Let’s Not Run Aaron Rodgers Out of Town Just Yet

By Adam Greene

This is kind of a dead time for NFL writing. We’re post draft and we’re post peak free agency, so football columnists are digging around for takes that will drive traffic and justify having a job where you sit around talking about the NFL all day.

So, yeah, I can relate.

But because of that, May can bring a solid string of nonsense articles and blatant speculation about things that just aren’t going to happen.

For instance, the Green Bay Packers aren’t going to trade Aaron Rodgers.

But if you’ve accidentally stumbled onto a sports news site since the draft, those stories are everywhere.

This was all prompted, at least in theory, by the Packers trading up to take quarterback Jordan Love out of Utah State at No. 26 overall in April’s NFL Draft.

The narrative writes itself. The Pack grabbed Love to replace Rodgers at roughly the same spot and same age that Green Bay selected Rodgers back in 2005. Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for three seasons before the Hall of Fame QB was dropped unceremoniously for Rodgers.

Only that’s not the real narrative.

Here’s a Cliff’s notes version of how it went down back then. Favre had been waffling on retiring for years. The Pack knew what they had in Rodgers and did not want to let him go, but at the same time you can’t keep two QBs like that on the roster. This wasn’t the late 1980s San Francisco 49ers that could just plop Steve Young on the bench for a half decade behind Joe Montana.

Free agency ended that for good.

So in 2008, Favre did his retirement dance and Green Bay just nodded and said OK. The press conference was held, tears were shed and Rodgers was tossed the keys to a team that had gone 13-3 the year before and made it all the way to the NFC Championship game.

But then, just a few months later, Favre decided he didn’t want to retire after all. The tears had been real, sure, but they could all be wiped away. But the Pack weren’t interested anymore and figured they’d be good with Rodgers. Favre demanded his release and didn’t get it, so they traded him to the New York Jets.

Favre played a season and, as he was wont to do, retired again.

Then unretired. Played two seasons for the Minnesota Vikings, again making it to the NFC Championship game in 2009 before retiring for the final time in 2010. That time it stuck, though he did flirt with the St. Louis Rams in 2013 when Sam Bradford was lost for the season.

In case you’re keeping track, Rodgers has neither asked for a trade nor threatened retirement. In fact, he was part of the process in getting Mike McCarthy fired so his team would actually play real NFL-level football and was instrumental in the hiring of Matt LaFleur.

And baseless rumors aside, Rodgers and LaFleur apparently like each other just fine.

Yes, Rodgers’ contract lasts another two seasons, but if this team remains a winner, he’s not going anywhere. By selecting Love in the first round, the Pack have five years with the kid. Rodgers will be 41 then and the idea that he’ll still be playing is probably ridiculous. Not everybody’s Tom Brady and certainly Rodgers has gotten beaten up plenty over the last few seasons.

My guess is that Rodgers plays for another three years and retires on his own terms for good to do whatever the hell he wants, whether that’s to sit at a studio analyst’s desk, in a broadcast booth or just at home with Danica Patrick. Which doesn’t sound so bad to me.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest sports news and stay tuned on the Instagram feed for more good betting information too.