April 30, 2021 • 38 mins
Clay Travis dives into the huge Aaron Rodgers story and examines the ins and outs of his rocky relationship with the Green Bay Packers. Clay flashes back to exactly 1-year ago when he and the crew had a great discussion about the Packers declaring war on Aaron Rodgers. The staff was way ahead of the crowd in discussing a Rodgers trade. Plus, Clay brings the crew in to discuss potential landing spots for Aaron Rodgers.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'll Kicked the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday
morning from six to nine a m. E stone three
to six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your
local station for Outkicked the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio
dot Com, or stream us live every morning on the
I Heart Radio app by searching fs are you're listening
(00:22):
to Fox Sports Radio. The Packers when they made the
decision last year to draft Jordan's Love, we're betting on
the idea that Aaron Rodgers was on the absolute tail
end of his career. And I think they were blown
away by the fact that Aaron Rodgers had an m
(00:45):
VP season last year and that he looked like the
best version of himself that he had looked like in years,
and I think that stunned the Packers. Now, I do
think that Aaron Rodgers was motivated to play as well
as he did partially because of the anger that he
felt over what I'm sure he felt was a betrayal
(01:09):
by the Green Bay Packers. And then you combine it
with the decision late against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to
not give him a chance to try to score the
touchdown to kick the field goal. There something that was
referenced in Jeopardy, and I believe that ultimately Aaron Rodgers
looked across the field at Tom Brady, and I think
(01:30):
he had envy for the fact that Tom Brady was
able to walk away from New England win a championship
with Tampa Bay and, whether anybody wants to believe it
or not, ultimately grasp a great deal of revenge over
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriot organization, which I
believe had argued to a lot of people out there, Hey,
(01:53):
the reason why Brady has been so successful is because
he got to play with us. Now, the reality is Belichick,
it's a great coach, but he's got an all time
losing record without Tom Brady. Now he's gonna get a
chance with Mac Jones in the next couple of years
ahead to see exactly what kind of relationship they can have,
and maybe Belichick can find magic again with another quarterback.
(02:16):
But right now, we debated this for years who was
more important? Was Was Bill Belichick or Tom Brady more
important to the New England Patriot dynasty. I think what
has happened is Tom Brady has won that argument for
the foreseeable future. In a major way. So now Aaron Rodgers,
(02:37):
I believe, is looking back and thinking to himself, Hey,
there is an argument that I could have the same
kind of success as Tom Brady at a brand new
team if I was with the right franchise. And I
think the decision to draft Jordan's Love, Aaron Rodgers used
it as fuel. And I don't think by the way
(02:58):
he holds it against Jordan's Love because he's in through
this himself with Brett Farve, he just felt disrespected because
I believe Aaron Rodgers looks around the league and says,
wait a minute. Tom Brady's forty three years old, Drew
Brees forty one years old. Those guys are still playing
at an incredibly high level. I'm three or four years
younger at least than those guys. I'm gonna play until
(03:20):
I'm forty, and I'm not close to being done right now.
And I think the Packers thought that he was. They
gambled by taking a guy in the first round even
though they had been in the NFC Championship game. And
I have to ask you, I think it's a fair question,
and I'm sure it's one that Aaron Rodgers and his representation.
I've been asking, Hey, do you think if we had
(03:41):
drafted a corner last year and that corner had been good,
that maybe we would have beaten the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and been better on the defensive side of the ball
than we were. In other words, maybe that could have
made the difference in the NFC Championship game if we
had had bigger and better talent to be able to
(04:03):
rely on there. And I think that is a very fair,
very legitimate position that they could ask as it pertains
to that decision. Now, what I believe has happened is
Aaron Rodgers try to keep this quiet. I think Aaron
Rodgers try to keep it quiet. He said, look, I
want to be traded, and I think now that the
(04:24):
Packers don't have very many good options. The decision to
go draft Eric Stokes out of Georgia to take a
defensive player was to me kind of like sticking a
middle finger up at Aaron Rodgers, because I think the
Packers are furious that Aaron Rodgers and his team made
a calculated decision to go public and say all of
this on the day that everybody's paying attention to the NFL.
(04:49):
They leaked this information about Aaron Rodgers wanting to be
traded to try to put pressure on the green Bay
Packers to get something done. And it seems on some
level why the Packers are trying to call Aaron Rodgers bluff.
