Packers have criminally under-appreciated Aaron Rodgers

Drafting Jordan Love cements that there’s never been a bigger superstar talent in NFL history more underserved by his organization.

When Aaron Rodgers dropped like a stone through the first round of the 2005 draft, the Packers sat at pick number 24 and saw the greatest all-around player in the history of the league plummet into their laps.

The Packers selected a surprised Rodgers who began spending three miserable years behind arguably the most beloved Packer ever, Brett crawfish-frying-interception-tossing-look at him jump into the arms of his offensive linemen-it’s like the kid is still in him-Favre.

Once Favre departed Green Bay after heaving one last interception to the Giants in the NFC Championship, it became Rodgers’ team. After a 6-10 season and booing from hometown fans, Rodgers slowly began becoming the best pure passer the sport has ever known. For Rodgers, he could not have landed in a worse organization for himself.

The Packers have not drafted a receiver, running back, or tight end in the first round the entire time that Rodgers has been in Green Bay. After this year’s draft, Joe Burrow has more receivers drafted higher than any Packer skill position player since Rodgers was drafted. Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, and Jordy Nelson was a talented receiving corps that Rodgers enjoyed for a couple of seasons before management let each of them go one-by-one.

When it comes to the wide receivers, it is worth looking at whether or not any of them were even close to the players they appeared to be as Rodgers elevated their play. Nelson torched defenses for years, and after being cut and signing with the Raiders, lasted one bad season and retired.

Jones was a capable number two receiver for six years in Green Bay, and then also joined the Raiders. He was cut after one year in Oakland, and then signed with the Giants, who cut him in training camp.

Jones then signed with Green Bay days before the 2015 season started, and led the team in receiving yards. Jennings was becoming one of the better receivers in the team’s history before he dawned the purple and white with the Vikings. Jennings was let go two seasons into a five-year deal with Minnesota, and then signed a one-year contract with the Dolphins, where he caught one touchdown.

Ryan Grant had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in Green Bay before signing with the Redskins. He was released one month after signing his deal, and carried the ball a single time with Washington. He returned to Green Bay and averaged 4.1 yards per carry for a team that went to the playoffs.

Green Bay has completely disregarded how fortunate they were to have heaven fall into their laps the way it did in 2005, notably without having to trade up to do so as they did with Jordan Love. Green Bay’s archaic, laughably undeveloped offensive schemes under Mike McCarthy was made up for Sunday after Sunday by Rodgers’ sheer brilliance. During a stretch from 2011-2016, Rodgers was arguably the most dominant athlete in all of the four major sports.

In his eight playoff defeats, Rodgers saw his defense capitulate an average of 36 points per game. Tom Brady has lost 11 playoff games. In those 11 losses, he watched his defense surrender 28 points per game, over a full touchdown less. In his 15 years, Rodgers has had a defense finish ranked in the top 10 twice. In his 19 years, Brady has had a top-10 defense 16 times.

An arrogant, complacent organization has deprived him of the success he absolutely should have had over his time in the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs, in just two years with Patrick Mahomes as their starter, have three tremendous receivers and supplemented Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, and Travis Kelce with Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, and now Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

They’ve also traded for Frank Clark, signed Tyrann Mathieu, and had an undeniable Hall-of-Fame coach to guide Mahomes along. Will things be different in Kansas City when the Chiefs have to give Mahomes a gargantuan new contract? Yes. But will it be as bad as it was in Green Bay? Not by a long shot.

The 2016 divisional playoff game between the Packers and Cowboys was as telling a game as there’s ever been under Rodgers. Green Bay’s quarterback dropped jaws beneath the carpet at AT&T stadium in Dallas throughout that game.

The Packers defense finished that season ranked 15th, and during the first half lost Morgan Burnett for the remainder of the day. La’Darius Gunter, incredibly, was the team’s best cornerback for a team trying to get to the Super Bowl. Jordy Nelson was out of the game with fractured ribs. Eddie Lacy and Sam Shields were already long gone with injury.

