Is Green Bay moving toward another contentious quarterback departure?

While Aaron Rodgers wraps up his entertaining two-week run as guest host of Jeopardy!, speculation that Rodgers’ run as quarterback of the Green Bay Packers is in jeopardy continues to run rampant.

That was to be expected ever since Brian Gutekunst traded up to select Utah State quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft. Obviously a pick like that is going to give talking heads something huge to talk about until a transition from Rodgers to Love is made and beyond.

Quite frankly, the discussion and speculation have become nauseating. Every Packers’ move this off-season has been dissected as to how it relates to Rodgers. National sports media is what it is and there will be quite the race to be the first to describe the inevitable fallout between Rodgers and the team that drafted him 16 years ago when no one else would in the first round.

Salary cap rules in the NFL have gotten to a point where they’re way above my head, which has kind of helped me tune out all the Rodgers chatter since the crushing loss to Tampa Bay in the NFC Championship Game nearly three months ago. There is no question Rodgers will be the quarterback in 2021 and this team, on paper, certainly has a chance to make another run to glory. The NFL, however, one could argue is the most year-to-year league in professional sports, so nothing is guaranteed. One injury or two or unlucky bounces

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in a couple of close games could put the Packers at 3-13 just as easily as they could be 13-3 again.

But that’s really all my fandom is concentrating on –– the here and now of 2021. Right now the biggest thing looming is the 2021 Draft April 29-May 1.

What will the Packers do with their 29th pick in the first and the 10 picks they currently hold overall? Who knows. More line depth on both sides of the ball is always a need, an inside linebacker who actually carries an imposing, physical presence is something Green Bay has needed for years. Cornerback depth could be crucial if this is Kevin King’s last year as a Packer. While the wide receiver talk isn’t as loud as last year, another weapon for Rodgers or even Love down the road wouldn’t hurt. It wouldn’t surprise me if Green Bay takes another quarterback late or even a punter very late to challenge the inconsistent JK Scott.

When it comes to Green Bay, all bets are off when it comes to head-scratching draft picks. Like last year’s move to get Love.

On the plus side, Love’s presence may have been a factor in Rodgers having a fantastic season that resulted in him winning his third MVP award. As already noted, the negative side is the firestorm of speculation it’s set off earlier than seemed necessary.

So if I understand the particulars correctly, Rodgers’ last four-year contract extension carries him through 2023. The deal included a $57.5 million signing bonus, $98.7 million in guaranteed money and an average annual salary of $33.5 million. His annual salary ranks fifth among NFL quarterbacks as Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, DeShaun Watson (oops), and Russell Wilson are all expected to earn more this year after recently re-working deals with their clubs.

I know pro athletes get hung up on these kinds of things. Amounts they make only matter as long as it’s more than the guy they think they’re better than. NFL teams, quite honestly, should be ashamed at how they pay quarterbacks now. Yes, they are vitally important, but so are left tackles, shutdown cornerbacks, money kickers and runstuffi ng defensive tackles. There’s no way guys like Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff and Jimmy Garoppolo should make what they do. Not saying all of these guys are bad. But it’s ridiculous how these guys eat up salary caps like they do and hurt their teams’ chances for success and likely their own success if those teams can’t afford to keep talent around them.

The kicker for Rodgers is that he’ll account for $37.2 million of Green Bay’s salary cap allotment this year, which is down about $15 million this year due to COVID-related revenue losses, and $39.8 million next year. Letting him go this year would result in a dead cap hit of $38.3 million. So obviously, he’s not going anywhere in 2021. But the dead cap hit goes down to $17.2 million next year and just $2.85 million in 2023, which is fueling the speculation. Love’s rookie contract can take him through 2024, assuming Green Bay picks up the fifth-year option. But the chatter is he’s going to have to start playing two or three years in so the Packers know what they have.

As much as I try to avoid it, it’s hard to ignore the chatter that the Packers are disrespecting Rodgers by not restructuring his deal to lessen the likelihood of a divorce after 2021 or 2022 and to create salary cap space that will allow the team to go “all-in,” so to speak, while Rodgers is around.

Behind the scenes, maybe the Packers are working on it. Maybe Rodgers is playing hardball and not letting it happen. Maybe he truly wants out. Can you imagine how the chatter will explode if the Packers go with defense with their first four draft picks?

Rodgers probably has earned the right to know exactly where he stands and to be given assurances he is in the plans beyond this year. Or he should be told if he’s not in those plans. But the Packers