Aaron Rodgers’ future is uncertain, but Packers created this disaster

One of the greatest players in NFL history has made it known he wants out of Green Bay, and the Packers have no one to blame but themselves.

Green Bay’s first-round selection of Georgia cornerback Eric Stokes was hardly the biggest story involving the Packers Thursday. Neither were the remaining eight picks through Friday and Saturday.

Reports of Aaron Rodgers’ overwhelming disgruntlement with his team began hitting the waves in the early afternoon, and the day even ended with a surprising admission from general manager Brian Gutekunst.

“He’s our quarterback, he’s our leader. We’ve been working through this for a little while now… it might take some time. But he’s the guy that kind of makes this thing go,” Gutekunst said. Further reporting from ESPN’s Adam Schefter outlined that Rodgers has even informed teammates he will not come back, which is a far more drastic measure than leaking ambiguous hints through the media.

Rodgers, without a doubt, has some culpability here. He has been known to be almost suffocatingly conflict-averse, letting grudges build until they lead to a complete alienation of a teammate or coach.

There’s also little disputing the 2020-2021 Packers had plenty of high-end talent to go around on both sides of the ball, with the defense mysteriously continuing to struggle in spite of a boatload of good players. His performance in postseason play has also been a notch down from his usual scintillating self in the regular season, but he in no way shape or form is ultimately responsible for this poisonous situation.

The Packers mercifully ended Rodgers’ plunge through the first round of the 2005 draft, redeeming him 24th overall, only to enrage the equally petty and needy Brett Favre. He sat for three long years as Favre constantly waffled about potentially retiring. Once Rodgers got his chance, he became the best quarterback in football within three years, and the slow breakup began.

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Mike McCarthy’s offenses were so unimaginative, so uncreative. Combine that with year after year of sitting out free agency and ho-hum drafts, and the Packers were being completely carried along by their quarterback.

Take 2016, for example. The Packers were 4-6, were getting punished week after week defensively, and continued with their non-existent offensive scheme through 10 games. Eight wins later, the Packers were one of the last four teams standing, making it to the NFC title game. That roster and coaching staff would have won three games without that performance, and with even an adequate starter in place of Rodgers.

Finally, McCarthy was replaced with Matt LaFleur without a consultation of Rodgers. This on top of getting rid of Alex Van Pelt, a close friend of his, again without telling him of their decision. It’s no secret the Packers have been one of, if not the most conservative organization in football over the last 15 years, religiously hanging on to future cap space and draft picks like children.

Who knows how many rings Aaron Rodgers would have with an organization that was willing to devote resources far more aggressively.

Much has been made of nine of the last 10 first-round picks of Green Bay’s being on the defensive side of the ball, with the lone offensive player being Jordan Love. That tons of speedy receivers and tight ends aren’t being drafted by the Packers isn’t as big a deal as the fact that despite pick after pick, the Green Bay defense is still untrustworthy in big moments.

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So no resources on offense, and countless misses on defense. The special teams have been miserable to watch all the while as well. Watching all-star teams around Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady have to contribute to some frustration as well. But the Green Bay Packers could not have tried harder to create this mess they’re in than by trading up for Jordan Love in last year’s draft.

Every possible way you look at this pick, it is horrific. For starters, any comparison to the 2005 selection of Rodgers is way off base. He was, at worst, thought of as the second-best quarterback in the entire draft, and many believed he’d go first to the 49ers. He inexplicably fell all the way to 24, and the Packers seemingly couldn’t quite believe their luck. It’d be as if Justin Herbert dropped to the Packers last year, without Green Bay trading up to take him.

Secondly, it’s well known the Packers had just finished 13-3 and came within an hour of the Super Bowl. Drafting a quarterback immediately thereafter is not just punting on your current quarterback, it’s punting on the entire team. Green Bay made the only possible pick that would not help them win not just for last year, but for who knows how long.

This is the worst part. There’s almost no way Love can even get on the field for a minimum of two seasons, and likely three. This completely outdated concept of sitting quarterbacks for years before taking over for the aging star doesn’t exist anymore. Patrick Mahomes sat for only one year, and all signs point to Trey Lance and Mac Jones sitting, if at all, for only one season.

Love may not play for four seasons. There is almost no prospect on the planet that can be worth getting nothing out of for a presidential term. Furthermore, nearly every Super Bowl champion in the last 15 years has featured a quarterback sitting on a rookie contract, or on a below-market deal. By the time Love takes even one snap, the Packers will either have to pick up a ridiculously expensive fifth-year option on a quarterback, or give him a new contract altogether.

Might that deal be below some other top quarterbacks? Sure. But that will likely be because the Packers themselves don’t even know if Love can play at all. As if this wasn’t ugly enough, how exactly is Love even supposed to succeed? He’s stuck in an impossible situation.

Rodgers wasn’t playing all that well towards the end of the 2019 season, and looked physically slower than he had at any point in his career. He then followed it up with two very solid performances in the playoffs, and an MVP season a year later. If Brian Gutekunst and his staff thought Rodgers was heading down a gradual ravine from there, than perhaps a mid-round pick on a developmental prospect, or even a late-round flyer would be warranted.

It seems as though Green Bay looked to the future when Rodgers slipped a hair during 2019, then scurried away from that plan once he turned in one of his greatest seasons. In other words, they were surprised Aaron Rodgers played well, a series of words analogous to “man fascinated by necessity to breathe” or “sunrise baffles local teen.”

On top of it all, last offseason was an all-time great year for pursuing backup quarterbacks. Jameis Winston, Andy Dalton, Marcus Mariota, Cam Newton, and others were all possibilities in free agency if the backup spot was under some concern from management.

Even so, the Packers still didn’t trade Tim Boyle, instead having three quarterbacks on the roster all year, inactivating Love for every single game. The Packers effectively played an entire year with one less roster spot than everyone else, in a pandemic, where depth will be tested like never before. But maybe, once the worst of the reporting emerged, the Packers would simply admit to a colossal mistake, swallow their pride, and trade Love.

Nope. Instead, they doubled and tripled down, acting as though nothing is wrong with a clearly deteriorating situation. The longer Love sits on the bench in his workout gear, the less trade value he has. The older Rodgers gets, the less he has.

Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur made this decision because this gives them miles of extra tarmac. If things begin to go south, they can simply point to Love and insist that he’s part of a grander mastermind plan that has to be seen through to its conclusion. Firing LaFleur or Gutekunst, even if the team began to lose consistently, would be equally counterproductive as they were the ones who sought out Love to begin with.

But rather than actually try to salvage the situation and trade Love for a high draft pick and embrace Rodgers again, they soldiered on. The truth is, Gutekunst, Mark Murphy, and the rest of the Packer braintrust have horrendously mismanaged this delicate situation with a thin-skinned superstar quarterback, but are too arrogant and philosophical to try to correct it.

Murphy has three options: trade Aaron Rodgers, trade Jordan Love, or fire Brian Gutekunst. All three cannot coexist together.