The Aaron Rodgers Era Is Reportedly Done in Green Bay
Dustin Baker
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You’ve heard it before in 2021 and 2022 — arguably too often — regarding Aaron Rodgers’ employment with the Green Bay Packers. In each of the last three offseasons, Rodgers has debated his football future, pondering retirement, trade requests, or triumphantly returning to Wisconsin.
In the last two years, Rodgers returned for his 17th and 18th seasons, winning an MVP award in 2021 and then encountering a blah season in 2022. Soon after the 2022 campaign capped, Rodgers again began his typical dramatic saga and is reportedly embarking on a “darkness isolation retreat” this weekend.
The Aaron Rodgers Era Is Reportedly Done in Green Bay
But there’s a problem — this time, the Packers apparently don’t want Rodgers back.
And that’s a brand new phenomenon, at least outwardly. Green Bay awarded Rodgers a fat contract last offseason, seeming to rejoice about Rodgers’ return for 2022 because, you know, money where your mouth is.
According to Bob McGinn, though, one of the most respected writers and voices in the Packers community, patience is at wit’s end among the Packers front office. They’re ready to be done. McGinn said on the Go Long TD Pod this week, “As of right now, I’m convinced — based on my own instincts and knowing the NFL and knowing what happens after all these defeats and discussions with someone who has firsthand knowledge of this organization, of the Packers’ internal debates — that they are done with Rodgers.”
“That’s the way it is right now, that he’s not coming back. They’re disgusted with him, and they’re done with him, and they’re moving on. This is going to involve money and a trade partner and all kinds of things,” McGinn continued.
Rodgers has creamed the Vikings since 2005, although the Packers success against the purple team has waned in recent years. In his career, Rodgers, 39, has dimed a ghoulish 57-TD, 8-INT split against Minnesota while his team is 17-11-1 (.603). Somehow, however, the Vikings are 8-7-1 (.531) versus the Packers since 2015.
McGinn opined on Jordan Love, too, “I’m totally convinced [Rodgers] is not going to be their starting quarterback this year. On the other hand, they love Jordan Love. They think he’s the second coming now. They’ve seen enough in practice for three years that they believe he is like Rodgers 2.0.”
“That’s where this organization is coming from right now. They have turned the page, just like they did to Favre in June and July, those months in the summer of 2008, and I don’t see it changing,” McGinn predicted about the Packers intentions.
Assuming Rodgers isn’t done playing football — we’ll have to wait and see the results of the darkness retreat — McGinn’s musings imply an upcoming Rodgers trade. Green Bay almost assuredly won’t trade the man to an NFC team, so those popular January and February theories about the New York Jets or Las Vegas Raiders may be true.
The Packers would receive a nifty trade haul for Rodgers, even though he’s about nine months shy of a 40th birthday. Some AFC team will convince itself that Rodgers has an internal clock like Tom Brady and can play for another half-decade.
The next item for Vikings fans, under the pretense McGinn has accurately predicted this outcome, is Love’s performance. The Packers have enjoyed 30 consecutive years of true-blue Hall of Fame performance at QB1 — with virtually no interruption.
Love can’t be HOF-good, can he?
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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