NFL 2021 Offseason Discussion Thread

PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As a diehard Packers fan here is my take. This is based on all of the actual reports of what happened, by trustworthy, reliable sources. Most of what has been out there this offseason is not based on any facts or information, as is usually the case with offseason, "clickbaity drama" stories.

Brian Gutekunst (the GM) drafted Jordan Love after trying to trade up for a WR multiple times, to no success. They could not find a trade back that was going to be worth the value, and the only player left on their board with a high enough grad was Jordan Love. They traded up to take him. Brian confirmed the attempts to trade right after the draft. The pick made sense at the time, as Rodgers had not been playing at his MVP level for a few seasons prior. He was not playing within the rhythm of the offense, and too often he was trying to make off-script plays. It lead to him playing below his standard, which, to his credit, is still better than most QBs in the league.

Fast forward to the 2020 season, Rodgers played to Matt LaFleur's script. He played within the structure of the offense. He played lights out by doing so and won MVP, putting up arguably the best season of his career. There is no doubt in my mind that this change of play style was at least partially to do with his potential successor being in the building. It motivated him to play with timing and rhythm in mind. Towards the end of the season, he wanted a guarantee that he would be in Green Bay long term, as his contract runs out of guaranteed money after this season. That means GB could do whatever they want with him past 2021. Green Bay initially denied him that request and wanted to keep all options open, and they just wanted to restructure his deal. Later on they offered him an actual contract extension that he rejected.

That is all stuff that has been pretty much confirmed. What HASN'T been confirmed is that he asked for a trade. According to reliable sources, he never did. I have also never heard from a reliable source that he's told teammates that he doesn't plan to be back in Green Bay. For those thinking Adam Shefter is a reliable source, a while after "breaking" the story on draft day, he told Dan Patrick that this didn't come from Rodgers, and it didn't come from the Packers. He even said, "Dan, there was no source!" Shefter admitted that this was all based on what he'd been hearing and it was based on observations. So his "breaking news" was actually just his observations and what he'd been hearing.

Another lie that was reported was that Rodgers wanted Brian Gutekunst fired. This was confirmed to be made up.

Here is where my personal thoughts come in. Rodgers is not thrilled with the higher-ups in Green Bay (probably Gutekunst and Mark Murphy, the team president). They haven't communicated with him as they should with a superstar, face of the franchise athlete. But could Rodgers have come out and cleared the air? Absolutely. The blame is on both sides, but I don't believe things are as desperate as some guys like Mike Florio think they are. It's the NFL offseason, and what gets clicks? Overblown stories about Aaron Rodgers wanting out. A lot of the stories and reports are the exact same things we knew a long time ago. Stories from national NFL media have been totally different from local reporters who know more of what's going on. And they've been different from his teammates who have actually spent time with him this offseason, such as John Kuhn, James Jones, and AJ Hawk. All three of them have spent time with him and have said they think he will be back and the situation is fixable.

Now, after having watched Aaron Rodgers in press conferences and media events for years, I know that Aaron Rodgers likes to have fun with things like this. He like to troll. The "I'm Offended" shirt is totally a troll move on his part. He knows that it will blow up into something it's not, and he loves that. The media played it up as a response to Mark Murphy calling him a "complicated fella", but the interview he wore the shirt in was actually taped before Murphy made the comments.

I believe Rodgers will be back with the Packers for training camp. He may sit out a little bit, but I believe skipping minicamp and OTAs earlier this offseason was more about having the time off and spending it with his fiancee. I think he will play for the Packers for another season, and he will be traded next offseason.

So my summary: Both sides are at fault. However, the story has been blown up to much more than it actually is.
 
Prince John

Prince John

Active Member
PUSH said:
As a diehard Packers fan here is my take. This is based on all of the actual reports of what happened, by trustworthy, reliable sources. Most of what has been out there this offseason is not based on any facts or information, as is usually the case with offseason, "clickbaity drama" stories.

