Packers fans aren’t going to like Mark Murphy’s comment about Aaron Rodgers’ contract
By Josh Hill
It seems the Green Bay Packers are determined to fan the Aaron Rodgers rumors flames until it burns the whole place down.
All it takes is a stroke of a pen and every single one of the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers issues go away.
No more rumors. No more getting Mad Online at people for suggesting Rodgers might play elsewhere in 2022. No more stress.
Instead, Packers CEO Mark Murphy somehow managed to make things even worse than they already were. Rather than calming talks of the Packers not being committed to their future Hall of Famer who is coming off an MVP season, he brought out his blowtorch and accompanying fan to make sure th flames burned hot and wild.
Murphy answered a question about why the Packers didn’t alter Rodgers’ contract to show a commitment to him long-term by…being non-committal.
“I can’t really get into specific players,” Murphy said, via Jason Wilde of ESPN Wisconsin. “We’ve been able to create room with others.”
That’s the exact opposite of what Packers fans want to hear.
Aaron Rodgers Rumors: Why won’t Packers commit to him long-term?
All of this drama stems not from comments that were (or in this case, weren’t) made. Rather it comes down to dollars and cents, and a lack of common sense.
Green Bay is refusing to give Rodger’s contract a full restructure when he is set to make $22.35 million for the 2021 campaign and then $25.5 million per season during 2022 and 2023. A restructure not only frees up money for the Packers to go and add weapons — which doubles as a sign of commitment — but it gives Rodgers security that he’s the Packers quarterback long term.
As it stands now, this contract looks like every other big contract a team eventually gets itself out of. The lack of effort to make sure Rodgers is affordable in Green Bay beyond 2021 is a bad sign.
The idea of Rodgers leaving Green Bay is ridiculous until it isn’t. Yes, he’s coming off an MVP season and the Packers would be nuts to let him go. Yes, he is under contract for another year and even after that it’s difficult to trade him.
But the deeper into the weeds we get with this, the more Tom Brady’s situation in New England and the one going on in Green Bay is beginning to look like the Spider-Man Pointing meme — they’re the same thing.
Not committing to Rodgers contractually is one thing, not committing to even comment on the situation doesn’t do what the Packers maybe thinks it does. Rather than seemingly take the high road by refusing to play acknowledge the rumors, Green Bay has fanned flames that were otherwise dying down after attention was grabbed elsewhere in the league.
But if Rodgers’ entire tenure in Green Bay has shown us anything, it’s that the Packers can’t stay out of their own way.