We'll see how exactly that manages to hold up. But
I would say this, think about how Green Bay has
used their picks in the first round every year since
(05:13):
two thousand twelve. They have used the fact that they
have Aaron Rodgers as a license to go get defensive
players because they believe he's so good that they don't
need to surround him with incredible offensive talent. Two thousand twelve,
defensive end, two thousand thirteen, defensive end, two thousand fourteen,
(05:34):
defensive back, two thousand fifteen, safety, two thousand sixteen, defensive
tackle two thousand seventeen, cornerback two thousand eighteen, cornerback, two
thousand nineteen, linebacker, two thousand twenty backup quarterback to replace
(05:54):
Aaron Rodgers two thousand twenty one, cornerback. Now I just
ask you, that's ten years. I was just counting on
my phone. Ten years of first round picks. Not one
single first pick has been on the offensive side. Of
the ball except for the guy that they drafted to
(06:18):
potentially replace Aaron Rodgers. No matter who you are, that
is a level of disrespect that I believe would drive
just about everybody insane in terms of the way that
that broke down. And so I don't blame Aaron Rodgers
(06:38):
at all for being angry about the way that this
situation has gone down. And by the way, before the
whole situation with Deshaun Watson blew up, there was a
lot of discussion about Deshaun Watson effectively demanding a trade.
Aaron Rodgers, I believe has earned the right to demand
(06:58):
a trade. He's been performing at an m v P
caliber level for his entire career. He's not doing this
at twenty five or twenty six years old. I just
ran through ten different first picks that the Green Bay
Packers have made. None of them are on the offensive
(07:20):
side of the ball. Other than the quarterback they drafted
to replace Aaron Rodgers. The other nine players are all
on defense. The Packers have the luxury of having Aaron
Rodgers as a stud quarterback, and they have not surrounded
him with elite level talent because they think Aaron Rodgers
can make the talent incredibly elite around him. At some
(07:44):
point that level of disrespect festers with you, and I
think Aaron Rodgers deciding to go do Jeopardy. I think
Aaron Rodgers, being the guy that he is, he tried
to keep this quiet and ultimately the Packers were not
listening to him, and so he decided with his representation
(08:06):
to go public with what's going on in this broken relationship.
Right now now, the question is how do the Packers
play this out? The only real way I could see
the Packers being able to keep Aaron Rodgers if I
were advising them and they said, Okay, Clay, how can
we fix this? I think they'd probably have to trade
Jordan's love, basically give him away, and let somebody else
(08:31):
give him a second or a third round pick for
Jordan's love. If they could get that and sign Aaron
Rodgers to a long term extension guaranteeing him another three
years or so of being the quarterback for the Green
Bay Packers, I'm not sure even then that Aaron Rodgers
would acquiesce and agree to continue to be a a
(08:53):
quarterback for the Packers because he may feel like this
entire relationship is broken. But that's the only thing in
my mind that could be done that in any way
would justify Aaron Rodgers being able to be convinced to
come back for another several years with the Green Bay Packers.
(09:13):
I think this is a broken relationship. I think it's
eerily similar to what happened with Tom Brady. The difference
is Brady was an understricted free agent. But I think
that Aaron Rodgers can get a lot of teams out
there bidding on him. And the rumor was hot and
heavy last night that it was gonna be the Denver
Broncos potentially making this deal. And I don't know what
(09:33):
the Packers scenario is going to be. They may not
want to reward Aaron Rodgers. They may drag this out.
They may try to turn it into a public bidding
process where they're able to get a lot of assets
in the years ahead in order to give up Aaron Rodgers.
But I think this is a story that is incredibly
interesting to follow and see exactly how it all ends
(09:56):
up shaking out. And I don't see how it ends
well for the Packers. I think there are a lot
of teams out there that would be interested in Aaron Rodgers.
The challenges. A lot of those teams that would have
potentially been interested in Aaron Rodgers made moves to go
get quarterbacks. The one that did not is the Denver Broncos,
(10:16):
which is why I would kind of circle back around
and say that's the team that could make the most
sense for Aaron Rodgers. Let me explain. We came in
this year, UH to the draft, and I had sort
of put five teams outside of the ones that we
knew were taking quarterbacks, right, the Jags taking Trevor Lawrence,
Zack Wilson, UH, the forty Niners. We knew all three
(10:38):
of those teams were gonna be in uh, in the
mix to potentially go grab quarterbacks. I said to me,
there were five teams that were really still potentially in
the quarterback market, uh and the Broncos, the Patriots, the Steelers, Washington,
and Chicago. Well, I think you can take the Patriots
and Chicago off the board because the Patriots went got
(11:00):
Mac Jones and the Bears went and got Justin Fields.
That leaves us with the Steelers, Washington, and the Broncos
as teams that could theoretically be in the mix to
get quarterbacks. What did the Broncos do. They passed on
Justin Fields and they passed on Mac Jones. That feels
significant to me. What did the Steelers do well? They
(11:23):
still have Ben Roethlisberger. I think this is a no brainer.
