Have you ever seen “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly?” No, seriously. The 1966 western movie starring Clint Eastwood is a classic of Western movies, with horses and gunfights and bravado and all that toxic Hollywood macho “this is what a man is” stuff. The movie reaches a boiling point in a three-way standoff between Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach with the infamous closeups of their eyes darting back and forth at one another with fingers at the ready next to their holstered guns. The tension is palpable. You know shit’s going down at any moment.
Now, imagine Eastwood is Aaron Rodgers, Van Cleef is Matt LaFleur, and Wallach is Brian Gutekunst, and you know everything you need to know about the current state of the Green Bay Packers.
Tensions have been high all off-season between the Packers and their MVP quarterback, culminating with a draft day report from Adam Schefter that Rodgers wants out of Green Bay. There was speculation that the Niners could be interested, with a package including their No. 3 overall pick. There were also numerous reports of Denver being in the mix. Neither have come to fruition, but the standoff between Rodgers and the Packers continues.
Today, for the start of mandatory minicamp, Rodgers was not present, turning this situation into a holdout.
As Tom Pelissero noted in the video, Rodgers has already lost a $500,000 workout bonus by not showing up for any of the voluntary OTAs, and the Packers can opt to fine him over $93,000 for not showing up for the next three days. Where things get interesting, however, would be if this holdout continues into training camp in late July. The Packers would be required to fine Rodgers $50,000 each day he misses.
The Packers decided to escalate their transition at the quarterback position by trading up in the 2020 NFL Draft and taking Jordan Love, who has been less than inspiring in his time in Green Bay so far. He hasn’t made any game appearances, either in the regular season or preseason last year. For now, he’s the guy, with exactly zero NFL game experience under his belt.
Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy had this to say in his monthly column on the Packers website, despite not being asked anything having to do with the situation:
“The situation we face with Aaron Rodgers has divided our fan base. The emails and letters that I’ve received reflect this fact. As I wrote here last month, we remain committed to resolving things with Aaron and want him to be our quarterback in 2021 and beyond. We are working to resolve the situation and realize that the less both sides say publicly, the better.”
Your fans aren’t divided, Murphy. Your fans want their Super Bowl and MVP-winning quarterback to stay their quarterback, instead of tossing the keys to Title Town to an unproven project of a quarterback that you never should have drafted.
The Packers and Rodgers are at a stalemate, and it doesn’t look like Rodgers is going to cave anytime soon. Rodgers may have played his last snap as a Green Bay Packer.