It’s beginning to look more and more as if Aaron Rodgers will remain with the Green Bay Packers, but until it happens, it hasn’t. It is the NFL, after all, and stranger things have happened — e.g., the exit trajectory of Rodgers’ predecessor Brett Favre — but recent reports have both sides seemingly working on a short-term deal that could make the back-to-back league MVP the highest paid player in NFL history. The organization reworked his contract one year ago to smooth his exceedingly ruffled feathers and to give him a potential out after the 2021 season, but they’re not going to release him and it appears no trade is on the horizon.
The latter is at least what general manager Brian Gutekunst would have you believe. Speaking from the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Gutekunst claims the Packers haven’t gotten a call from anyone whatsoever interested in trading for the four-time league MVP.
“Not at all,” Gutekunst said, via ESPN. “Not at all. Not a single person.”
That’s a tough sell there by the Packers, because there has long been reported interest from multiple teams in acquiring Rodgers, and it’s unrealistic to believe all of it simply evaporated in 2022 — especially seeing Rodgers and the Packers eliminated from the playoffs yet again and potentially feeling that now might be the perfect time to convince the six-time All Pro that there are greener pastures elsewhere if he finally wants to secure his second championship.
Gutekunst says his phone has been completely silent, however, and he’s obviously fine with it as he desperately tries to keep Rodgers from leaving Green Bay on his watch. The two sides began discussing the future as early as the day after their unceremonious first-game exit in the playoffs at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, the first real positive sign that things might go the Packers way, but the 38-year-old has remained noncommittal to now — with NFL free agency readying to begin in two weeks.
Having promised to deliver a decision to the Packers swiftly, he’s not yet done so, but will eventually have to. And if he does decide he’d rather go elsewhere, Gutekunst should take his phone off of silent mode, because it’ll start ringing off of the hook, assuming it isn’t actually already.
