Clayton: Three new developments on the Aaron Rodgers front
Jun 2, 2021, 2:29 PM
The NFL’s June 1 deadline officially passed on Wednesday when the waiver wire came out at 3:00 p.m. mountain time. Let the Aaron Rodgers’ games begin.
Don’t expect anything soon. The Packers are operating as if Rodgers is coming back. He’s saying he’s not going back to Green Bay.
Rodgers wasn’t going to be traded before June 1. The cap hit would’ve been too tough.
The Packers are tight against the cap this season. Had they traded Rodgers in May, the Packers would have taken a $39.206 million cap hit. By keeping him on the roster Wednesday, the cap hit would be $17.552 million this year. There would be $24.352 million of dead money this year because the Packers gave him a $6.8 million roster bonus in March.
By waiting, the Packers can put $17.204 million on their 2022 cap. Naturally, the Broncos are monitoring the situation because they are the favorites to acquire Rodgers if he is available.
There were some interesting developments on Wednesday.
The first was what the Packers did with a restricted free agent contract. The Packers did a very unusual thing in signing tight end Robert Tonyan.
Instead of giving a one-year, $3,384 million contract, they tried to save cap room by giving him a $1.035 million base salary and a $2.349 million signing bonus. He’ll still be a free agent next year, but they stretched the signing bonus for five years. The contract has four voidable years after the 2021 season. It still pays him $3.384 million, but this year’s cap number $1.5048 million, a $1.1664 million savings.
So far this offseason, the Packers have replaced base salaries with signing bonuses and saved $10.167 million of cap room.
Second, there was news that the team might be willing to move on from their quarterback. We don’t know the sourcing on the story from The Athletic, but the web site reported that the Packers might be willing to trade Rodgers. That could come from sources around the league or from inside the Packers front office. My guess it was from people around the league.
Finally and this one is usual in that you have to wonder if the Packers wide receivers are showing respect to Rodgers’ boycott, at Wednesday’s OTA, Green Bay’s top five wide receivers weren’t there. Missing were Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Allen Lazard, Devin Funchess and Equanimeous St. Brown. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said he talked to all five players and he doesn’t believe it was a coordinated effort.
Still, you have to wonder. It’s just another subplot in a continually evolving drama.
