The situation between Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers seems to be growing more untenable by the day. And given how petty Rodgers’ own teammates say he is, none of this should come as a shock.
This past week, Rodgers was not among the players who reported for the start of Phase Three of the offseason program. Seeing as participation in the OTAs is voluntary, and taking into account Rodgers’ current standoff with the front office, his decision to skip the proceedings was relatively unsurprising.
That said – it is also indicative of the fact that he still wants the Packers to trade him. And considering that the Packers have quietly made it clear what they’d want from the Denver Broncos in a Rodgers-centered trade, the growing expectation around the league is that they’re now more open to doing something than they were originally.
On Monday, an interesting three-team trade proposal began making the rounds.
During a recent appearance on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell laid out a three-team deal that would make sense for all parties involved.
“The Dolphins, who would have to move on from second-year starter Tua Tagovailoa,” Barnwell said, via 24/7 Sports.
“The Packers don’t need a young quarterback, but the Steelers need a long-term replacement for Ben Roethlisberger. In a three-way trade, the Steelers would send their first rounder in 2022 to the Dolphins for Tagovailoa. The Dolphins could then package that first-round pick and the two remaining first-round selections they acquired from the 49ers in the Trey Lance deal in a package for Rodgers.”
Obviously this move would check several boxes. Pittsburgh would get a young, permanent solution at quarterback. Miami gets the veteran they’ve been looking for ever since rumors first started to pop up about them doing something for Deshaun Watson. And Green Bay gets financial flexibility to acquire a stopgap that will hold them over until Jordan Love is ready to take over, plus draft capital.
Win-win-win.
Of course, there are various circumstances that could stand as a roadblock to this trade actually coming together.
Chief among them – Rodgers has one team that he really wants to go to, and it isn’t the Dolphins.
That’s one way to do it. https://t.co/RVCn0k8Cbz
— Game 7 (@game7__) May 24, 2021
Beyond that, Tagovailoa’s trade value is very much in doubt. His own Dolphins teammates have mercilessly disrespected him over the last few months, and the trade market for him has been relatively tepid.
On paper, it feels like this three-team trade could solve a lot of problems. Will it, though? Time will tell.
Related: What Falcons Are Demanding In Julio Jones Trade
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.
