Former Aaron Rodgers teammate John Kuhn repeatedly has called the problem between Rodgers and the Packers fixable. Now that it appears to be fixed, for how long will the repairs hold?
Appearing on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio, Kuhn was asked whether he thinks 2021 will be the last year for Rodgers in Green Bay.
“Boy, it’s hard to look at the writing on the wall and think that’s not the case,” Kuhn said. “I think the Packers need to do something exceptional this year, and maybe something out of the ordinary. Not just make a deep playoff run but maybe find a way to add a position here before the trade deadline throughout the season or make a trade right before the beginning of the season that proves, hey, they’re in it to win it. Because Aaron Rodgers quite frankly is looking at the last few holes of his back nine of his career. . . .”
One such move could be a trade for receiver Randall Cobb; Rodgers reportedly wants to see Cobb return to the Packers. Whatever they do, Rodgers (per Kuhn) is looking for a greater sense of urgency.
“The reality is he’s got three, five, six years left in this thing, and he feels like this year [if] the Packers don’t go all in, that just might be all the sign that he needs to leave,” Kuhn said. “So I think it’s gonna take a successful season, not just a good season offensively for the Green bay Packers but a successful season with some sort of deep playoff run, hopefully a Super Bowl berth, and then maybe doing it outside what we’ve seen the Green Bay Packer organization to do over the last twenty to twenty-five years.”
The Packers have from time to time spent in free agency. The looming restructuring the Rodgers’s contract will give them cap relief for the current year, allowing other players to be pursued.
The new Rodgers contract reportedly will give him freedom no later than 2023, when he’ll be 39. Whether he wants to stay for the 2022 season apparently will depend on what else the Packers do in 2021, with an eye toward letting Rodgers get to a Super Bowl for the second time in his career.