While speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine this week, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur sounded like men confident that quarterback and four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers will return to the organization for at least one more season.
LaFleur admitted that Rodgers played a "significant role" in the decision to bring former assistant Tom Clements out of retirement to serve as the team's quarterbacks coach but also insisted he was trying "to be respectful" of Rodgers' time and not be "overbearing" as he and others wait to learn of the future Hall-of-Famer's plans.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport offered a positive update for Packers fans Thursday when he reported things are "in a very good place" regarding contract talks between Green Bay and Rodgers:
No topic has been addressed more this week than the #Packers and QB Aaron Rodgers. Things have gone quiet as it appears everyone is simply waiting for Rodgers to make his declaration. What it all means pic.twitter.com/QmVYHR5qwE
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 3, 2022
"If Aaron Rodgers stays in Green Bay, it's going to be on a new deal, it's going to make him almost certainly the highest-paid player in the NFL," Rapoport explained during an on-air segment. Rapoport also said the new agreement would be "shorter" and "probably" include voidable years to free-up salary cap space so the club can also keep All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams and other talents.
Adams can hit free agency when the new NFL year opens on March 16 but could also have his rights retained by the Packers via the franchise tag. It's been thought by many within the football community Adams and Rodgers are a package deal, but Gutekunst said earlier this week the situations are "separate."
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