The Broncos have to be a substantial favorite to go
get Aaron Rodgers right now. Not to say somebody else
couldn't make that choice, but if you look at the
overall quarterback positions right now and think about how all
of these are lined up and what the situations would
(11:43):
be in general, to me, the only two teams that
would make a lot of sense to go get Aaron
Rodgers are the Broncos and the Steelers. The Steelers don't
make sense for this year, so it doesn't uh. That
doesn't really add up to me the five teams that
came into this draft, but aentually in the quarterback market,
the Broncos are the team that makes the most sense
(12:05):
going forward to get a deal done for Aaron Rodgers. Now,
what would that deal look like? I don't know how
many years would the Broncos have to give away in
order to go grab Aaron Rodgers. Of quarterbacks, this is
somewhat akin to Peyton Manning, except Peyton Manning was a
free agent, you could probably trade away. Uh. Maybe in
(12:27):
a scenario, the Houston Texans could go get a guy
like Drew Lock. Obviously, the Texans are the other team
that is desperate for a quarterback right now. But unfortunately
for the Texans, they don't have a pick in the
first or the second round. Maybe maybe just kind of
tossing it out there, the Green Bay Packers might be
willing to take the risk for Deshaun Watson. Would they
(12:48):
be willing to try to move on from Deshaun Watson
given all the different issues that are outstanding with Deshaun
Watson and make a move to try and make a
trade for Aaron Rodgers. I don't know. I don't know
that I want to take on that obligation or that
mess if I am the Green Bay Packers, because who
knows what might happen with Deshaun Watson. That's kind of
(13:11):
the only proven quarterback I could see you could maybe
get in exchange. Uh, And look, if you really believe
in Jordan's love, put your money where your mouth is
and let him be the starter going forward. So as
we break it down this Aaron Rodgers story is not
going to disappear. We're gonna be talking about it a
ton an absolutely massive amount as we continue to go forward.
(13:35):
And again, I think the Broncos make the most sense.
Is Aaron Rodgers at the age of thirty seven or
thirty eight worth two or three first round picks? I
think it's an intriguing question. I'm not sure that the
answer is yes, But I think if you're the Broncos,
you see this as a potential opportunity to go back
(13:56):
in time and redo the Peyton Manning situation. And so
you would have the opportunity potentially to have a guy
who can give you a Super Bowl opportunity in Denver
going forward. And by the way, let's think about that
for a minute. If he went to Denver, you're talking
about the a f C West being completely stacked now, right,
because you would have Patrick Mahomes against Aaron Rodgers twice
(14:20):
a year Chiefs versus Broncos. That would be an amazing matchup.
And then you're talking about the young quarterback in Justin
Herbert with the Chargers and the poor woebegone Raiders who
are still making ridiculous choices all throughout the first round.
Uh So, that in and of itself is going to
be really intriguing to think about. It would be a
(14:43):
major shift in the balance of power from the h
from the NFC to the a f C to take
away a team as good as the Green Bay Packers
with Aaron Rodgers and suddenly shift his talent to the
a f C. If I'm Tom Brady, I'm excited about that.
If I'm any NFC contender, I'm thinking to myself, Man,
that is a big advantage for us, and it just
(15:05):
makes the a f C that much more difficult. And
it also makes arguably the a f C West then
rise to the level of being the best division in
all of the NFL. Because right now the NFC West
is the best division. But if you had Aaron Rodgers,
Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Herbert all in the same division,
(15:26):
you toss in Derek Carr, who had a decent year
last season, I think that's a pretty tough spot in
order to try to figure out going forward how to
win at a high level in that division. So we
will continue to break all of this down, will discuss
with the crew everything surrounding Aaron Rodgers and more were
(15:47):
breaking down all of the NFL Draft. I am Clay Travis.
This is out Kick. I appreciate all of you hanging
out with us on Fox Sports Radio. And as we
go to break do I need to say something I
do not believe that I do. I think I am
in a good shape. There By the way, interesting details,
(16:07):
UH Power five conferences the SEC with twelve picks, the
Big Ten with seven, the A C C with six,
the Pack twelve with three. The Big twelve did not
have a single first round draft pick. Pretty wild to
think about again, the SEC with twelve, the Big Ten
with seven, the A C C with six, the Pack
(16:29):
twelve with three. The Big twelve did not have a
single draft pick in this first round. Appreciate all of
you hanging out with us. When we come back, more
on Aaron Rodgers where he could end up more discussion
about the NFL Draft. At the top of the third hour,
we'll be breaking down, UH the OutKick Draft and we
(16:50):
did pretty well as a crew. We will discuss all
that more. This is OutKick on Fox Sports Radio. This
is Outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. We are rolling
through the Friday edition after the first round of the
NFL Draft is complete, unpacking all of the results, and
(17:12):
I gotta tell you we probably should have mentioned this
as we were breaking down everything surrounding Aaron Rodgers. The
Packers are saying they are not going to trade him,
which means we could be headed for a Deshaun Watson
like situation minus all of the legal drama, which is
(17:33):
if you remember the discussion before the Deshaun Watson sexual
assault cases started to stack up, the Texans seemed to
be adopting the proposition we will not trade Deshaun Watson
no matter what, and Deshaun Watson kept saying, Okay, well,
basically I'll sit out. That's the situation that Aaron Rodgers
(17:54):
and the Green Bay Packers could find each other in.
