Aaron Rodgers has been at odds with the Green Bay Packers for nearly the entire offseason, and at some point, it seems that the Packers tried to fix the problem with their starting quarterback by offering him a lot of money.
According to The Athletic, the Packers got so desperate to fix things with Rodgers that they offered to make him the NFL‘s highest paid quarterback. ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently revealed the length of the offer — two seasons that would have kept the Packers quarterback in Green Bay for five more seasons. Rodgers would have been the highest-paid player in the NFL with his new deal, but the Packers quarterback declined the offer.
Green Bay reportedly was willing to give Rodgers more than $45 million per year, which would have been a huge raise over the $21.5 million that Rodgers is due to make this year ($14.7 million salary plus $6.8 million roster bonus) The current title of highest-paid QB belongs to Patrick Mahomes, who signed a 10-year, $450 million extension in July.
Now that Rodgers declined the offer, where does this leave things between the star quarterback and the Packers? The reigning MVP still isn’t sure if we will show up when Packers training camp begins next Tuesday.
“Well, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this week,” Rodgers said last week at the American Century Championship. “And then I’m gonna get back to working out and figure things out in a couple weeks.”
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There have been reports since late January that Rodgers wanted the team to give him a new contract that would essentially guarantee he would keep the starting quarterback job beyond 2021. As things currently stand, Rodgers’ deal is constructed in such a way that the Packers could easily get rid of him after the 2021 season (The Packers would pick up roughly $22 million in cap space if they cut him after the upcoming season).
The Packers front office has been asked multiple times about giving Rodgers a new deal this offseason and each time, they’ve danced around the question. Back in late January, here’s what CEO Mark Murphy had to say when asked about Rodgers contract request.
“We’re not idiots,” Murphy said. “Aaron Rodgers will be back.”
That answer isn’t aging so well.
Around the same time, general manager Brian Gutekunst said the team was excited to have Rodgers on the team for “years to come.”
“We’re really excited not only for next year but the years to come,” Gutekunst said in February.
After the draft was over, Murphy publicly admitted that the Packers were working through an issue with Rodgers, but he also added that he envisioned the reigning MVP being the team’s quarterback “in 2021 and beyond.”
“This is an issue that we have been working on for several months,” Murphy said in a statement on May 1. “Brian Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur and I have flown out on a number of occasions to meet with Aaron. We are very much aware of Aaron’s concerns and have been working with him (and his agent Dave Dunn) to resolve them. We remain committed to Aaron in 2021 and beyond.”
The Packers did try to mend fences with Rodgers, but the MVP may be at his boiling point with the organization. We’ll see what Rodgers does when camp begins next week.
