22 Comments

Question: if Green Bay refuses to trade Aaron and if he sits out or retires, should the GM be fired?

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This reminds me a little bit of the situation between Messi and Barcelona last summer. The team might just choose to wait it out and wait for the disgruntled superstar to change his mood. NFL teams put a premium on winning even just one season, I can see the Packers get rid of their front office before Rodgers. Rodgers can threaten to retire, but he can only do so much (like leaking the fact that he wants to leave just before the draft as a power move).

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I would tend to agree but I just read an article that said the Packers GM had the confidence of whomever hired him and wasn't going anywhere. Rogers could certainly change his mood and if they get him a couple more decent linemen and receivers he very well could stay and win a championship. But if management doesn't bring in personnel that Aaron thinks he needs to win I can see Aaron sitting out. Time will tell.

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Packers have said their is zero chance they will deal league MVP Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers says that he will not return to Green Bay, period. The Packers are trying to position themselves to get a great trade. Aaron just fucked them. But in the end, they fucked themselves. You can't fix stupid.

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Trade Stafford and Rodgers

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Stafford is at the Rams.

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Exactly!

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I'm assuming this would need to happen prior to the draft tonight. Assuming the #3 would be part of the deal, you'd have to guess the Packers would flip that prior to the pick as well. This is intense!

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I'd assume the Niners would give up their #3 and Garoppolo.

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Yup. And the more time that goes by the worse position the Packers are in because Aaron said he ain't going back, period. They better figure it out by 5:20 PST.

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I will dance if he joins the niners.

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Is Aaron’s time in Wisconsin in Jeopardy(!)?

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I'll take Green Bay Fuck Ups for $1000

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The Jordan Love draft pick was front office malpractice

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Too soon.

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He probably heard they were planning on drafting Stanford QB Davis Mills. (Kidding). It is pretty embarrassing how poorly they've supported their future HoF QB.

It might be good for my NFC North fandoms, though-- I don't want to play favorites between Goff and Rodgers.

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Apr 30, 2021
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I think what this draft shows is that there aren't 32 people on the planet that can handle the demands of an NFL starting QB, and that's why demand is so high for new QBs in the draft. Every year there are QB-needy teams that will bet the farm (and their future) on a super high draft pick that they hope will pan out to be the next superstar QB.

Just statistically, a lot of the first round QBs this year are going to be busts. In the 1st round, there have been obvious reaches that turned into busts (Paxton Lynch, Mitch Trubisky, etc.), and there have also been "can't-miss" media-hyped prospects that turned into busts (Josh Rosen, Johnny Manziel, etc).

I don't really have strong opinions on any of the QB class this year, because I haven't seen much of them. I've seen most of the CFP games (so all those Alabama/Clemson/etc players), and I saw freshman/sophomore Zach Wilson in BYU games vs. the Pac-12, but that's about it. Trevor Lawrence is obviously the safest bet, and I am sure he has what it takes to be a starting QB in the NFL, although I'm a lot less convinced that he's the next Peyton Manning (given the level of hype).

I have not seen Trey Lance play at all. I think he's by far the hardest to evaluate, along with Mac Jones to a lesser extent, because of the talent disparity around him. The Trey Lance highlights I saw were not that impressive, and I can't believe the SF's plan was to bet the future on this guy at #3-- so good job by whatever team spooked SF into thinking they needed to move up to grab him. Mac Jones' WRs were both drafted before him, at #6 and #10-- he was hardly making "drop in the bucket" throws to his superstar receivers, who were often open by miles. On the bright side for him, he'll have Belichick's coaching to help him out. Similarly, Lance could have landed in a much worse situation than SF-- they were bad because of injuries, not because of historical incompetence. It could have been a lot worse if he had landed on, say, the Jets.