This could be a stalemate, This could be a quest
to see who blinks first. And there's such a monster
drop off from the Packers going from Aaron Rodgers almost
to anyone, but certainly to an unproven Jordan's Love who
was only in his second year. The difference there is
(18:16):
the Packers are potentially contending for the NFC Championship, a
Super Bowl run again with Aaron Rodgers. With Jordan's Love,
we legitimately have no idea what the reasonable expectations would be.
And by the way, the forty Niners have admitted that
they inquired upon finding out that reportedly Aaron Rodgers may
(18:37):
have demanded a trade, which is the smart move I
think they should make given the fact that the NFL
m v P is available. In fact, John Lynch came
out and basically said, yeah, when we heard I'm reading
from him when the m v P of the league
might be available. I didn't know that. I'm just reading
(18:58):
the tea leaves like everybody else and saying, hold on,
is something going on here? Yeah, we inquired, and it
was a quick end to the conversation. It wasn't happening.
So the forty Niners were willing to put together a
package to try to go get Aaron Rodgers and make
aggressive move in order to make that a reality, but
(19:20):
the Packers shot it down. And I think right now,
if you look at all of the available quarterback job
openings right now, the only real team that makes sense
to me on a one year basis other than the Texans,
which I kind of threw out there as a bit
(19:43):
of a hail mary by the Texans. If I'm the Texans,
I call the green Bay Packers and I say, hey,
Deshaun Watson for Aaron Rodgers, straight up, would you do it?
I don't think there's any way the Green Bay Packers
do it because I don't think the Packers want to
take the I don't think they want to move on
(20:03):
from Aaron Rodgers. First of all, I don't think they
want to take the risk of what might happen with
Deshaun Watson otherwise. But in an ordinary world, if Deshaun
Watson were able uh to be traded and it was reliable,
that'd be a heck of a move for the Packers. Now,
I don't think Aaron Rodgers would go with it. Why
would he want to go to the Texans and leave
(20:25):
a good situation in Green Bay for a crappy situation
in Houston. But that's at least a conversation that I
would try to have if I were the Houston Texans,
to see if there might be something there. Leaving that aside,
because again, I think that's a hell mary from the
Texans leaving that issue aside. I think the only team
that it really makes sense for now for Aaron Rodgers
(20:48):
to join is uh, straight up. I think the Denver Broncos. Now,
Danny g you went back through the archives because this
was sort of the slow moving car accident, right, like
everybody is sort of sliding on the ice but not
going very fast, and you're like, man, this does not
look good. You went back and grabbed the audio from
(21:12):
last year when Jordan's Love was drafted, and I came
on the show and I basically said, Hey, this is
the Packers declaring war on Aaron Rodgers. I haven't heard
this obviously, we said it last year. Can you pop
that in let's hear what it sounds like. Yeah, I will,
and really quick so you understand how this clip begins.
You're right, it was slow moving because the general consensus was, well,
(21:35):
Jordan's Love is gonna have to sit the same way
Rogers sat behind Farv. And then a few days after
the draft, Brett Farve came out on a radio show
and made some comments about how it was disrespectful to
Aaron Rodgers. And this was your reaction to Brett Farve.
I would do all I could to not burn that bridge,
and I don't think that they did that. I think
(21:57):
that they burned the bridge that it's gonna be hard
to overcomes at some point. I think it will rear
its ugly here. Uh, good stuff there far If I
want to bring in the crew and see what they
think about this, uh, I think Aaron Rodgers has every
reason to be furious at the Green Bay Packers. And
(22:17):
to me, the Athletic reported this, but it's hard to
believe that there's a great relationship between Brett Farve and
the management of the Green Bay Packers at this point
in time. Uh. And so you look at this right now,
and and to me, I mean, this is a this
is a mess, right, this is a real mess. And
(22:39):
it seems like a declaration of war between packer management,
in particular new head coach Matt Lafleur and Aaron Rodgers.
Danny g any other way to see this than the
way I'm seeing it, I don't think. So. There were
so many playmakers available in this draft, and I thought
for sure the Packers would go for a wide receivers,
(23:00):
somebody to help Aaron Rodgers, and also they could have
used some punch on their defense as well. But to
go this route was definitely head scratching, and for Jordan's Love,
I really was hoping that he would go to a
team where he'd only need to sit for one season,
similar to Mahomes. Instead, this seems like a total waste
(23:20):
of a rookie deal on love. I I agree completely
on that, and and honestly, the only way to read
this is that the Packers are interested in trading Aaron Rodgers.
