GREEN BAY, Wis. — The foreseeable future may now be outlined as 2021 and past after Packers president Mark Murphy mentioned the workforce is dedicated to quarterback Aaron Rodgers for extra than simply subsequent season.
None of which will matter if Rodgers follows via on what he has instructed some out and in of the group, that he is not going to return to the Packers, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Thursday.
Packers normal supervisor Brian Gutekunst beforehand had mentioned Rodgers could be the workforce’s quarterback for the “foreseeable future.” Coach Matt LaFleur has not addressed reporters since March however is predicted to take action on the conclusion of the NFL draft on Saturday.
“Thursday was positively a day stuffed with extra intrigue than common,” Murphy wrote in a column posted Saturday on the team’s website. “The day began with the report that Aaron Rodgers is upset with the Packers and would not need to return to the workforce. When a report like that includes the reigning MVP, it’s clearly an enormous story, and it dominated the sports activities information for a lot of the day.
“This is a matter that we have now been engaged on for a number of months. Brian Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur and I’ve flown out on quite a few events to fulfill with Aaron. We’re very a lot conscious of Aaron’s considerations and have been working with him (and his agent Dave Dunn) to resolve them. We stay dedicated to Aaron in 2021 and past.”
Gutekunst mentioned Thursday that he would not trade Rodgers and urged endurance.
“We have been working via this for a short while now, and I simply assume it could take a while,” Gutekunst mentioned hours after Schefter’s report. “However he is a man that form of makes this factor go. He provides us the perfect likelihood to win, and we will work towards that finish.”
In keeping with sources near Rodgers, nevertheless, nothing has modified on his half since Thursday’s report.
Murphy lauded Rodgers as a “true chief” for the Packers.
“The connection that Aaron has cast with Matt and the opposite offensive coaches has propelled us to the brink of the Tremendous Bowl in two straight years,” Murphy wrote. “We look ahead to competing for an additional Tremendous Bowl championship with Aaron as our chief.”
Rodgers is underneath contract with the Packers via the 2023 season with a base wage of $14.7 million in 2021. He had a $6.eight million roster bonus due in March that was “vested as scheduled,” a supply mentioned on the time. Rodgers would want to attend a big portion of the offseason program to earn a $500,000 exercise bonus, and sources mentioned that to date he has not participated within the early portion, which has been digital.
June could possibly be a vital level in how the method performs out. That is when the Packers have their solely obligatory offseason occasion — a three-day minicamp. If Rodgers doesn’t report, he could be topic to fines. The identical would apply if he doesn’t report for coaching camp beginning in late July.
June 1 additionally is critical for the wage cap. If the Packers traded Rodgers after that date, they might acquire greater than $22 million in salary-cap house. Doing so earlier than then would internet them solely $5.646 million in cap financial savings.
Rodgers’ unhappiness stems from — however just isn’t unique to — the Packers’ determination to commerce up and choose quarterback Jordan Love within the first spherical of final yr’s draft. The choose was Gutekunst’s name, however given the Packers’ construction, Murphy, who’s Gutekunst’s boss, may have vetoed the choose if he thought it was not within the group’s greatest curiosity.
LaFleur is in a tough place as a result of his job is to win now, and he and his teaching workers nonetheless consider Rodgers provides them the perfect likelihood. Additionally they should develop Love, who was the third-string quarterback final season and was anticipated to be the highest backup this yr after the Packers let Tim Boyle depart for the Detroit Lions in free company.
Rodgers has not spoken publicly in regards to the state of affairs since an look on “The Pat McAfee Present” practically a month in the past, when he mentioned his future remains uncertain.
“All I can do is play my greatest, and I really feel like final yr I did do this,” Rodgers mentioned April 5. “Which will have thrown a wrench into some timelines which will have been considered or desired, however in the end issues have not actually modified on that entrance. I meant what I mentioned final yr about actually being at peace with the entire thing, and that hasn’t modified. I be ok with the best way I performed, be ok with the best way I led. … Every little thing else is form of for hypothesis, and I am certain there shall be loads of it.”