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The Aaron Rodgers saga continues. On Thursday afternoon, just hours before the 2021 NFL Draft began, news broke that quarterback Aaron Rodgers had told many in the Packers' front office that he didn't want to return to the team. While it was a known fact that Rodgers wasn't happy that the Packers drafted quarterback Jordan Love in the 2020 season, nobody quite knew the severity of the issue at hand.
The Packers indicated they weren't willing to trade Aaron Rodgers as of right now, and if they did they wouldn't be trading him to a team within the NFC. The Packers had reportedly even sent team president Mark Murphy, general manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur to visit with Aaron Rodgers and convince him to stay, even offering to restructure his contract.
Now, it seems that Aaron Rodgers has informed the Packers that he may consider returning to the team, but only if they fire General Manager Brian Gutekunst. While nobody wants to see a general manager get fired for a disagreement with the MVP quarterback, there doesn't really seem to be a way for the Packers to move past this with Gutekunst.
There have even been reports that Aaron Rodgers would be willing to retire if a trade or apparent firing didn't take place. As many noted, he would be willing to take on a new gig as host of Jeopardy. If Rodgers did in fact decide to retire with a hefty contract still remaining, he would have to repay $11.5 million each for the 2021 and 2022 season.
Packers need to make a decision on Aaron Rodgers
Now the ball is in the Green Bay Packers' court. Will they be willing to trade their future Hall of Fame quarterback because he isn't happy in Green Bay anymore? Do they want to be seen as an organization that can't make their MVP happy? Are they willing to fire their general manager so that they can keep their quarterback? If they do the latter, what will the dynamic between Aaron Rodgers and the Packers look like moving forward?
These are all questions that a storied franchise like the Green Bay Packers need to seriously consider. However, they should have been thinking about this before they drafted a possible successor in the first round of the NFL Draft in 2020.
Meanwhile, social media posts surfaced of Aaron Rodgers with former teammates at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon, and NBC's Mike Tirico was able to speak with Rodgers off-camera, as seen below.
