The Packers have a problem, of which we’re all well aware. The Seahawks have one, too, even though it has subsided in recent weeks.
Could the easiest solution for both teams involve a Ken Stabler/Dan Pastorini-style straight-up trade of starting quarterbacks?
With Aaron Rodgers wanting out of Green Bay and Russell Wilson by all appearances nearing the end of his run in Seattle, would it make sense for Seahawks G.M./Packers shareholder John Schneider to offer Wilson for Rodgers?
On the surface, it would. But there are deeper issues lurking.
First, trading two disgruntled quarterbacks doesn’t mean those quarterbacks immediately will be happy in their new cities. The Packers would have to be willing to run the entire offense through Wilson, like Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City. They’d also need to be ready to pay Wilson like Mahomes after the 2022 season, if not sooner, when Wilson’s agent seeks Wilson’s next monster deal. Also, the Seahawks would have to be willing to inherit the uniquely prickly personality of Aaron Rodgers.
Schneider, a former Packers scout, presumably runs his team the same way the Packers run theirs. Players play, coaches coach, General Managers, um, generally manage. Wilson grew disillusioned with the Seahawks for reasons similar to Rodgers’ discontent with the Packers. Neither team is willing to give its franchise quarterback a major voice in running the franchise. The only difference is that the Seahawks have yet to draft Wilson’s potential replacement.
That may be one of the reasons why the Seahawks aren’t currently on Rodgers’ wish list. He wants more control, more deference, more autonomy, more everything. He likely knows he wouldn’t get it in Seattle. He could get it in Denver.
He also could get it elsewhere, too. Rodgers is good enough that most teams would gladly hand him the keys and happily accept his eccentricities. Even with plans set for 2021, other teams would be foolish to not consider the possibility of finding a way to get one of the best quarterbacks in football history on the team, even if it’s only for three or four years.