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If you thought yesterday was painful having to watch an NFC Championship the Packers should have played in, prepare yourself for more pain on this Monday.
Let’s talk about the salary cap!
The truth is even if the Packers had gone on to win the Super Bowl, they would still be facing the same critical questions about their roster except just with the high of being champions. All the early loss did was force them to start looking for the answers a few weeks sooner.
The first big domino to fall of course will be quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Once the team knows his plans, they can map out the rest of their strategy accordingly. A Rodgers return would presumably include some kind of extension and that would have obvious cap implications for the next big piece of the puzzle.
That piece is wide receiver Davante Adams who according to multiple reports will have the franchise tag placed upon him by the Packers. If Rodgers decides to come back, the tag allows Green Bay to hang onto Adams while working out a long-term deal. Should Rodgers retire or ask for a trade, Adams’ future gets murky.
He could return to play under the tag (or a new deal) with presumably Jordan Love as starter or he could be tagged and then traded to another team perhaps to wherever Rodgers ends up. The least likely scenario is Adams sits out with the tag placed on him Le’Veon Bell-style.
Until those two pieces are known, the rest of the cap will be nothing but an exercise in theoreticals. The Packers need to know what their superstars are doing and then they can work around that.
All that being said, they can run it back next year. It just will come with more casualties than this year. It won’t be a full blown rebuild however as long as 12 and 17 are in Green Bay. The Packers always have a chance with those two on the field.
Difficult decisions are coming regardless what Rodgers chooses to do but that doesn’t mean Green Bay has to enter a true rebuild. The team is going to undoubtedly look different for the 2022 season but it doesn’t necessarily have to come at the cost of being competitive especially if Rodgers is back.
Matt LaFleur, Packers staff will coach NFC in Pro Bowl-Packers.com
Here’s hoping LaFleur is just being classy and letting Mo Drayton enjoy a little vacation in Hawaii before handing him his walking papers.
Aaron Rodgers spent extra time with Packers staff discussing future following playoff exit—NFL.com
The team is said to be ‘cautiously optimistic’ regarding their chances of having Rodgers under center next season but no one will relax until the decision comes from the soon-to-be four-time MVP.
On a personal note, if the Packers couldn’t make it to the Super Bowl I’m glad the Bengals did. Those fans have suffered for as long as Packers fans did before the team won Super Bowl XXXI and it is a good thing for the league.
Getting an F: Alabama city’s new logo stirs strong feelings—Associated Press
It makes no alphabetical sense but Green Bay should adopt the same logo to echo how they feel about the Packers’ season coming to a premature end.
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