I've told you this before, but I must be missing something about Wilson. I didn't see any of his games last year, and apparently that's when he finally took off. The fact that he landed on the Jets means he's in "likely to bust" territory. He's mobile, but so was Darnold, and that didn't help Darnold any, so I can't imagine him doing much better. Everything about the Jets is terrible. They couldn't even tank for Lawrence correctly.

Most people have a positive opinion of Justin Fields and seem to think the Bears got the best deal out of the bunch. I think Fields can be good-- I saw a couple games of Fields were he made some jaw-dropping throws (e.g. the CFP win against Clemson), but I also saw some OSU games where he looked 'meh' at best. I think his biggest challenge might be consistency. I said the same thing about Justin Herbert, and Herbert had a phenomenal rookie season, so I guess we'll see.

To summarize, in my (very unconfident) opinion:

Likely to succeed: Lawrence, maybe Fields

Likely to bust: Jones, Lance, Wilson

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Good comments. I've done a deep dive into all the QB's. I believe three will succeed, given the personnel around them to help their success. (Solid O-line and receiving corps). Lawrence has all the skills and experience. I think Wilson, given a decent O-line to protect him could be the jewel of this draft. The guy is much like Patrick Mahomes and can make virtually any throw. I also think Trey Lance will be successful for several reasons: he undoubtable has the highest ceiling of all the QB's, the system he played in actually made him the most NFL game ready QB in the draft and Coach Shanahan said as much about a month ago. Lance made all the blocking calls, receiver adjustments and audibles under center. He had no real time coaching calls or input the same way the other QB's in the draft. Shanahan said that when he sat down with Lance on the whiteboard drawing x' and o's that Lance was incredibly bright and way ahead of others in the draft. I wish Fields and Jones much success because I think both are kids of high character (just like the top three picked), but Fields is really going to need to know his playbook and the reads and his check downs. He tends to stare down his receivers and he is not as natural throwing on the move as Lance. Mac Jones is smart but doesn't have the big arm to deliver hard strikes of long balls or the the athleticism to stay out of trouble if the pocket breaks down. He is a pure pocket passer (like Brady). Maybe Belichik can make it work. With respect to guys like Josh Rosen I'll refer back to an interview CGB did with Patrick Laird where he talked about a book he had just finished reading by Michael Lewis called 'The Undoing Project'. Part of the book spoke to inherent biases in the selection process of athletes for pro sports. It spoke to how a player 'looked' and fit the part. Josh Rosen was a classic case of this. He was tall and could make every throw. He was the #1 prospect out of high school and was 'built for the pros' as a pocket passer. The problem, which was exposed in college was that his decision making process broke down when he was pressured and he would NOT stand in the pocket and take a hit to complete a pass (unlike Jared Goff who would deliver and get pummeled). I knew Josh Rosen would be a bust two years before he was drafted and I'm amazed that he still finds a role on any team, even as a back up. As to Johnny Manziel, I never followed him or knew much about him, but I think of him as a Vince Young type player where being great in college didn't translate well to the pros, especially with his personal and behavioral issues. You never really know what to expect, but I am very excited about Trey Lance coming to SF. Now if they could just figure out how to get Aaron Rogers and let Lance learn from him the way Rogers learned from Favre.

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Apr 30, 2021
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Apr 30, 2021
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Nah, it's okay. I have seen highlights, but if I really wanted to judge him, I'd need to sit down and watch entire games, and I don't really have any interest in 2020 BYU games. I'm taking my annual break from football now, but when I'm ready, I am going to be catching up on Cal's 2021 OOC opponents-- I have found most of TCU's games, but Nevada and Sac State games are much harder to find.

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I've been a Packer fan longer than almost anything (mid Lombardi years). In this instance, Aaron gets my support. He's been unstinting in his support of the Packers (contract negotiations notwithstanding) and has embraced Wisconsin. If he wants out, let him go. The 49ers can offer a ton of draft picks, even if a trade will undermine the Packers' current Super Bowl. In ten years, the Packers will still be playing football, but Aaron won't. Go Bears! (and Packers)

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