Whatever the actual numbers end up being, the Packers felt they had to keep Aaron Rodgers. To trade a guy who’s just won the last two Most Valuable Player awards would have been risky and looked bad, especially for a franchise that still remembers the stench and split caused by Brett Favre’s departure.
Like Favre, Rodgers has won one Super Bowl with the Packers. Some Packers fans will tell you that’s not nearly enough. They’ll point to Rodgers’ 11-10 postseason record (with four of those wins coming in the 2010 Super Bowl season) and think of Rodgers’ less-than-spectacular performance in January’s home playoff loss to the 49ers.
In the end, the Packers organization is banking that, even at a high cost, Rodgers gives them the best chance to get to the Super Bowl.
One would assume that the Packers will keep Davante Adams (a great player and friend of Rodgers) through a franchise tag or a long-term deal.
My guess is that the Packers may trade Jordan Love, like the Patriots did with Jimmy Garoppolo when Tom Brady just kept playing well.
Can the Packers keep Rodgers and Adams and field a good team around them? Even with the salary cap expected to go way up next year with the infusion of additional broadcast money, Packers salary cap whiz Russ Ball will be earning his keep as the Packers try to make this puzzle work.
As Rodgers would say, the future is a “beautiful mystery.” At least now we know he’ll be a part of it.