Green Bay Packers: 3 moves to make to keep Aaron Rodgers around

The Green Bay Packers appear to be in legitimate danger of losing MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, coming off of one of the best seasons for a quarterback in NFL history. Rodgers, whose history suggests his ability to hold a grudge is second to none, seems to be on the verge of potentially being traded or retiring from football and taking a gig in television (specifically, with Jeopardy!).

What are the Green Bay Packers going to do?

Rodgers’ beef doesn’t seem to necessarily be with head coach Matt LaFleur. In fact, it seems those two have had, at the very least, a very strong working relationship over the past couple of seasons.

Rodgers’ beef seems to be with general manager Brian Gutekunst, and the beef that has been simmering for a few years now seems to be coming to a boiling point.

Gutekunst got his job in Green Bay as a scout back in 1998. He’s been with the team for a very long time, but he’s only been the general manager since 2018. One of his first moves as GM of the Packers was cutting wide receiver Jordy Nelson, and not consulting Rodgers on that move was apparently the catalyst for where we’re at today.

Despite Rodgers’ displeasure with Nelson being cut, he signed a four-year contract extension in 2018 (August) and helped the Packers open up nearly $9 million in cap space the next offsesaon by converting some of his salary into a signing bonus.

The next offseason after that, Green Bay drafted Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, yet another move that seemingly set Rodgers off a bit. Understandably so.

In the last 10 drafts (2012-2021), the Packers have drafted nine defensive players and Rodgers’ eventual replacement with their first-round picks. When you put it that way, it sounds bad. When you look at the Packers’ skill positions lately, it’s worse.

Rodgers has thrown only one touchdown pass to a first-round NFL Draft pick, and that was veteran journeyman tight end Marcedes Lewis.

If Rodgers is going to stick around in Green Bay, they might need to figure out what moves they will need to make to keep him around.

Although perhaps bordering on fantasy, there are still moves that could be made that would make me happy if I were Aaron Rodgers. Here are the three that might get him to stay in Green Bay for the long haul.