A decision necessarily is coming soon from Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In the event Rodgers chooses to stay, the Packers are preparing a contract that would allow it to happen.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Packers are talking to Rodgers’s representatives regarding a short-term deal for the two-time-defending NFL MVP.
“Nothing is done, but they are having discussions,” Rapoport said on NFL Network. “They are having negotiations to have a deal, hopefully for them, ready to go if and when Aaron Rodgers firmly and finally decides that he wants to return.”
Rodgers has said he’ll resolve his situation before the start of free agency. That happens in 16 days.
He doesn’t need a new contract to stick around. He could choose to enter the final year of his deal and to become a free agent in 2023. But if he’s staying for now, he’s quite possibly staying for good.
If he stays, he deserves a major raise. He’s currently making as much as Jared Goff, for crying out loud. As we said in January, two years, $100 million should be a no brainer.
Although Rodgers and those close to him have insisted it isn’t about money, if he’s going to stay, he may as well get properly compensated for his efforts.
At one point, Rodgers seemed to be destined to leave. As the clock keeps ticking, however, it’s becoming harder to spot a place where Rodgers could go, in order to engineer a better outcome to the season than he has experienced the past two years. Tom Brady left a regressing Patriots franchise for a Super Bowl winner. Matthew Stafford left the Lions for the Rams.
Rodgers would be leaving a team that has secured the top seed in consecutive seasons. Where would the grass be greener? As the Packers clear cap space and as the team brings back quarterbacks coach Tom Clements (a Rodgers favorite), why would he want to leave a division that the Packers can continue to own? The Bears have a new G.M. and coach. The Vikings have a new G.M. and coach. The Lions are in year two of their latest reboot. The Packers could secure the top seed in the conference, for a third straight season.
No AFC team gives him that kind of a path. The Packers may not be inclined to trade him to another team in the NFC, like the Buccaneers or the 49ers.
So, yes, his best bet may be to stay where he is. Even if he’d like to move on, he’d have a hard time finding a stacked deck, like Brady in 2020 and Stafford in 2021.