Report: Aaron Rodgers reworks contract to return to Packers for one more season
By Josh Hill
It sounds like Aaron Rodgers is indeed coming back to the Green Bay Packers for one more season, with a reworked contract paving the way for his return.
The Cold War is thawing in the frozen tundra.
After an offseason of feuding that seemed as though it would end their relationship, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are apparently close to making up.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Rodgers and the Packers are nearing an agreement that would see the MVP play in Green Bay for the 2021 season.
“Packers are offering concessions and are close to an agreement that would bring Aaron Rodgers back to Green Bay for at least this season, sources tell ESPN. Deal is not done but it is close,” Schefter reported on Monday afternoon.
The real bomb comes in the details.
Schefter highlights that the concession the Packers are making is a reworked deal with Rodgers that allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022. That would indeed make this upcoming season Rodgers’ last in Green Bay.
The update comes after a similar report in the morning hours from rival insider Ian Rapoport, who first reported that the Packers and Rodgers were in the beginning stages of ending their Cold War.
Aaron Rodgers contract
Here’s more on those concessions that the Packers are making:
"The 2023 year in Rodgers’ contract — the last one in his current deal — would be voided, with no tags allowed in the future.* The Packers would agree to review Rodgers’ situation at the end of this season.* Rodgers’ contract would be adjusted with no loss of income to give the Packers more cap room now.* Mechanisms will be put in place to address Rodgers’ issues with the team."
Rodgers is under contract through the 2021 season at $14.7 million. Before this whole rework, he was due $25 million in 2022 and another $25 million in 2023.
Is Aaron Rodgers playing for the Packers this year?
Schefter first reported the crack in the hull of Green Bay’s relationship with Rodgers ahead of the NFL Draft back in April. Rodgers had grown so disillusioned after a decade full of what he — and others — perceived as wasted potential that he demanded a trade.
The MVP of the league was outright refusing to play for his team moving forward.
With training camp opening this week across the league, the pressure was on to find some sort of resolution. It appears that has happened, but the cost of doing business is a definitive end date for Rodgers’ time with the Packers.
Aaron Rodgers is indeed getting his Last Dance, as 2021 will be his final season in Green Bay.