At the end of the most recent Green Bay season, we explained that the Packers could quickly end the Second Annual Aaron Rodgers Offseason Drama by offering Rodgers a two-year, fully-guaranteed, $100 million contract.
Although we quickly heard from a source with knowledge of the dynamics that it’s not about money for Rodgers at this point, recent reports have indicated that he indeed wants $50 million per year.
Former teammate and current agitator Greg Jennings seized on the reporting to slam Rodgers as selfish, regardless of whether the reporting is accurate.
Here’s the reality. If Rodgers wants $50 million per year, so what? He deserves it. The team has the money. The team has no owner looking to siphon unused cap space for a superyacht fund. And Rodgers continues to be the best and most effective quarterback in the NFL, at least in the regular season.
Wanting fair value isn’t being “selfish,” and it’s unfortunate that former players would take that approach with current players. Owners get what they can, when they can. Players should get what they can when they can, too.
And the cap angle is overblown. Teams know how to manage the annual spending limit, and that will get easier and easier as the annual spending limit shoots higher and higher, given the huge increases in broadcasting rights and gambling revenue.
If the Packers want to pay Rodgers $50 million per year, they can. The question is whether that even matters at this point. If Rodgers decides he wants out, the promise of $100 million to stay for two more years won’t matter.
Either way, the decision is coming soon. It has to be; we’re two weeks away from the start of the new league year.