Packer ears everywhere are perking up beneath their Cheeseheads as some minor news has broken on the Darren Waller front.
The Raiders all-world tight end has fired his agents at the Klutch Sports Group according to the Sports Business Journal.
Waller, a coveted Packer trade target of the past, has reportedly been seeking a new contract since the start of training camp. With just two weeks to go before the start of the 2022 season he remains ridiculously underpaid. The star signed a four-year $29.8 million extension in 2019 and is due just $6.8 million this season and $7 million on the final year of his deal. Those numbers would make him the 17th highest played player at his position.
With rumors swirling of his intent to hire Drew Rosenhaus, buckle up. He wouldn’t be bringing on the biggest and best agent in the league to play nice. Make no mistake about it, Darren Waller will soon be one of the highest-paid tight ends in the National Football League. But at almost 30 years of age, will the Raiders be the one to pay him?
The Packers and the Raiders discussed the topic when they worked out the Davante Adams deal in March according to Aaron Nagler of Cheesehead TV.
Nagler reported that Green Bay wanted Waller back as part of the Adams trade, but the conversation was moot due to league rules about compensation for a player on an unsigned franchise tag, which Adams was at the time of the deal.
The Packers have signed Robert Tonyan to a one-year deal and failed to address the position in any meaningful way beyond that . Combined with their youth and inexperience in the wide receiver room and a championship window as long as Aaron Rodgers career, you can expect rumors to return as soon as Rosenhaus(if he is the one hired) starts negotiating. Which will officially be Wednesday per league rules.
Mary Kay of Bleacher Report days before the news of the firing became public had already linked the Packers to Waller as a potential destination in a piece about potential trades saying:
Vegas is understandably being cautious about giving out a big-money extension to a player who is going to turn 30 at the start of the 2022 campaign, missed six games last year and has already been absent from training camp with injuries. It would probably cost the Packers a second-rounder and an additional late- [or] mid-round pick to convince the Raiders to part with their star tight end.
People will be quick to shoot down the idea that the Green and Gold could get Waller this close to the season. They’ll point to the numerous statements from the organization that Waller isn’t going anywhere. But I believe a front office about potential trades as much as I believe the national media about anything Aaron Rodgers related. These are professional liars.
Titans GM Jon Robinson said he did not “foresee that happening” when asked about the possibility of trading A.J. Brown. Brown is now an Eagle,
Vikings GM Rick Spielman definitively refuted rumors Stefon Diggs could be on his way out right before sending him to Buffalo.
The Packers are focused on themselves and Week 1. And they should be. But if the Waller deal continues too not get done in Las Vegas they should be the first ones on the phone. Stay tuned. It might not be totally realistic but it’s more realistic than it was last week.
