Should Packers give Rodgers a new contract?
Mike Florio and Peter King examine Aaron Rodgers' performance at the end of the NFC title game and what his future holds in the NFL.
Video Transcript
- PFT on Yahoo Sports. Mike Florio, Peter King with you talking about the big stories in the NFL. Sometimes the big stories just drop out of the sky during a post-game press conference after a playoff game when a star quarterback decides, unsolicited, to raise a question about his own future and make everyone say, what in the world is Aaron Rodgers talking about? And it sparked plenty of discussion about what he wants, where he will be, what the Packers want-- which based upon how he played this year, Peter King, is more Aaron Rodgers-- but what's your take on this kind of sudden and abrupt, but given what we know about Aaron Rodgers, by no means accidental message he's sending?
- You know, Mike, I find it interesting that the guy who said one week before Sunday-- and I'm paraphrasing-- that it's such a privilege to play quarterback for this team. I love this team. And then one week later-- and Mike, not in any way throwing all the blame on Aaron Rodgers at all-- but a guy who goes incomplete, incomplete, incomplete on the biggest series of the year, and for some reason on the third pass threw a ground ball to Davante Adams, who is absolutely in as tight a coverage as you can be in by two Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a meaningless, stupid pass. And now all of a sudden-- and when he had a pasture in front of him! Would he have made it? I've heard a lot of debate about whether he would have made that, scored a touchdown or not. My gut feeling is he would have, but I don't know that he would have. But I do know that Matt Lafleur's decision would have been a lot different on fourth and goal from the two than it was on fourth and goal from the eight when three plays in a row there are incompletions, including a bad one on the third one. So I understand Aaron Rodgers very, very frustrated. And look, he might come to the team. He might and say, I'm not playing here anymore. Period. I'm done. And they might not have any choice, but I would like to see that happen before we start putting him under center for the San Francisco 49ers next year.
- I think that one of the things this is about, and it doesn't just have to be about one thing, but he wants a new contract. That's what I've been told. That's what I've heard. I trust my source on that, and it makes sense when you look at what he's making in comparison to the other great quarterbacks. When you look at how he's played in relation to the other quarterbacks, he currently makes the same as Jared Goff, which tells you with nothing else that that is a situation that suggests Aaron Rodgers isn't getting what he truly deserves. And what a new contract also would give him, Peter, is security. The way these contracts get structured, you know in the early years, they're not going to trade you. They're not going to cut you. You're going to be around for two or three more years. I think he doesn't want to have this Jordan Love thing hovering over his shoulder. And the best way to turn it into more like Jimmy Garoppolo and less like Aaron Rodgers as to Brett Favre is to get a contract that makes it clear. The Packers continue to be all in with Aaron Rodgers. That may be the primary motivation for him thrusting his future, unprompted, into uncertainty.
- I don't think that's a bad idea at all, Mike, and if that's what this is about, that's fine. But I think he does need to understand that if the Packers did this right now, I think the contract would have to be significantly back-loaded. And back loaded not with incentives, but with real money for a very simple reason. The cap this year, probably next year, isn't going to be going up as it has been normally. Maybe next year it will, but I doubt this year it's going to go up at all. It's probably going to go down. So you know, what you're saying-- what Aaron Rodgers should say to the team: I want Deshaun Watson money right now. And you can structure it in some way. I just need to be sure I'm going to get the money.
- Yeah, and get the years. That's the key. Know that you're going to be there this year, next year, and the next year, and if anyone goes, it's going to be Jordan Love not Aaron Rodgers. That's it for now. He's Peter King. I'm Mike Florio. We'll see you next time.