Aaron Rodgers lacks one key advantage in standoff with the Packers

As Aaron Rodgers tries to find way out of Green Bay, he lacks a critical piece of leverage in his standoff with the Packers.

Not coincidentally, almost exactly one year after they drafted his replacement, reports of Aaron Rodgers being unhappy with the Green Bay Packers came to the surface. At least one team made a trade offer the night before the draft.

Rodgers is playing all his cards, with a wish list of teams he’d like to be traded to and a threat of retirement if the Packers don’t make his situation right. He could just not show up to any offseason work, training camp, etc., and try to do what Carson Palmer did with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2011.

Rodgers has the same agent Palmer did, and Palmer was eventually traded to the Raiders in October that year. Would Rodgers hold out as long as Palmer did? The Packers can hold to the idea of “you play for us, or you play for no one”, as the Bengals did 10 years ago before they bent.

Aaron Rodgers lacks a key piece of leverage on the Packers

If Russell Wilson wants to be traded by the Seahawks, apart from what they’d want to get in a deal, he has control over his destination via a no-trade clause. If Deshaun Watson were to really push to be dealt by the Texans, albeit with less leverage now due to his off-field issues, he also has a no-trade clause. Rodgers does not have that control over his situation.

The Packers’ public tune, via general manager Brian Gutekunst, is they’re not trading Rodgers. Whether that’s actually the tune behind the scenes can’t be known. But being totally closed off to offers feels foolish, though a deal makes the best sense to become official after June 1.

The big card Rodgers holds is retirement, if a trade to a team he wants to be moved to can’t be materialized. That could be as effective as a no-trade clause in some way, but time will tell if it comes to that.