I think that is the only possible way you can
read this where it makes any sense at all. Dub
Am I insane for saying this is a declaration of war,
And the only way that I can see it making
(23:42):
sense is if they're planning on trading Aaron Rodgers. No,
I don't think you're crazy, And I think you just
mentioned something that really speaks volumes to this whole situation.
The Packers traded up to get Jordan's love. They only
traded up four spots. I mean they could have waited
if they really wanted him to thirty because if if
another team really want him, like you just said, they
would have already had him. He would have been off
(24:03):
the board. So this to me was more of like
a a signal sent to Aaron Rodgers, Hey, we're trading
up to get this guy in the first round, not
only were we taking him in the first round, but
we're gonna trade up to get him, So to me,
I don't see it any other way. But other than
what you've just laid out between you know this this
declaration of war against Aaron Rodgers, and it doesn't make sense.
Another reason is they just gave him a just a
(24:25):
monstrous contract, Aaron Rodgers, and for them to go out
and draft a quarterback in the first round, it it
really does not make a whole lot of sense to me.
Not only that they were in the NFC Championship game,
they were poised to be able to go to a
second Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers, which is hard to do,
(24:47):
particularly for an aging quarterback. And give Aaron Rodgers a
chance to potentially go out at the peak of his
abilities like we saw happen with John Elway, like we
saw happen with Peyton Manning, to ride off into the
sunset with that second super Bowl. That gives you forever
an opportunity to further burnish your legacy. Now, fortunately for
(25:10):
Aaron Rodgers, he's one at least one super Bowl at
a you're a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Steelers
still haven't really got a guy who makes sense after
Ben Roethlisberger and he's coming off of a severe injury.
I mean, as a Steeler fan, if I'm sitting around
and they had gone and gotten Jordan's love, I may
not love it, but at least you can say, well,
(25:30):
we can't roll with Mason rud Rudolph and Duck Hodges again. Uh,
if we end up with an injury, if Aaron, if
Ben Roethlisberger doesn't come back healthy. But it seems like
Mike Tomlin and the Steelers weren't even willing to do
that to Ben Roethlisberger, maybe because they didn't want to
create that stir and he's coming off of an injury.
This is to me, if you're Aaron Rodgers, an indefensible
(25:52):
move by the Packers. Well yeah, I mean for the
things that have already been talked about. I mean, you
you have a team that as a contender in the NFC,
and you're going to draft with your number one pick
a player who is unlikely to help you this year
or probably next year. I mean, maybe they get him
on the field to do some Taysom Hill stuff, but still,
how impactful is that going to be? They could have
used that pick in a better way, plus taken a
(26:15):
consideration the personality of Aaron Rodgers. Uh, he's not going
to just let this pass. I don't believe this is
gonna be an issue all season long. They have chosen
to make this a distraction as an organization. And it's crazy. Yeah,
I mean it is absolutely insane. Roberto, are you with me?
I mean, is is it? Let me take a step
(26:37):
back here and just get everybody's opinion. If I had
told you before the drafting of Jordan's Love, if I
had come on and I had said, hey, guys, I
think the Packers are are putting Aaron Rodgers on the
market as a free agent quarterback. Not a free agent quarterback,
but a draftable quarter I mean a tradeable quarterback because
of the draft, and they're gonna go get a first
(26:58):
round quarterback. They are basically letting it be known to
the entirety of the NFL Aaron Rodgers is available for
the right bidder. If I had said that to you,
would you have thought I was crazy? Danny g That
would have been a crazy thing to say, right, Oh yeah,
And I would have proposed that my favorite team immediately
(27:18):
pick number twelve and nineteen to the Packers to acquire
Aaron Rodgers. Okay, that is last year's discussion of the
Aaron Rodgers situation in the wake of the Jordan's Love Draft,
and I have to be honest with you, I think
we nailed it. Now. Aaron Rodgers nobody anticipated that he
would have one of the greatest years of his career.
(27:40):
I don't think at the age of thirty seven. But
Aaron Rodgers now is in an interesting spot because I
know some people can say, well, the Packers hold all
the cards here because Aaron Rodgers under contract with them.
And we talked a little bit about this with Deshaun Watson,
the differences with the Jeopardy hosting, which now looks even
(28:03):
more like a message to the Packers of hey, I
don't have to come back and play if I don't
want to. Aaron Rodgers, in theory, could decide I don't
need to play anymore in the NFL. He's made plenty
of money. This could be a pride related decision for
him where he went out and demonstrated that he still
(28:24):
has several years left to play. I think he's going
to force a trade to the Denver Broncos. That to
me feels like the most likely outcome here if I
were projecting going forward. You heard us mentioned there, John
Elway and Peyton Manning, the last two quarterbacks to go
(28:44):
out on a Super Bowl on their second Super Bowl.
