Report: Both Packers and Aaron Rodgers “fully aware” that trade is possibility
By Paul Bretl
For the third offseason in a row, Aaron Rodgers’ future with the Green Bay Packers is up in the air. He could return choose to retire, or as Adam Schefter reported on Saturday, that a trade is “a very real scenario.”
"“Make no mistake, both sides are fully aware that a trade is a very real scenario this offseason for Aaron Rodgers,” said Schefter. “The Packers are expected to move on from certain players, which Aaron Rodgers probably won’t like. The issue here will be the $110 million left on his contract and which team could afford it. But there is a real possibility that at some point this offseason, Aaron Rodgers is going to be traded.”"
The Packers have 17 free agents this offseason, several of which Rodgers mentioned on the Pat McAfee Show this past Tuesday that he would like back in Green Bay with him. This list of players includes Marcedes Lewis, Mason Crosby, Randall Cobb, Robert Tonyan, and Allen Lazard.
The challenge for the Packers is that they have very little cap space to work with this offseason. Currently, Over the Cap has them at $16 million over the salary cap. They have enough cap-saving moves to make that will get them out of the red, many of which will be via contract restructures, but this is going to be another offseason where they have little spending power in free agency.
The other issue with Rodgers’ plan is that if the Packers did find a way to make this work, that would leave very little, if any, room for them to make any outside additions outside of the draft, where most rookies don’t make a significant impact.
If Lazard and Cobb return, the receiver room won’t look much different than it did in 2022. The same goes for tight end, if both Lewis and Tonyan are brought back to join Deguara. If Rodgers also expects outside additions to be made to those position groups, well, I’m not sure that’s possible, given the salary cap restraints along with those rooms being crowded as well. Not ideal for an offense that struggled for much of the season.
If Rodgers’ returning to Green Bay does depend on these moves being made, then the odds of a trade taking place very much increase. There is no easy way for the Packers to go about this after signing Rodgers to an extension last offseason. If he’s traded prior to June 1st, then the Packers will incur a $40 million dead cap hit this season, taking away any sort of financial flexibility they may have had. If traded after June 1st, Green Bay takes on a $15 million dead cap hit in 2023 and a $24 million dead cap hit in 2024.
Not that there won’t be a few teams lining up to make this deal, he is still Aaron Rodgers, after all, but I do wonder how much his play in 2022, coupled with the fact that he could retire as soon as 2024, would hurt the Packers potential return in a trade.
The other consideration in all of this is what happens with Jordan Love if Rodgers does return? Still on his rookie deal, Love has very little leverage to force his way out of Green Bay—although who could blame him for trying.
Rodgers has often said that he won’t hold the organization hostage when it comes to his future. So although a decision may not be made in the next week or two, one will be made by March when free agency begins.