Packers Future and Beyond 

The Packers are deep in salary-cap debt heading into the offseason, with several players whose contracts are up for renewal or whose futures are uncertain. “There’s a lot of players whose futures are up in the air, so it will be interesting to see which way some of those decisions will go,” Rodgers said. The Packers must decide on three significant Packers players.

Aaron Rodgers

The first guy the Packers need to make a decision is quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He has had frustrations within the organization for years and wants more say in what the team does. Rodgers has stated that he isn’t happy and demanded to be traded on draft day in 2021. The Packers’ entire offseason should go off of what Aaron Rodgers says. If he doesn’t want to come back then they move to Jordan Love.

If Rodgers wants to come back they need to trade Jordan Love to maximize his value. We won’t know until a report comes out on Aaron Rodgers if he wants to stay or go. If Rodgers doesn’t want to come back, some teams should look to trade for him. The Denver Broncos can pair up Rodgers with a great defense already in place and maybe lure Adams to follow Aaron to Denver.

The next team should be the Indianapolis Colts who can pair him up with Jonathan Taylor. That would be a deadly duo. Right now the Colts have Carson Wentz who they gave up a 1st round pick for. If the Colts can figure out a deal that won’t hinder their future, a trade for Rodgers makes a ton of sense. The Pittsburgh Steelers are the final team that should try to trade for Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers does like Mike Tomlin, the Steelers head coach. The roster isn’t the greatest in the world and might be one of the worst in their division, the AFC North. But if Rodgers wants to go there he can make that team into a contender right away.

Davante Adams

After figuring out Aaron Rodgers’ final decision whether he wants to stay or leave the Packers, they need to figure out what they are going to do with Davante Adams and what his future holds on this team. The Packers have talked about franchise tagging Davante Adams and if they do so it will cost roughly 18 million dollars fully guaranteed for one season. Adams will probably make his decision to stay or leave when Aaron Rodgers makes his decision.

Even if Rogers does leave, the Packers can still tag Davante Adams and he will be forced to play if he doesn’t like the decision. Adams wants to be paid as the highest wide receiver in the league. Adams is looking for a contract that will pay him more than Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins‘ AAV (average annual value) of $27.25 million. There’s also the entire value, total guarantees, and signing guarantees. With Adams wanting to be the highest-paid receiver, his future with Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers could be in jeopardy.

Jordan Love

The 3rd decision the Packers are going to make is what they’re going to do with Jordan Love. If Rodgers leaves then Jordan Love will be the week 1 Starter in 2022. If Rodgers stays, Jordan Love in my opinion should be traded. Although we are in January, this Quarterback class is nothing special for the upcoming NFL Draft. None of the quarterbacks at the top scream franchise-altering quarterback. A team that is desperate for a quarterback should be interested in Jordan Love. In my opinion, a team should trade its first-round pick for Jordan Love. One of the main reasons to trade Jordan Love, if Rogers does want to come back, is to maximize the team’s potential.  The Packers are second to last in the league in available salary cap. If that means Rogers comes back, the same with Adams on the franchise tag, you need to maximize the team and trading Love would do so. 

Final Thoughts 

At the end of the day, I believe that three things will happen. Number one is Adams being placed on the franchise tag. Number two, Adams gets tagged and traded to a different team so the Packers can maximize his value. The final scenario that will happen to Adams is that he leaves as a free agent and signs with a different team.

A lot of people’s legacies were harmed by the loss to the 49ers. General Manager Brian Gutekunst, President and CEO Mark Murphy, Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and Head Coach Matt LaFleur. Brian Gutekunst is the person I feel terrible about the most. This team had about everything it required to win a Super Bowl. He had to borrow a lot from the future to pull it off, but he had all the parts he needed. Nobody knows what the Packers are going to be doing this offseason after a terrible loss. The same thing could have been said last year in 2020 when they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Packers could be looking like a different team in 2022. Not to mention any cap casualties or trade pieces that the Packers might move on from.

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