If I am with the Broncos and I am pitching
the idea of Aaron Rodgers joining our franchise, what I'm
telling him is you can be the third in that
trio of quarterbacks who come to Denver, get a Super
(29:06):
Bowl and are able to ride off into the sunset,
not just with the Super Bowl, but with a second
Super Bowl, which forever burnishes your legacy as a dominant
force in this league. It's certainly, given the the amount
of talent that Aaron Rodgers has, would be a fitting
into his career. But I just keep coming back around too.
(29:27):
If you had to choose, whose side are you on?
The Green Bay Packers or Aaron Rodgers. Last ten years
in the draft, the Packers have gone defense first nine times,
the only time that they went with an offensive player,
the only time that they went with an offensive player
in the last decade with Brett uh sorry, with Aaron
(29:48):
Rodgers from the age of seven to thirty seven was
when they made the decision to draft Aaron Rodgers replacement
with Jordan's love, and they did it again last night,
which felt even more like a middle finger to Aaron Rodgers.
They went and took a corner out of Georgia with
their thirty overall pick, Eric Stokes, again just confirming that legacy.
(30:14):
The Packers know what they have in Aaron Rodgers, and
they've been convinced that he's good enough that he can
uplift the offense with his unique skill set and talent
such that they have decided to go grab defense every
single time, with the exception of when they drafted his
back up. That story deserves way more attention, and if
(30:35):
I were Aaron Rodgers, I would completely see it as
a slap in the face. When we come back, I'll
ask the crew where they think Aaron Rodgers could go
other than Denver and I threw out the hell Mary
of Houston. I just don't see any major choices that
would make a lot of sense for next year. It
doesn't make sense to me anywhere, but Denver and I'll
(30:57):
explain why as well a bit more as we unpack
this plus top of the third Hour we'll drive in
dive into how we did with the OutKick listener mock draft,
and we set spoiler alert a new all time high
in success there. This is Outkicked the Coverage with Clay Travis. Hey,
(31:24):
I'm John Middlecoff and I host the Three and Out Podcast.
Do you like football? Do you like the NFL? Do
you like the NFL draft quarterbacks? Coaches? Well, I talked
about it all on the show. I used to work
for Andy Reid as a scout. Now I give you
my unfiltered and raw opinions on everything that goes on
the NFL. And you know we're talking college football because
of how important the draft is year round. Listen to
(31:47):
the Three and Out Podcast with me John Middlecom on
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts. Okay, early poll results, you can go
vote in the easy You can search out my name
Clay Travis at Clay Travis on Twitter. And I put
up this question, whose side are you on in the
NFL's newest stare down Aaron Rodgers demanding a trade or
(32:10):
the Packers refusing to trade him. Uh, we'll see exactly
how the equity breaks down there. And I will share
the results with you, But I want to go around
the horn with the crew here. Can you guys think
of anywhere other than Denver that makes sense to trade
for Aaron Rodgers. I saw Kenny reached out to me
on social media and said, hey, what about New Orleans?
(32:33):
Wouldn't that be an instant fit? I think the challenge
with a lot of teams. Yes, there are lots of
places where Aaron Rodgers could fit in a hurry. The
problem is most people have already resolved their quarterback situation.
So New Orleans has already got a ton of money invested,
they have no salary cap room. They've got a ton
of money invested already in Taysom Hill and in Jamis Winston.
(32:54):
So it's not as if you can just get rid
of those guys. Now. If the Packers were willing to
trade for another quarterback, I think you could certainly say, hey,
the Raiders could make sense, right if the Packers wanted
to bring in a high dollar contract for a quarterback.
But I don't know why the Packers would want another quarterback.
(33:15):
If they were willing to make a trade, the reason
they would do it would be, I think for multiple
first round picks to be able to draft with in
the years ahead, not for an additional quarterback because they
already have a first round quarterback on the roster. That
would be my analysis of why I think the Broncos
makes sense. Because right now the Broncos are going to
(33:37):
go out and their quarterback situation would be Drew Lock
or Teddy Bridgewater, whoever wins that competition. That is a
pale approximation of what might be possible if they had
Aaron Rodgers, Danny g can you think of anywhere else
that makes sense for Aaron Rodgers to go? Well, my
first thought was what a suite reunion it would be
(33:57):
for Derek Carr and Davonte Adams, who played together as
stars at Fresno State. So yeah, I actually think car
would be a nice fit in Green Bay. I just
don't think they would do it. Man, if al Davis
was still alive, he would have already thrown everything in
the kitchen sink in to get Rogers. And the reason
why is you are in the same division with Patrick
(34:20):
Mahomes and Justin Herbert. Derek Carr is a really, really
good quarterback, but he's not an elite. I don't that's
exactly why. I don't think the Packers would want Derek Carr.
