NFL insider drops surprise Aaron Rodgers replacement for Packers

The speculation that Aaron Rodgers could leave the Green Bay Packers this offseason persists, but one NFL insider has a potential replacement in mind.

Particularly in the wake of another disappointing playoff exit for the Green Bay Packers, the talk about Aaron Rodgers’ future — specifically the notion of him leaving the franchise that he’s spent his entire career with — has heated up again. In fact, there’s even talk of he and Davante Adams both departing the Packers and heading to the Denver Broncos.

While Rodgers’ eventual destination has been widely speculated upon, the question in Green Bay will be what they do to replace him. What we saw from Jordan Love this past season and what head coach Matt LaFleur has said recently about the 2020 first-round pick’s readiness doesn’t indicate he’ll be the preferred option to step into the QB1 role next year.

So what will they do? NFL insider Benjamin Allbright offered up an idea that would make sense for the Pack: Marcus Mariota.

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Mariota, of course, has spent the past few years as a member of the Las Vegas Raiders after spending his rookie contract as the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans.

While the former No. 2 overall pick has not been anywhere close to spectacular throughout his career, he does bring a lot to like to the table with strong accuracy, plus mobility, and of course starting experience at the NFL level.

Set to hit free agency this offseason, Mariota would make a lot of sense for the Packers to use as a stopgap while Love continues to develop. There is also upside that, in LaFleur’s system, perhaps Mariota could make a leap that we never saw in Tennessee and that he never got the opportunity to make in Las Vegas.

Who knows if this is Allbright just floating an idea or if he knows something (he tends to be somewhat cryptic when it comes to things of this nature). All told, though, it might be the best option for the Packers if they’re left picking up the pieces in the wake of an Aaron Rodgers departure.