Aaron Rodgers turned the NFL world on its head prior to this year’s NFL Draft when he demanded that the Green Bay Packers trade him.
For obvious reasons, Green Bay has been reluctant to give up arguably the best quarterback of his generation.
This has led to something of a standoff, with Rodgers refusing to report to camp and the Packers threatening to fine him an insane amount of money.
Interestingly enough, a new wrinkle has developed in the drama.
As noted by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Rodgers could both avoid playing for the Packers and save his money by simply opting out of next season under an exception that has primarily been used for COVID-related reasons up to this point.
“The letter agreement between the NFL and NFL Players Association from Tuesday of this week does indeed grant broad powers to all players to opt out of the 2021 season, regardless of whether they opted out in 2020 or whether they have been diagnosed with a higher-risk condition since October 1, 2020.
“Although such players would be entitled to no stipend for 2021, any player who executed his most recent contract before October 1, 2020 can indeed opt out voluntarily, no questions asked as to motivation or qualification or possible ulterior motive.”
Rodgers has until next Friday, July 2 to determine if this is a course of action he wishes to take.
If the Packers quarterback opts to go this route, he’d be able to keep his $11.5 million in unearned signing bonus money. In addition, he would probably still get payments on the $6.8 million roster bonus that he earned this past March which is set to be paid out in weekly installments during the season.
The Bucks owner’s daughter decided to bring 2021 in with a bang by stripping all her clothes off. https://t.co/UgzhEEna4o
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 7, 2021
All in all, that’s close to $20 million saved.
Currently one team is considered to be in ‘serious’ contention for Rodgers’ services as far as trades go. Green Bay has made their asking price for the future Hall of Famer clear, but thus far it hasn’t been met.
One way or another, Rodgers has a big decision to make. Will he ultimately opt out of next season by this coming Friday? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