They have to take on his contract. Now, maybe if
the Raiders also put three first rounders in, well, yeah,
it wouldn't just be straight up to understand, it's not
just straight up, but I'm saying, but at least car
would give them a bridge though, to then start Jordan's love. Yeah,
(34:44):
I think Jordan's love has already been there a year
if if he's not ready to go by year two,
in many ways, that pick is even more worthless than
it already was. They just want picks. But in the
Niners offering Jimmy Jimmy Garoppolo in the third round picking
up a buch of the first round picks, and he's
said no to that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a
good example. I mean, Jimmy G's contract is such that
it would hamstring them. I mean, if I'm the Packers,
(35:05):
first of all, I understand them not wanting to trade
at all because they were really close to the Super
Bowl and they have an m v P quarterback in
Aaron Rodgers. But if they were going to trade him,
the only way it makes sense to me is if
they're getting multiple first round picks and not having to
take on any salary encumbrances and or other words, this
isn't Jared Goff. When Detroit, in order to move on
(35:28):
from Matthew Stafford, agrees that they will take Jared Goff's contract,
which is a big part of that deal as well. Uh,
this to me is a situation where the Packers would
have to demand multiple first round picks. Maybe there are
players on a team that they would trade with that
they like that they would be interested in bringing on
(35:48):
as well, but taking a guy like Derek Carr to
me as a non starter, which is why I've used
the Denver Broncos or the Hail Mary Houston Texans opportunity
as an example, because those teams are are bereft of
quarterbacks and there isn't really a situation to make sense. Now,
Deshaun Watson's five years old. If you thought that he
(36:08):
was going to escape legal liability, that might be a
move worth making. What about you, dub anybody that makes sense? Well, yeah,
I think I think Miami could make sense because to me,
if you're trading, let's say you trade four first round picks.
If the other teams getting Aaron Rodgers what are those
first round picks even gonna be. They're gonna be like
twenty five at best every single year because the team
you're trading, he's gonna be really good. That's a good
(36:30):
point too. Is gonna have Aaron Rodgers, so the team
is gonna be really good, Which is why turning down
the forty Niners when they knew they had a guaranteed
number three pick is such a big deal and indicative
of the fact that the Packers don't want to move on. Yeah,
exactly right. But I look at a team like the Dolphins,
who have had seemingly a hundred first round picks in
the past four or five years. They obviously have some
(36:51):
guys that are young, that are talented, that aren't that expensive.
Maybe you could package those players along with those three
or four future first round picks. But me, the deal
the forty Niners made, I don't know if it gets
much sweeter than that. Yeah, And initially when the Broncos
drafted Patrick Certan, I believe it was right. My thought was, Hey,
(37:11):
that might be a pick that they're taking on behalf
of the Packers. But then when the Packers came in
and took another first round cornerback. That seems less likely
to me. In other words, I was thinking, Hey, maybe
they're still hammering out the final terms of this deal,
but the Packers are going to get whoever the Broncos
draft at nine plus a couple of extra picks going forward,
(37:34):
that seems less likely. One team, by the way, and
I'll ask Eddie about this when he comes back that
could theoretically make sense is the Pittsburgh Steelers, but not
this year while they still have Ben Roethlisberger, who they're
bringing back. Uh, we'll discuss that a bit, but I
just really don't see very many opportunities out there. Um,
all right, when we come back, we're gonna break down
(37:55):
the OutKick Listener draft and see how we did. And
the spoiler alert there is we set a new record
for success, and I'll break down for you all of
the pics that we got right there. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
(38:17):
and within the I Heart Radio app search f s
R to listen live.
I'll Kicked the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday
morning from six to nine a m. E stone three
to six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your
local station for Outkicked the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio
dot Com, or stream us live every morning on the
I Heart Radio app by searching fs are you're listening
(00:22):
to Fox Sports Radio. The Packers when they made the
decision last year to draft Jordan's Love, we're betting on
the idea that Aaron Rodgers was on the absolute tail
end of his career. And I think they were blown
away by the fact that Aaron Rodgers had an m
(00:45):
VP season last year and that he looked like the
best version of himself that he had looked like in years,
and I think that stunned the Packers. Now, I do
think that Aaron Rodgers was motivated to play as well
as he did partially because of the anger that he
felt over what I'm sure he felt was a betrayal
(01:09):
by the Green Bay Packers. And then you combine it
with the decision late against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to
not give him a chance to try to score the
touchdown to kick the field goal. There something that was
referenced in Jeopardy, and I believe that ultimately Aaron Rodgers
looked across the field at Tom Brady, and I think
(01:30):
he had envy for the fact that Tom Brady was
able to walk away from New England win a championship
with Tampa Bay and, whether anybody wants to believe it
or not, ultimately grasp a great deal of revenge over
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriot organization, which I
believe had argued to a lot of people out there, Hey,
(01:53):
the reason why Brady has been so successful is because
he got to play with us. Now, the reality is Belichick,
it's a great coach, but he's got an all time
losing record without Tom Brady. Now he's gonna get a
chance with Mac Jones in the next couple of years
ahead to see exactly what kind of relationship they can have,
and maybe Belichick can find magic again with another quarterback.
