NFL rumors: Packers keep sounding like they want Aaron Rodgers gone

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst sounds like he’s ready to move forward with Jordan Love as his starting quarterback as he waits for Aaron Rodgers’ decision.

The Green Bay Packers are heading into the 2023 league year, like many, looking to improve their team to make the playoffs next year. However, they are waiting to see who their quarterback will be. Aaron Rodgers announced after the 2022 season that he is thinking things over about where he would like to play in 2023, if at all. Even after his darkness retreat, Rodgers did not come to a final decision, although he did say it would come “soon enough.”

But it appears the Packers are ready to move forward.

While speaking with the media on Tuesday, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said that even though he is waiting on Rodgers decision he declared that Jordan Love is absolutely ready to start.

“We’re excited about him,” Gutekunst said, h/t ProFootballTalk. “I think I’ve expressed to a lot of people that he needs to play. That’s the next step in his progression. He needs to play. Jordan’s done a great job working hard, so he’s doing everything we’re asking.”

Packers: Brian Gutekunst says Jordan Love ‘needs to play’

The Packers used their 2020 first-round pick on Love, a quarterback out of Utah State. They made the pick with the future in mind, even though Rodgers was still on the team. Rodgers stayed away from the team during a portion of the 2021 offseason, but ultimately returned and won his fourth NFL MVP award. Last offseason, the Packers signed Rodgers to a three-year, $150.8 million contract extension. Now, it’s unknown where Rodgers wants to play in 2023.

Love did get some playing time in his first three years in the NFL. He got his first career start in the 2021 season after Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19. In that game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Love completed 19-of-34 pass attempts for 190 yards and one touchdown, while also throwing an interception in the 13-7 loss. This past season, Love entered in relief of Rodgers against the Philadelphia Eagles, where he completed six-of-nine pass attempts for 113 yards and one touchdown in the 40-33 loss.

As for Rodgers, he revealed on a recent appearance on the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” that he plans to make a decision soon and to not “drag anyone around.”

"“I feel really good about the conversations that are going to be had, that have been had with important people in my life,” said Rodgers. “…But I’m not looking for somebody to tell me what the answer is. All the answers are right inside me. I touch many of the feeling on both sides in the darkness. I’m thankful for that time. There’s a finality to the decision. I don’t make it lightly. I don’t want to drag anybody around. I’m answering questions about it because I got asked about it. I’m talking about it because it’s important to me. If you don’t like it and you think it’s drama, and you think I’m being a diva or whatever, then just tune it out. That’s fine. But this is my life. It’s important to me. I’ll make a decision soon enough and we’ll go down that road. I’ll be really excited about it.”"

The Packers have an important decision to make with Love, as they have until May 1 to decide if they want to exercise his fifth-year option, or if they choose against doing so, making him a free agent at the end of the 2023 season.

While the team is waiting on Rodgers’ decision, Gutekunst believes that Love is ready to be the Packers’ starting quarterback.