Green Bay Packers: There is “No Trade Market” for Aaron Rodgers

To trade Aaron Rodgers? Or not to trade Aaron Rodgers? Those are the two big questions at hand for the Green Bay Packers.

Training camp is now just a few weeks away, and at this time, we have no idea how this saga will end. Does Rodgers show up to camp? Does he skip it altogether? Will he be the Week 1 quarterback? Will he sit out this season? Or could Green Bay actually trade away the MVP?

This is a situation that can go a number of different directions, but according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, who was on Get Up Friday morning, the potential trade that many non-Packer fans are hoping for may not be a viable option:

"“I’ve also checked in with multiple teams around the league who are monitoring the Aaron Rodgers trade situation. They said there is no trade market for Rodgers right now.”"

When Fowler says there is “no trade market” for Rodgers, I can’t imagine that there is no team out there who wouldn’t want to add the reigning MVP to their squad. Rather, my guess is that the Green Bay Packers just aren’t shopping him around—which is something that Mark Murphy, Brian Gutekunst, and Matt LaFleur have been adamant about this entire time.

Or I suppose it could also mean that Green Bay’s asking price is so astronomical— which it should be — that teams aren’t willing to negotiate. But again, I see the real reason being that the Packers just simply aren’t taking phone calls.

If the Green Bay Packers were to trade Rodgers, it would start the Jordan Love era but also free up $22.85 million in cap space this season along with $25.5 million in 2022 and 2023, according to Over the Cap.

Friday also marks the final day in which Aaron Rodgers could opt-out of the 2021 season and not have to sacrifice a large portion of his salary and bonuses. However, as expected, given how competitive Rodgers is, Fowler mentioned that he doesn’t see him taking this avenue either, or at least not on July 2nd:

"“Now, I talked to a source who said, ‘look, he’s the most competitive person in the world, opting out and killing his season right now on July 2 would be difficult for him to do.’”"

How this all will end, I’m not sure anybody knows at this point, even those close to the situation. As I wrote recently, the longer this plays out, not only will the uncertainty around Rodgers’ future grow, but the more it could also delay potential contract extensions with Davante Adams and Za’Darius Smith.

The next big milestone date to mark on our calendars is July 27th, the beginning of training camp.

Quotes from Jeremy Fowler via Bleacher Report