Brian Gutekunst (the GM) drafted Jordan Love after trying to trade up for a WR multiple times, to no success. They could not find a trade back that was going to be worth the value, and the only player left on their board with a high enough grad was Jordan Love. They traded up to take him. Brian confirmed the attempts to trade right after the draft. The pick made sense at the time, as Rodgers had not been playing at his MVP level for a few seasons prior. He was not playing within the rhythm of the offense, and too often he was trying to make off-script plays. It lead to him playing below his standard, which, to his credit, is still better than most QBs in the league.

Fast forward to the 2020 season, Rodgers played to Matt LaFleur's script. He played within the structure of the offense. He played lights out by doing so and won MVP, putting up arguably the best season of his career. There is no doubt in my mind that this change of play style was at least partially to do with his potential successor being in the building. It motivated him to play with timing and rhythm in mind. Towards the end of the season, he wanted a guarantee that he would be in Green Bay long term, as his contract runs out of guaranteed money after this season. That means GB could do whatever they want with him past 2021. Green Bay initially denied him that request and wanted to keep all options open, and they just wanted to restructure his deal. Later on they offered him an actual contract extension that he rejected.

That is all stuff that has been pretty much confirmed. What HASN'T been confirmed is that he asked for a trade. According to reliable sources, he never did. I have also never heard from a reliable source that he's told teammates that he doesn't plan to be back in Green Bay. For those thinking Adam Shefter is a reliable source, a while after "breaking" the story on draft day, he told Dan Patrick that this didn't come from Rodgers, and it didn't come from the Packers. He even said, "Dan, there was no source!" Shefter admitted that this was all based on what he'd been hearing and it was based on observations. So his "breaking news" was actually just his observations and what he'd been hearing.

Another lie that was reported was that Rodgers wanted Brian Gutekunst fired. This was confirmed to be made up.

Here is where my personal thoughts come in. Rodgers is not thrilled with the higher-ups in Green Bay (probably Gutekunst and Mark Murphy, the team president). They haven't communicated with him as they should with a superstar, face of the franchise athlete. But could Rodgers have come out and cleared the air? Absolutely. The blame is on both sides, but I don't believe things are as desperate as some guys like Mike Florio think they are. It's the NFL offseason, and what gets clicks? Overblown stories about Aaron Rodgers wanting out. A lot of the stories and reports are the exact same things we knew a long time ago. Stories from national NFL media have been totally different from local reporters who know more of what's going on. And they've been different from his teammates who have actually spent time with him this offseason, such as John Kuhn, James Jones, and AJ Hawk. All three of them have spent time with him and have said they think he will be back and the situation is fixable.

Now, after having watched Aaron Rodgers in press conferences and media events for years, I know that Aaron Rodgers likes to have fun with things like this. He like to troll. The "I'm Offended" shirt is totally a troll move on his part. He knows that it will blow up into something it's not, and he loves that. The media played it up as a response to Mark Murphy calling him a "complicated fella", but the interview he wore the shirt in was actually taped before Murphy made the comments.

I believe Rodgers will be back with the Packers for training camp. He may sit out a little bit, but I believe skipping minicamp and OTAs earlier this offseason was more about having the time off and spending it with his fiancee. I think he will play for the Packers for another season, and he will be traded next offseason.

So my summary: Both sides are at fault. However, the story has been blown up to much more than it actually is.
Click to expand...
Nice analysis on all the chaos. I don't know much about Aaron's character, so took the "I'm Offended" more as him making a angry statement rather than trolling. If that's in fact him being humorous, I fell for it. Hopefully all this dust settles sooner than later.
 
Prince John

Prince John

Active Member
About this whole Brady, torn MCL thing last season that's about to hit the fan for Tampa...

