Last spring, it seemed like Aaron Rodgers would never play a snap for the Green Bay Packers again. When this offseason began, who would have thought No. 12 would return to Green Bay while half of the NFL would lose their starting quarterbacks?
While Rodgers chose to remain with the team that drafted him, the rest of the league is playing quarterback swap. The Cleveland Browns, Seattle Seahawks, and Atlanta Falcons lost their long-time starters after their relationships soured. The rest of the QB-needy teams swarmed like vultures in the aftermath.
While the fallout is still ongoing, it’s clear that organizational woes led to some high-profile changes at the league’s most important position. How were the Packers able to repair their relationships while these other teams went through Taylor Swift-level breakups?
Rodgers’ frustration with the Packers was the talk of the offseason in 2021. Adam Schefter dropped the bomb that Rodgers didn’t want to play in Green Bay on the eve of the draft. Still, Rodgers eventually returned to the storied franchise after some meaningful conversations with the Green Bay front office and Randall Cobb‘s return.
After another painful playoff loss, Rodgers asked for time to look at his options before commenting on his future. Rodgers weighed the pros and cons of returning, retiring, or going to another team. He ultimately chose to return to the Packers. Based on his new contract, it seems inevitable Rodgers will achieve his dream of playing into his 40s and retiring a Packer.
Because Rodgers stayed in Wisconsin, the Denver Broncos had to find a different former Wisconsin quarterback, trading a boatload of picks and players for Russell Wilson. No matter what Denver claimed, Wilson was their Plan B. After a strong showing in the early years of the Wilson/Pete Carroll duo (2014 is stupid), their relationship and their success dwindled. Carroll’s offensive tendencies didn’t mesh with Wilson’s strengths, and it seemed Wilson was on his way out.
The subsequent goodbye posts from Seattle’s GM, head coach, and the owner seemed very backhanded, implying a broken relationship between the franchise and its star QB. But NFL insider Benjamin Allbright and noted Packers fan Mike Florio found that the Seahawks — not Denver — initiated the trade. Allbright noted the Seahawks had been trying to move on since before Wilson signed his last year in Seattle.
Meanwhile, Deshaun Watson became available when it became official that his criminal case would not move forward. Four teams leaped at the chance to acquire him. Two of them lost their starting QBs in the process.
The Browns told Baker Mayfield, who brought the franchise out of irrelevance but had an injury-plagued 2021 season, that they would cheat on him ONLY if Watson, Wilson, or Rodgers were available. Otherwise, they would totally be committed to him. They just flirted a bit. Mayfield saw them flirting and asked for a trade, but Cleveland said no. Watson’s camp told the Browns that they were out of the running, but they offered him way more money than any other team. Watson changed his mind, and the Houston Texans and Browns made a deal.
Meanwhile, the Falcons were in the running for the Watson sweepstakes despite working on restructuring Matt Ryan‘s contract. Watson went to Cleveland. But Ryan, one of the most legendary players in franchise history, was rightfully unhappy. However, Atlanta would later trade Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts for a third-round pick.
And the center of all four franchises’ issues was a soured relationship between the quarterback and the franchise, and in three cases, a replacement QB was in the mix. Only the Packers and Rodgers were able to mend things. What made them different?
Drafting Jordan Love as a potential replacement didn’t do the Green Bay front office any favors, but Rodgers’ frustrations went deeper than that. Rodgers had issues with the Packers releasing his friends without his knowledge, and he was annoyed he was never able to help recruit free agents to Green Bay. It was about the people, Rodgers said.
Green Bay never publicly spoke negatively about Rodgers and treated the issue respectfully. Rodgers, Matt LaFleur, Brian Gutekunst, Mark Murphy, and Russ Ball all sat down for some tough conversations, the details of which never made it to social media. Sure, Murphy called Rodgers a “complicated fella,” but that’s a much different sentiment than Cleveland “wanting an adult” at quarterback.
Clearly, the powers in Green Bay are adept at their jobs. It also helps not having a traditional owner. Green Bay doesn’t have the same problems as Cleveland, a worse team the more owner Jimmy Haslam is involved. Haslam has a few too many Great Lakes beers, decides to play Madden with real players, and sets the franchise back another five years.
Of course, it helps that Rodgers is a future Hall of Famer and a back-to-back MVP. When you have the most valuable player in the league, you do everything to keep him. But while Watson is a better quarterback than Matt Ryan or Baker Mayfield, they deserved better from their team, and Watson’s off-field issues should have made the decision much more difficult. Seattle may have subtly tried to make Wilson look like the villain in their falling out, but they were the one shopping their franchise’s best quarterback.
In the end, Rodgers returned to Green Bay thanks to a culture of respect, no meddlesome owner, and the fact that he’s one of the best players in the league. Things could have gone another way — it seemed likely they would — but Green Bay had the right people in charge. The Packers aren’t perfect, and they lost star receiver Davante Adams thanks to their differences, but it’s clear that they have a much more solid foundation than these other franchises.
