Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said Tuesday that he hasn’t received a single call or text from any of his peers about a trade for quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“Not at all,” Gutekunst told ESPN from the scouting combine in Indianapolis. “Not at all. Not a single person.”
That would rebut a separate ESPN report last week that said the Packers had multiple trade offers on the table.
Of course, the point could be moot since Rodgers has yet to inform the Packers of whether he’ll retire or play in 2022 — and if it’s the latter, whether he wants to remain in Green Bay or be traded.
Rodgers has previously said he’ll make his decision ahead of the beginning of free agency, which begins March 16.
“I would hope so, yeah,” Gutekunst said. “That’s obviously the start of the new league year. There’s a lot of decisions that have to be made before that. So, that would be helpful. I would think we would know something before then.”
NFL Network reported Monday that the Packers are preparing to make Rodgers a short-term offer that would make him the highest paid player in the NFL if he decides to return in 2022. Rodgers reportedly wants to be paid in the ballpark of $50 million per season, more than the $45 million annual salary than Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
In the meantime, the Packers continue to attack their biggest enemy at the moment — the salary cap. They began the offseason nearly $50 million over the cap, second worst in the league. They’re down to $27.5 million over, per ESPN, after reworking contracts of several players to date.
Whatever Rodgers decides will ease the team’s salary cap woes. If he retires, the team saves anywhere from $19.3 million to $26.9 million. If he returns to the Packers for 2022, an extension would significantly reduce his current $46.1 million cap hit for this season.
–Field Level Media