I see a deal coming that will be friendly for the Packers to progress as a team (at least as much as possible) considering it will be for the most money paid any player.

That's just how I see Rodgers as a person.

Thank God we're not talking about a J. Finley here.

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That is really the concern. If he becomes the highest paid player, no matter how "friendly" it is, the team is going to lose flexibility in having talent around him.

I would love for Rodgers to say. I don't need, nor do I want to be the highest paid player. I'll take 10/yr. That is more than I can spend anyway. With the other 10-15million I am saving the team, I expect good players to be retained, and key FA to be brought in where needed.

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From KFFL

Packers | Aaron Rodgers update
Thu, 28 Mar 2013 07:11:44 -0700

Updating a previous item, there is league-wide speculation the Green Bay Packers and QB Aaron Rodgers are close to a contract extension that would see Rodgers earn an average of $25 million per year, making him the highest-paid player in NFL history. People familiar with the contract talks believe a deal will be completed this offseason, and could happen sooner rather than later.


http://www.kffl.com/team/17/nfl/green-bay-packers#ixzz2OsOu1WG1 

The key words here are EXTENSION and AVERAGE.

Extending AR's contract gives The Packers the option of including the money left on his current contract in his signing bonus and extending that money + any guaranteed money over the whole length of the contract.

The deal may be for an average of 25mil a year on paper, but the Guaranteed money is what is important.

I'm betting AR's cap hit will not exceed 10-12 mil for the 1st 4 years, then watch his yearly salary escalate.
That gives The Packers 4 years to work with other players, get them signed, then a restructure probably in the works for AR after the 4th year.

Just a guess, but it is the way of The NFL contract negotiaions these days.

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hahahahaha it's funny that some of you think he would take a discount to help the team around him. Haven't you guys caught on yet, it's all about Aaron and it has been like that the whole time. I have a chip on my shoulder because of the draft. I am great because I stayed quiet during the Favre breakup. Its all about the stats watch him play, he passes up the nice little first down pass to try a Favre special. So don't give me the crap he is all about the team.

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dhazer, you have awesome persistence.

While I've often thought he probably would like to give a super team friendly discount, I'm not sure that would go over too well with the NFLPA. I think he simply gets his market value, which will be a lot.

Exactly. Rodgers should pursue and get every penny that the "market" says he deserves. There's no reason someone like Joe Flacco should be making more money than him. Usually when players are taking about "discounts" they're only taking about 1-2 million a year anyway.

I hope and expect Rodgers gets everything he's worth. The Packers are looking out for themselves and Rodgers need to do the same for himself. It's a business and a job first and foremost for the players. Rodgers also has to think about 2-4 years down the line when there will likely be a few other quarterbacks with equal or potentially higher annual salaries, as well, especially as the cap raises.

Bottom line for me: Rodgers obtaining every penny he is worth won't make me think negatively about him at all. Anything less he takes will just be a bonus to his employer and, to some extent, the fans, but I'm not expecting it. While the comparison isn't exactly the same, how many here would take substantially less money from your current employer that other companies were more than willing to pay for your same services, and that some lesser/equal talents were getting paid elsewhere? Said job/career could also be over forever at any minute as well; not one's typical 'desk job.' I might not squeeze every possible penny out of the deal, but I would expect to come close, for sure.

I would suggest that more than just guaranteed money is important when you are talking about a superstar QB. The obvious case of that is Brett Favre who got such a huge percentage of the face value money in his big contract. Just the same, the Packers should be able to structure a deal to give Rodgers what he richly deserves - to be paid significantly more than anybody else in the NFL, and still keep it cap-friendly enough to not do harm to the team.

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Yeah, you would think so ...... I hope so ...... but I wouldn't bet money on it. I really hope they don't try some misguided strategy of low-balling Rodgers and alienating him, then either scrambling at the last minute or the unthinkable - losing him. The guy is flat out the best player in football, and he deserves to be paid like the best player. I've heard speculation about his personality great guy, team oriented, excellent leader OR stat whore, overly prideful, etc. None of us really know that, however, we can probably say that any star pro football player is going to have a degree of ego; We can also say based on the team's performance and the lack of negativity from teammates that he is a good leader; And of course, we know he throws the ball like nobody else and runs enough to more than keep defenses honest.

It is easily possible to structure a contract to make him radically the highest paid player in the NFL without harming the cap situation. Example: how does $231 million over 10 years sound? record-setting enough? Do you think he would be satisfied with a $50 million signing bonus? Then salary of $3 million the first year followed by $8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 25, 30, and 35 million years 2 - 10. The cap hit would be just $8 million the first year, followed by 13, 17, 19, etc. Yeah, it gets ridiculous in the end, but by then you restructure or cut him if he drops off too much - which I very much doubt. Make either the first 4 years or the first 5 guaranteed - $84 or $100 million including the bonus.

Something like that should leave plenty to re-sign Matthews and Raji (who I wish they would NOT give a big contract too, but that's for another thread), and still keep at least as good a supporting cast as the Packers have had in the Thompson era.

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