Packers never promised a trade to Rodgers

When Aaron Rodgers returned to the Green Bay Packers last July from his offseason hiatus, both sides facilitated a potential separation at the current campaign break based on contract scares. General manager Brian Gutekunst reported Wednesday, however, that he never promised the quarterback that he would be traded at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign.

So what will the Packers do if Rodgers decides he still wants to play in 2022, but not for Green Bay?

“There are some hypotheticals that I don’t think we’re going to go down those paths at this point,” Gutekunst revealed during a press conference that was intended to serve as a preamble to next week’s NFL Talent Combine.

Rodgers and the Packers have been widely believed to have a verbal pact that, if the reigning MVP still wished to leave after the 2021 campaign, he would be traded.

“It wasn’t something we told him,” Gutekunst, who has full control over roster moves, noted in a separate session Wednesday with reporters covering the franchise. “Again, I think the whole conversation with Aaron last season before he came back was, in all csa, at the end of last season, we would sit down as a group and work to figure it out, one way or the other.”

The Packers are unlikely to maintain a rigid stance and force Rodgers to play solely for them — and they certainly won’t cut him, and let him migrate for free — but Gutekunst said he’s not tempted to receive a ton of picks for Rodgers and/or wide receiver Davante Adams, who is scheduled to become a free agent next month.

“Because I think we have as good a chance as any to win the Super Bowl next year,” Gutekunst responded when asked why he wouldn’t want to trade Rodgers. “He’s the league’s Most Valuable Player. That’s our goal. I think we have a chance to accomplish that now. That’s why.”

Although Gutekunst said the Packers “blew that opportunity” as the top seed in the NFC in the past playoffs, he didn’t pin the Divisional Round loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Rodgers’ performance. Instead, the executive pointed to the inability of other facets of the team to compensate for a poor performance by another unit, in this case, special teams.

It marked the second consecutive season that the Packers have failed to reach the Super Bowl as the top seed.

“We’re disappointed that we didn’t culminate everything in the last couple of years, but there’s no reason to think we can’t go back there again and knock down the door and get ourselves in there,” Gutekunst maintained. “So, yeah, I think we’re going all in going forward.”

On Tuesday, Rodgers said on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he still has things to think about before making a decision regarding a No. 18 season in the NFL. Gutekunst, offered no clues as to whether he knew which way Rodgers was leaning, saying to believe “we’ll know here soon,” and that the team won’t pressure him to make a decision.

“It’s not a question I can answer for them,” Gutekunst expressed. “Obviously, it goes through this whole process. I think the one thing I know for sure is that Aaron takes all of this very seriously His performance and what he brings to our soccer team at so many levels, he invests a lot into that and he knows how much work it takes during the offseason to prepare and bring to our team what he offers. So, I think he’s going through his process now to get ready and make sure he knows what he wants to do, because I don’t think it’s simple what he’s doing to get ready for a season.”

In the meantime, the Packers are in a forced timeout.

“Obviously, everything here centers around the quarterback,” Gutekunst admitted. “He’s a big piece and a domino that has to fall before crossing other avenues. So it’s important, as we do this, and the pieces of the puzzle that we have to make fit. That’s the first of them.”

They began the process of resolving their salary cap situation by restructuring defensive tackle Kenny Clark’s contract. The Packers created $10.892 million in cap space by converting part of Clark’s salary and all of his roster bonuses into a signing bonus, then adding cancellable years. Even with that move, the Packers were still about $38 million over the cap by 2022.

And, that doesn’t include Adams. The All-Pro wide receiver is a candidate for the franchise player tag, which can be applied between now and March 8, but Gutekunst said he views it as a “last resort” and that both sides would prefer a long-term contract finalized.

Smith has a charge against the salary cap of $28.13 million, second highest on the team only to Rodgers.

Gutekunst said he is optimistic about the health of All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, whose return from ACL surgery was complicated and eventually stopped in the playoffs. “Long term, we feel really good about him as our left tackle,” Gutekunst expounded.

Veteran kicker Mason Crosby, who missed nine field goals and two extra points last season but has one year left on his contract, would still be in the Packers’ plans, especially if Rodgers returns, Gutekunst said.

“For where our soccer team is positioned, having a championship kicker, a guy who can compete at that level, is important,” Gutekunst said.

The Packers have two other kickers — J.J. Molson and newly signed Dominik Eberle.