Three years ago, after the draft, Green Bay GM Brian Gutekunst seemed oblivious to the noise outside the Lambeau Field walls. Good God man! You just drafted Aaron Rodgers’ replacement, and the man still has lots of good football left in him! Indeed Rodgers did. Two MVP years out of the next three, in fact. I asked Gutekunst then what would happen if Rodgers continued to play at a high level. “That’d be great for the Packers,” Gutekunst said that late-April day in 2020.

And he recalled a history lesson taught to him by Ron Wolf, the GM who turned the Packers around for good three decades ago.

“Ron traded a one in 1992 for Brett Favre, who had been a second-round pick and wasn’t even starting for Atlanta,” Gutekunst said. “Imagine the media fervor if that happened today.”

Fast-forward to today. Gutekunst didn’t know that day he’d get three more years out of Rodgers, then hand the reins to Jordan Love in year four after making one of the strangest trades we’ve ever seen. Gutekunst traded Rodgers, who was clearly no longer all-in in Packerland, to the Jets for a move from the 15th to the 13th pick this year (taking Iowa edge rusher Lukas Van Ness), the 42nd overall pick this year (tight end Luke Musgrave of Oregon State), a first-round pick in 2024 if Rodgers plays 65 percent of the Jets’ snaps this year (he has played more than that five years in a row) and a second-round pick if he doesn’t, and the potential transfer of $100.7 million to the Jets’ salary cap in 2024. For that, Green Bay takes on $40 million in Rodgers-related dead money on the cap this year, a rebuilding year for Green Bay.

All in all, trading Rodgers prior to his age-40 season could backfire on Green Bay. He could be Brady, playing great for four or five more years. That’s the chance they’re taking. But just look at the landscape. Rodgers is reborn in New Jersey, excited to be part of the New York social scene. The Knicks aren’t playing the Heat in the NBA playoffs in Green Bay. Jessica Alba and Spike Lee aren’t chumming up to Rodgers in northeast Wisconsin.

This trade was a must-do. Green Bay got a one and a two, most likely, for a great player who’d checked out of Green Bay. When the Packers did a hybrid two-year contract for Jordan Love, they gave themselves two seasons to make a decision on Love—two seasons at about $22 million. Pretty smart in today’s QB market.

“We believe in our process and in how we make decisions,” Gutekunst told me. “You never get them all right. We like to develop quarterbacks. Part of developing quarterbacks is they gotta sit for a while, I think, and then they gotta play. Obviously, Jordan Love sat and Aaron did a great job just kinda mentoring him. But now Jordan’s ready to play. He needs to play. I think our fans kinda realize why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

The Packers drafted two tight ends and two wide receivers in the first five rounds last week and seem fine with growing with Love and a young core, including 2022-drafted wideouts Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. This isn’t a skill group of Randall Cobb and Marcedes Lewis anymore. The Packers felt like it was time, and it was.

“There’s a lot of unknowns,” Gutekunst said. “We’re a very young team. But I think the players, Jordan and the young guys, realize there’s gonna be more and different opportunities than they had in the past.”

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/05/08/nfl-offseason-power-rankings-eagles-packers-bryce-young-peter-king-fmia/ 

Peter King wrote: