Friday will mark one month since Aaron Rodgers emerged from his darkness retreat and told the world he wanted a different employer. His appearance on the Pat McAfee Show will be four weeks old on Wednesday and we’ve seen no progress on a deal between the Jets and Packers at all. I get it, just because the public doesn’t know the plan doesn’t mean there isn’t one, sure. But what wouldn’t get leaked at this point? Or wouldn’t Rodgers openly talk about it with one of his friends for the world to see?
So now the question is what the heck is taking both sides so long to complete this deal? It should be straightforward. Rodgers doesn’t want to play in Green Bay. He’d rather go to East Rutherford, New Jersey because everything smells, not just cheeseheads. Both teams need to adjust rosters around the loss or gain of the 39-year-old airhead. Green Bay would start its journey to hopefully find a third straight long-term starter that endears himself to fans and then becomes a lunatic. The Jets would hope Rodgers and his love for Ayahuasca leads them back to the postseason. But for the past four weeks, and probably longer privately, the teams have made no tangible progress.
Packers president Mark Murphy talked about the situation in Green Bay on Tuesday and said talks were ongoing and he couldn’t say more than that. Although there isn’t a deadline to complete the deal, both sides have to know if it doesn’t get done by the beginning of next week’s NFL Draft, it severely hampers both sides. Jordan Love appears to be the heir apparent in Green Bay and selecting an offensive lineman or tight end looks to be in the team’s best interest at No. 15, with both Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs panning out so far. The Jets also have the No. 13 and Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has said the team isn’t demanding that pick from New York to acquire Rodgers, although that no doubt would make things easier between the sides.
Oddly enough, Murphy’s first offseason as Packers president was in 2008, when the team switched from Brett Favre to Rodgers as the team’s starter. Favre also wanted to see how green the grass was in East Rutherford. Now Rodgers, after who knows how many more darkness retreats, still wants to do the same. As the Rodgers-to-Jersey-suburbs watch reaches day No. 29 on Wednesday, let’s just end this ordeal. Then we can all do something better than be on Rodgers watch, like scrapbooking. Oh, how am I kidding? I want this to be over so we can talk about whatever mess Rodgers makes with his new buddies.
