OPINION: The Same Old Dance
Aaron Rodgers doesn’t know what he wants to do, but he sure does seem to like talking about it.
There he was last weekend, joking about his future as he made his way down the golf course at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. But it certainly isn’t a laughing matter to the Green Bay Packers.
Earlier in the week, Rodgers made it known he didn’t know if he wanted to continue playing football and wouldn’t know until after the Super Bowl, so the talk of where he’ll play is irrelevant. In his weekly radio spot with former NFL punter Pat McAfee, Rodgers also seemed upset about the rumor that the Packers were prepared to move on from the star quarterback.
How could he be? And how could they not at least strongly consider their options?
Rodgers gleefully joked about how he may be going to the Las Vegas Raiders in an interview after he was done playing, but he definitely wouldn’t be playing for the San Francisco 49ers.
Hey, it’s all fun and games. He’ll get his money and play football, if he wants to, anyway.
But for the Packers there are many other considerations at play. Surely, when they signed Rodgers to a contract that made him the richest player in the NFL less than a year ago, they thought they wouldn’t have to go through this again. They finally made him happy, right?
Two years ago, he reportedly demanded a trade and threatened not to show up for training camp. When he did show up, he made it known he didn’t want to be there as he went on a long rant about how the organization has mistreated people. Nobody would ever go to Green Bay if it wasn’t for him, he said, as if the state should be giving him a chunk of tourism dollars on top of his contract.
Last offseason he said he wouldn’t wait long to make his decision then proceeded to wait as long as reasonably possible before signing a rich contract extension. A deal that the Packers surely regret at this point.
But, hey, when Rodgers signed the deal, he said he was committed to playing and that he wouldn’t make speculation about his future an annual thing. The deal seemed to marry him to the organization for at least two years.
And now Rodgers openly talks about retiring or playing elsewhere.
Sure, the Packers can trade him, but it will cost them. According to SpoTrac — a website that tracks player salaries and salary cap space for teams — the Packers will have to eat about $40 million in dead salary cap space should they trade Rodgers prior to June 1. In other words, they’d be paying nearly 18 percent of their salary cap space for a player who plays for another team.
While the rumors that the Packers want two first round picks in exchange for Rodgers are fun, they’re also extremely unlikely. They might get one first round pick, but with no guarantee about his future, the acquiring team will want to hedge its bet.
The Packers could play hardball with Rodgers by telling him he is under contract with them and he can either play or retire. That seemed to be the message Brian Gutekunst sent during his postseason press conference, but then rumors circulated that the team would like to trade Rodgers. Should Rodgers retire, the Packers would still have to pay the $40.3 million cap hit, but could spread it out over two seasons.
On paper, the best option for the Packers is for Rodgers to return, in which case he’d cost approximately $32 million against their salary cap and the team would have an answer at quarterback for at least one more year. Should he try the same old song and dance again next year, the cap penalty for releasing or trading him would be $24.5 million.
But there’s something to be said about taking control of the organization. They can pay him $32 million to play this year and $24.5 to go away next, or just wash their hands with it and take a $40 million hit this year, while getting players via trade in return. That would also allow them to get Jordan Love on the field to finally see what they have in the former first round pick.
Just like with Brett Favre, there comes a time when it is best for everybody to simply move on.
