(Breaking) NFL Team Backs Out Of Aaron Rodgers Trade

Aaron Rodgers has been a hot commodity ever since the 2023 NFL season kicked off.  Rodgers recently emerged from his four-day darkness retreat.  Many anticipate his decision on his NFL future within the coming weeks.  Rodgers signed his massive three-year $150 million extension on March 8th, 2022.  I would anticipate his decision for the 2023 season coming around the same time this year.  The Packers have been rumored to be open to trading the four-time MVP quarterback if he does return.  As it turns out, one team has already backed out of the idea.

Las Vegas Raiders Back Out Of Aaron Rodgers Trade

Per Hondo Carpenter of Sports Illustrated:

Owner Mark Davis loved the idea of adding Tom Brady, and Josh McDaniels wanted an experienced leader. But now we know that after considering making a move for Rodgers if he were to become available, the Raiders are looking in different directions. They aren’t waiting for Rodgers or the Green Bay Packers to part ways.

Does that mean the door is 100 percent closed? No, but I wouldn’t rate it at any percentage better than ancillary. Perhaps, five percent.

Does that mean General Manager Dave Ziegler has fallen in love with a potential rookie? I will have more on that next week in a podcast, but for today, Aaron Rodgers is no longer at the top of the list.

Ziegler said on an episode of Bussin’ with the Boys podcast: “We’re in charge of filling the most important position on the team. There’s some pressure that comes along with that…it doesn’t mean we’re going to have an immediate answer this year.”

Tashan Reed of The Athletic recently asked Dave Ziegler, the General Manager of the Raiders, this question: “You’re set to have a lot of cap space and draft picks this offseason. How beneficial is having the added flexibility that brings?”  This was his response:

The combination of the cap space and the draft picks, you’re less restricted. If we only had a limited amount of cap space, there’s only a limited amount of things you can do. We’re going into this offseason with a lot of open options. There’s not a whole lot of things that we have to close off. But the reality is we have quite a few areas on the football team that we want to improve.

Allocating a bunch of resources to one player at one position, I don’t know how intelligent that is because you have to look at all the areas that you need to improve the team on. I don’t think we’re one or two $15-20 million players away from us building it exactly how we want to build it and having the right amount of depth and having the right amount of starting-level players, too, at different positions. Again, while you have flexibility with the picks and the cap, which is nice, you don’t feel like a restraint in that way, you also have to understand where you’re at as a team and how far you need to go in terms of building it the right way.

The part that stood out was “Allocating a bunch of resources to one player at one position, I don’t know how intelligent that is…” That would certainly insinuate that the Raiders aren’t looking to pull off a massive trade for any player, let alone Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers assumed asking price for Aaron Rodgers is pretty steep.  Peter King of NBC Sports believes the Packers would want “at least two first-round picks” in any trade for Rodgers.  It is possible the Packers would agree to a player (presumably a starter) and one first-round draft pick.  Either way, that is a lot to give up, even if it is for a four-time MVP quarterback.

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