I am not a Brady fan nor a Brady hater. But dang I have some mad respect for the guy if all this is true. Playing an entire season basically with one good leg. Defeating quality opponents throughout the playoffs like Brees, Rodgers, and Mahomes to take home the biggest prize in the game. If the NFL punishes him for this, he should take it with pride and a big smile. Yes, I get rules are rules, but this has nowhere to go other than making him the hero and the NFL a villain if steep penalties are handed down. This will be the anti-Deflategate, considering he bagged gold with a major handicap.

Take any penalties if need be. His legacy just earned some huge points.
 
PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Another example of how the Rodgers story is being overblown by the media. This morning Adam Shefter "reported" that Rodgers turned down a contract extension from the Packers.

That was reported months ago... I believe in March... by local reporters (Rob Demovsky of ESPN, I believe). But today Shefter "reports" it as if it's brand new information he's breaking. Shefter has been very bad during this whole saga and is "reporting" things that have no sources, or is not new information, just to stir up the drama and get engagements. He's lost a lot of credibility with me, as well as pretty much the entire Packers fanbase who has actually followed the story closely. There's been very little merit to what he's said.
 
PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The NFL released a memo to teams today saying if there is an outbreak of covid, and the game is not able to be rescheduled within the 18 week season, the team will the outbreak will have to forfeit the game. The league will not add a 19th week to the season. If a game has to be cancelled due to an outbreak and is unable to be rescheduled in the 18 week season, no players will get paid their salary for that week.

So that means nobody gets paid on either team. Huge implications.
 
Dad 2 M & M

Dad 2 M & M

Well-Known Member
PUSH said:
Another example of how the Rodgers story is being overblown by the media. This morning Adam Shefter "reported" that Rodgers turned down a contract extension from the Packers.

That was reported months ago... I believe in March... by local reporters (Rob Demovsky of ESPN, I believe). But today Shefter "reports" it as if it's brand new information he's breaking. Shefter has been very bad during this whole saga and is "reporting" things that have no sources, or is not new information, just to stir up the drama and get engagements. He's lost a lot of credibility with me, as well as pretty much the entire Packers fanbase who has actually followed the story closely. There's been very little merit to what he's said.
Click to expand...
Anything to move ratings…..Rodgers has a dryness to him….if he only had the JJ Watt marketing team he would be held in a higher regard as to public opinion .

Someone compared him to and implied he was inferior to Eli? Eli is another of the greatest contemporary QBs that is held in low regard….
 
PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Big news day in Packersland.

Rodgers is going to be back this season. They are finalizing a reworked deal where they will push out money in his contract to lower his cap hit this year. His 2023 year will void. They will revisit his contract after the season. It sounds like if Rodgers still is unhappy, he'll be traded, or they could work on an extension. Now that Rodgers has been figured out and there's more cap space, Davante Adams is open to resuming contract talks (that was my assumption all along).

Packers president Mark Murphy said they've done reflecting on how they let this situation happen, but declined to comment specifics.

Rodgers flight has left California for Green Bay.

This sounds exactly like what I've been thinking since March. And it sounds like exactly what the Packers wanted.
 
PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The Packers are supposedly making a trade with the Texans for WR Randall Cobb. Cobb played all but the past two seasons in Green Bay. This is apparently a move Aaron Rodgers wanted. Very interesting change of pace in Green Bay.
 
Dead2009

Dead2009

Horror Movie Guru
Well this is spicy....

REPORT: Buffalo Bills Ownership Has Explored Possibility Of Moving Team To Austin, TX
dailysnark.com

REPORT: Buffalo Bills Ownership Has Explored Possibility Of Moving Team To Austin, TX

Look away Bills Mafia. The debate on whether professional sports owners should privately pay for their own stadiums or use public funding is one that can go on forever, but it seems as if the Bills are with the thinking of the latter. The Buffalo Bills have spent time at the New York State...
dailysnark.com

 
JPPT1974

JPPT1974

Active Member
Well end of the NFL preseason ended on Sunday. Can't wait for Thursday September 9th! Cowboys @ Buccaneers, reigning SB champs.
 

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