It's time for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers to part ways

If the Green Bay Packers could have seen the 2022 season coming, they would have done it a year ago.

In the moment, Brian Gutekunst and the Packers made the decision on Aaron Rodgers following two straight MVP seasons, a decision 31 other teams would have made. Not exactly a bold strategy. A year later though, with the effects of that contract now preparing to slap them in the face like a January morning in Hayward and a quarterback whose capability to elevate his team is now far more in question, the Packers face a much more difficult decision: move on from the face of the franchise for one last ride or trade him for assets to jumpstart the Jordan Love era.

The answer turns out to be easy, but taking the action certainly wouldn’t be: It’s time to trade Aaron Rodgers.

All of this is moot if Rodgers wants to retire. And if that’s the case, his career will be celebrated in a way that befits one of the game’s all-time great players. In fact, we’ll do that no matter what. This moment, one in which the team would most benefit from getting assets for Rodgers now rather than holding onto hope one last time, cannot subvert the greatness of Rodgers nor his importance to the Packers franchise over the last decade and a half. That’s not what this moment is about though.

Rodgers deserves to go out on his own terms, which also means if he wants to return but the Packers would rather trade him, he can decide he’d rather retire than play. But in terms of Green Bay’s decision to accept him back or move on, there is no decision at all. It’s time.

Set aside for a moment the financial implications, though they are essential here. Last year, one had a hard time arguing Jordan Love plus stuff provided the Packers with a better path forward than the two-time MVP. That was especially true this time last year, before Davante Adams asked to be traded.

After an injured season, one in which even his healthy games failed to impress, his decision-making regressed, and the offense bogged way down in the red zone, it’s fair to wonder just how much Rodgers relied on Adams. After all, No. 17 put together one of the best seasons of his career in silver and black catching passes from Derek Carr who got benched by the Las Vegas Raiders by the end of the season.

Who was helping who exactly?