Rodgers’ best running back that season was Ty Montgomery… a receiver. Against a juggernaut offense and deafening crowd in Texas, Rodgers somehow overcame his defense, his receivers, his lack of running backs, his coach, and the Cowboys to win the game and make an impossible throw to Jared Cook to set up the winning points. No other franchise would ever put their quarterback, lesser quarterbacks, at that kind of disadvantage.

After Ted Thompson was finally removed from the GM’s chair, and Mike McCarthy was mercifully terminated, Brian Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur, and Nathaniel Hackett seemed to be providing new blood for an organization that was so bad at holding up its end of the bargain, it nearly appeared like sabotage.

Even after signing Preston Smith, Za’Darius Smith, Adrian Amos, and Billy Turner, and trading up in the first round in all three drafts as the team’s general manager, Gutekunst has been more of the same as the man in charge in Green Bay. Numerous flaws on defense, terrible receivers and tight ends, and an offensive line in need of depth are still issues that even plague the team three years into his tenure.

This was probably the best wide receiver class in draft history. It’s one thing to believe that Allen Lazard’s development could continue, and that picking a receiver in the first round isn’t necessary unless it’s absolutely too good a proposition to pass up.

But to not take any of the 36 wide receivers that were drafted is completely irresponsible. It was the 18th straight year that the Packers passed on a wide receiver in the first round. Naturally, you’d think the team would be pretty stout in other areas as a result. The Packers finished 18th in total defense and 15th in rushing in 2019.

In other words, the Packers have diverted resources away from their quarterback, and have shown no ability to use them effectively. To pass on drafting a middle linebacker who might help disallow Raheem Mostert from rushing for 160 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of the NFC Championship, or help their defensive line, or receivers, is classic Green Bay.

Or, they could’ve moved down to select TCU’s Jeff Gladney, a cornerback who could’ve supplanted the thoroughly-mediocre Kevin King. They could’ve drafted Houston’s Josh Jones in either of the first two rounds to replace Ricky Wagner when Khalil Mack and the other nasty NFC North pass rushers are blazing past him.

But, Green Bay decided the absolute best thing for their franchise was to draft a quarterback. A player, that if all goes well, will not see the field for four seasons. Because of the contract they themselves gave to Rodgers, the Packers can’t realistically trade him for another three seasons, when his trade value will be substantially lower than it is now.

To not only pick a quarterback, but giving up a pick to do so, is a slap in the face to Rodgers. When speaking of the quarterback position, Gutekunst said to Peter King of NBC Sports: “It’s one of the most important positions in sports, and if you don’t have one, you can’t win.” Let’s break some news to Gutekunst: Aaron Rodgers is a two-time MVP winner with the highest passer rating in NFL history. You have one, and you can win.

Furthermore, if you give virtually any quarterback who has a little bit of natural arm talent and started multiple seasons in college four full seasons to develop, you might have something on your hands. If the Packers picked a young quarterback towards the end of the draft and began a long-term plan with him, that would have helped Green Bay both in the long term and short term. Might that pick have less odds of panning out than Love? Yes.

But give NFL coaches four years with a quarterback, you have plenty of time to extract something out of him. Rodgers should not have to put up with this organization’s dereliction of duty year after year.

He will now spend the rest of his career the way he’s spent the last 10 seasons. He’ll throw to below-average receivers, the worst group of tight ends in football, leaky offensive lines, and overmatched defenses led by underachieving coordinators.

He’ll also have to do it while constantly answering questions about his future with the team, his relationship with his successor, and his trust in the organization, of which he shouldn’t have any. The 49ers made the Super Bowl and outscored the Packers 74-28 combined in the two meetings between the teams last year. The Packers had more cap space, and twice as many draft choices as the 49ers this offseason.

San Fransisco added a day one starter at defensive tackle, wide receiver, and left tackle. Green Bay added a backup quarterback, a third-string running back, and a tight end who the Packers say… won’t play tight end. Aaron Rodgers would be justified in looking to go elsewhere, regardless of how Green Bay’s cap is hurt as a result.