Getty Head coach Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers.
The Green Bay Packers are approaching another offseason of potentially significant change in 2023, but a couple NFL insiders expect one long-time member of the team to keep his hand on the wheel for at least another year.
How long quarterback Aaron Rodgers will continue to start for Green Bay this season, and how long he will remain a member of the Packers organization, are among the more pertinent questions facing a franchise searching for answers all over the field.
Former NFL GM and Heavy contributor Randy Mueller on Thursday, December 1, wrote that the majority of scenarios end with Rodgers back in a Packers uniform for at least next season. The quarterback is under contract for the next two years after signing a three-year extension worth more than $150 million during the offseason.
As much as Green Bay Packers fans would like to use the rib injury of QB Aaron Rodgers to increase the body of work for backup [and] former first-round pick Jordan Love, I just don’t see it happening. Now I grant you, Rodgers is different, but professional football players do not “shut it down” so that a front office can get a more in-depth look at the guy [that], they hope, will eventually replace YOU.
I just don’t see any scenario where Rodgers is not part of the Packers in 2023. Sure, the Packers benefit from every snap they can get for Love between now and whenever, but I just don’t see Rodgers pulling over and allowing someone else to take the wheel. Plus, I think Rodgers is their best option to win a Super Bowl next season.
Rodgers Unlikely to Head to Bench Soon, as Packers’ Schedule Eases Up
GettyQB Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers walks off after losing to the Tennessee Titans in a game at Lambeau Field on November 17, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Rodgers, who has been playing with a broken thumb on his throwing hand since early October and sustained a shot to the rib cage that knocked him out of last week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, said on Wednesday that he would greet a move toward Love under center with an “open mind.” But he added the caveat that he would only entertain that transition once the Packers have been officially eliminated from playoff contention.
That has not happened yet, despite a 4-8 start, and may not happen for several weeks. Green Bay heads to Solider Field this weekend to take on the 3-9 Chicago Bears. Quarterback Justin Fields missed last week’s game with a separated shoulder, though he was back as a full participant at practice on Thursday. Rodgers has owned the Bears in Chicago throughout his entire career and wide receiver Christian Watson, now fully healthy, has exploded to the tune of six touchdowns over the last three weeks. The Packers were a three-point favorite to win the game as of Friday, odds that will only improve if Fields is limited or unable to go.
Green Bay then heads to its long-needed bye week, offering Rodgers a chance to get healthier, before the teams hosts the hapless Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, another three-win squad with injury issues to major players all over the field.
The Packers are unlikely to enter a game as an underdog again before a Christmas Day matchup with the Miami Dolphins in South Florida. If they are able to hold serve until then, head coach Matt LaFleur and company are unlikely to even begin considering Love as the starter before January.
Chances Packers Deal Love Increase the Longer He Languishes on Bench
GettyBackup quarterback Jordan Love (right) of the Green Bay Packers would be an intriguing trade target for several NFL teams next offseason.
Joe Tansey of Bleacher Report on Wednesday authored a piece in which he agreed with Mueller’s conclusion that Rodgers is unlikely to go anywhere in 2023. If that is, in fact, the case, and Rodgers stubbornly refuses to relinquish the starting job by winning the rest of this campaign, the chances that the Packers deal Love over the offseason will substantially increase.
“A hard discussion would have to be had with Rodgers if the Packers want to go with Love in 2023, but that call comes with a lot of unknowns since the 2020 draft pick has not been on the field much,” Tansey wrote. “A trade would make more sense from the player’s perspective because Love probably does not want to waste more time on the bench. He could be an intriguing option for a team with a quarterback need that does not have a high draft pick.”
Love hasn’t had much of an opportunity to prove himself on the field throughout the entirety of his career, but his stock has only risen this season. Beyond the word of Packers players and coaches, who say they’ve witnessed a significant leap in the third-year quarterback’s play during practices, there is a small sample size of work on the field.
Love took over for Rodgers when he left the Eagles game in the third quarter, completing 6-of-9 pass attempts for 113 yards, a touchdown and quarterback rating of 146.8 against the first-string defense of what is arguably the best team in the NFL.
More than Love’s desire to exit Green Bay for a shot at a starting job, the catalyst for moving him might be the roughly $20 million the Packers would be forced to commit by picking up his fifth-year option for the 2024 season. Based on league salary cap rules, that decision will need to be made by May of next year. Rodgers’ cap hit in 2024 will range near the $41 million mark, meaning Green Bay would have to commit more than $60 million in cap space to the quarterback position to retain the services of both players.
That figure would likely prove the highest in the NFL for one QB who would turn 41 years old late in that season and another with extremely limited in-game experience despite entering his fifth year in the league.