He didn’t mention the Carolina Panthers by name—heck, he wasn’t even referring to any team other than the one he’s currently on—but Aaron Rodgers made one thing clear following last night’s divisional round loss: No rebuilds.
While soaking in yet another disappointing playoff defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, the three-time Most Valuable Player addressed what’ll likely be a hectic offseason for his franchise. With the Green Bay Packers projected to be a whopping $44.8 million over the salary cap for 2022, some heads are going to roll out of Wisconsin and the 38-year-old quarterback doesn’t want to be around to help clean up the wreckage.
“I don’t know. That’s a fair question,” Rodgers said when asked if Saturday was the last time we’ll be seeing him in a Packers uniform. “Definitely one I’ve thought about. But there are a lot of decisions to be made. Key players, a lot of guys who played tonight . . . so many guys whose contracts are up or on the brink or salary cap stuff. So, a lot of decisions to be made. I don’t want to be part of a rebuild if I’m going to keep playing. So a lot of decisions in the next couple of months.”
Again, while he was just speaking on Green Bay’s particular situation, Rodgers (as he’s done quite a bit of lately) went out of his way to make his point. 2022 will be, assuming he plays, his 18th NFL campaign as he inches ever closer to 40 years of age.
So why would he want to spend whatever’s left of his career with a mess of a non-contender? That’s where the Panthers—who are particularly messy and particularly not in contention—would (not) come into play.
This prospect would’ve been a potentially intriguing one had Carolina been in at least somewhat of a similar situation they were in this time 12 months ago. In fact, the Panthers had even been tossed around as a potential landing spot for Rodgers in 2021 when it appeared as though he was done in Green Bay then.
But with the franchise coming off a miserable 5-12 season, no offensive identity to speak of and a limited amount of draft capital to even trade away—good luck trying to get the Packers or Rodgers to be fine with such a move. So, yeah, no shot.
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