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The Aaron Rodgers saga continues to live on in the media even though the Green Bay Packers have reiterated that they have no intention of trading the three-time NFL MVP and future Hall of Famer.
Should the Packers be bluffing, there are at least a half dozen teams that could be suitors for Rodgers, including the New York Giants even though that scenario is extremely unlikely.
For kicks, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell mapped out seven possible trade possibilities in which the Giants were one.
In Barnwell’s Giants scenario, they would surrender their 2022 first-round pick, the 2022 first-round pick they got from from the Chicago Bears, their 2023 first-round pick (conditional) and wide receiver Darius Slayton in exchange for the 37-year-old Rodgers, who has three years left on his current contract at $22-plus million per season.
Here’s Barnwell’s comments on the deal:
Daniel Jones hasn’t shown enough to keep the Giants out of any quarterback trade discussions. I wrote in my column last week about how quarterbacks who start their careers with two below-par seasons across their first three years have struggled to turn into viable pro starters afterwards. Jones already has those two dismal seasons before even making it to Year 3. He has struggled to stay healthy, cost the Giants dearly with turnover problems and hasn’t shown any sort of natural feel for dealing with the pass rush. He wouldn’t net more than a midround pick at this point, and it’s difficult to see the Packers wanting him back as part of this deal.
The Giants aren’t exactly close to winning the Super Bowl, but they’re desperate to become relevant again. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 2011 run to the Super Bowl; their lone foray into the postseason over the past nine years was a blowout loss to the Packers at Lambeau in 2016. Rodgers would inherit a deeper set of weapons than the ones he has in Green Bay, although he wouldn’t have anybody on Davante Adams’ level in his new digs.
The Giants, at the moment, can’t really absorb another whopping contract and Rodgers would head right to the top of their payroll. They would have to make too many cuts to accommodate him. Not that that’s impossible, but it would undo a lot of what they’ve done this offseason.
But…Giants general manager initially addressed the Rodgers situation as “none of my business” only to change his stance to “you explore everything.” Kind of. This was the full quote:
“You explore everything, but at the end of the day, we believe in Daniel. I said that last week and we keep moving,” Gettleman said on WFAN.
That’s at least somewhat interesting, but the team does not appear to be ready to give up on Jones at this time. Barnwell makes solid points about Jones not materializing into a franchise quarterback, however, so this deal is a possibility, even though it’s a long-shot.
The Giants do have the pieces to land Rodgers if they really wanted to but it would be a hard right turn on everything they’ve done to right the ship the past few seasons.
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