or JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Allen Lazard isn’t a WR1. Perhaps the Pack use the Raiders’ pick and their own first-rounder to take a receiver or two to help here — this year’s draft class is full of good wideout prospects.
But wouldn’t it have been better to not waste a first-rounder a couple of years ago?
Quick hits: March Madness madness! … Why are those basketballs so orange? … Carson Wentz’s fashion choice … and more.
— The first day of men’s March Madness was pretty wild: Fans blasted the refs in Iowa’s loss to Richmond, Saint Peter’s fans went nuts after the No. 15 seed took down Kentucky, and Indiana cheerleaders made headlines for rescuing a stuck ball.
— Why are those basketballs in the tourney so orange? Andrew Joseph explains it all for you.
— Carson Wentz turned into a meme when he wore a yellow jacket and red shirt for his first Commanders press conference.
— Our Christian D’Andrea continues to grade NFL free-agent deals as they come in.
