Former Packers Exec Andrew Brandt Doesn’t See Training Camp as Deadline for Aaron Rodgers
By Paul Bretl
This past week the Green Bay Packers held their mandatory mini-camp, and as we all know, the reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers was not in attendance. I feel as if I sound like a broken record at this point, but his absence shouldn’t come as a surprise—it was expected.
For Rodgers, who will be entering his 17th NFL season, there is nothing to gain by going to mini-camp. In Year 3, he is quite familiar with the Matt LaFleur offense, and it’s not as if anything new was going to be implemented. I also doubt he cares about the $93,085 fine for missing, and for all we know, the Packers may have chosen to waive that.
While, sure, it would have been great for him to be there, I don’t believe that there is anything that we can glean from his absence in terms of his relationship with the organization at this point.
As I’ve said all along, I believe the true test for whether or not this relationship can be saved will be training camp. For every day missed, as it’s written in the CBA, the team will fine Rodgers $50,000. And if he misses all of camp, Rodgers will owe the team north of $2 million—now we are talking real money, relatively speaking, of course.
Right or wrong, I still believe that the two parties will work something out, but if Rodgers’ absence drags into August, then that would be the first real piece of tangible evidence that things might be irreconcilable.
But that’s just my timeline and how I view the situation. According to former Green Bay Packers’ Executive Andrew Brandt, he sees this situation differently, and doesn’t believe that training camp is the hard deadline for Rodgers to return.
Brandt was recently on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast and had this to say about the situation:
"“You know my saying: Deadlines spur action,” Brandt told Tucker via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “And somehow I don’t think training camp is the deadline for Aaron and the Packers. What is it? Late August? Early September? He doesn’t need training camp. … I don’t think training camp is the deadline at all. And secretly like (with) minicamp, the Packers wouldn’t mind that because they could give (backup quarterback) Jordan Love real reps.”"
The big takeaway from this is that from the sounds of it — and unlike what I thought — just because Rodgers isn’t in attendance come training camp, or even deep into August for that matter, that doesn’t mean that he won’t be under center Week 1 against New Orleans. He just may be continuing his offseason, which he appears to be enjoying very much.
Another excellent point made is that Rodgers’ continued absence could actually be a good thing for the Green Bay Packers as it will provide Jordan Love with additional — and highly meaningful— reps as QB1. Something that we all know he needs.
Truthfully, Rodgers missing all of the offseason programs and then showing up for Week 1 is the best-case scenario for the Packers. The MVP is back under center for the regular season, but Love got all of the practice time over the summer.
Ultimately, none of us truly know where Rodgers and the Packers stand at the moment. But while training camp is the next big day, we should all marked on our calendars for this saga; as Andrew Brandt told us, that date might not even be the true deadline.
In the end, only time will tell, but this is certainly something worth keeping in mind.