(02:16):
But right now, we debated this for years who was
more important? Was Was Bill Belichick or Tom Brady more
important to the New England Patriot dynasty. I think what
has happened is Tom Brady has won that argument for
the foreseeable future. In a major way. So now Aaron Rodgers,
(02:37):
I believe, is looking back and thinking to himself, Hey,
there is an argument that I could have the same
kind of success as Tom Brady at a brand new
team if I was with the right franchise. And I
think the decision to draft Jordan's Love, Aaron Rodgers used
it as fuel. And I don't think by the way
(02:58):
he holds it against Jordan's Love because he's in through
this himself with Brett Farve, he just felt disrespected because
I believe Aaron Rodgers looks around the league and says,
wait a minute. Tom Brady's forty three years old, Drew
Brees forty one years old. Those guys are still playing
at an incredibly high level. I'm three or four years
younger at least than those guys. I'm gonna play until
(03:20):
I'm forty, and I'm not close to being done right now.
And I think the Packers thought that he was. They
gambled by taking a guy in the first round even
though they had been in the NFC Championship game. And
I have to ask you, I think it's a fair question,
and I'm sure it's one that Aaron Rodgers and his representation.
I've been asking, Hey, do you think if we had
(03:41):
drafted a corner last year and that corner had been good,
that maybe we would have beaten the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and been better on the defensive side of the ball
than we were. In other words, maybe that could have
made the difference in the NFC Championship game if we
had had bigger and better talent to be able to
(04:03):
rely on there. And I think that is a very fair,
very legitimate position that they could ask as it pertains
to that decision. Now, what I believe has happened is
Aaron Rodgers try to keep this quiet. I think Aaron
Rodgers try to keep it quiet. He said, look, I
want to be traded, and I think now that the
(04:24):
Packers don't have very many good options. The decision to
go draft Eric Stokes out of Georgia to take a
defensive player was to me kind of like sticking a
middle finger up at Aaron Rodgers, because I think the
Packers are furious that Aaron Rodgers and his team made
a calculated decision to go public and say all of
this on the day that everybody's paying attention to the NFL.
(04:49):
They leaked this information about Aaron Rodgers wanting to be
traded to try to put pressure on the green Bay
Packers to get something done. And it seems on some
level why the Packers are trying to call Aaron Rodgers bluff.
We'll see how exactly that manages to hold up. But
I would say this, think about how Green Bay has
used their picks in the first round every year since
(05:13):
two thousand twelve. They have used the fact that they
have Aaron Rodgers as a license to go get defensive
players because they believe he's so good that they don't
need to surround him with incredible offensive talent. Two thousand twelve,
defensive end, two thousand thirteen, defensive end, two thousand fourteen,
(05:34):
defensive back, two thousand fifteen, safety, two thousand sixteen, defensive
tackle two thousand seventeen, cornerback two thousand eighteen, cornerback, two
thousand nineteen, linebacker, two thousand twenty backup quarterback to replace
(05:54):
Aaron Rodgers two thousand twenty one, cornerback. Now I just
ask you, that's ten years. I was just counting on
my phone. Ten years of first round picks. Not one
single first pick has been on the offensive side. Of
the ball except for the guy that they drafted to
(06:18):
potentially replace Aaron Rodgers. No matter who you are, that
is a level of disrespect that I believe would drive
just about everybody insane in terms of the way that
that broke down. And so I don't blame Aaron Rodgers
(06:38):
at all for being angry about the way that this
situation has gone down. And by the way, before the
whole situation with Deshaun Watson blew up, there was a
lot of discussion about Deshaun Watson effectively demanding a trade.
Aaron Rodgers, I believe has earned the right to demand
(06:58):
a trade. He's been performing at an m v P
caliber level for his entire career. He's not doing this
at twenty five or twenty six years old. I just
ran through ten different first picks that the Green Bay
Packers have made. None of them are on the offensive
(07:20):
side of the ball. Other than the quarterback they drafted
to replace Aaron Rodgers. The other nine players are all
on defense. The Packers have the luxury of having Aaron
Rodgers as a stud quarterback, and they have not surrounded
him with elite level talent because they think Aaron Rodgers
can make the talent incredibly elite around him. At some
(07:44):
point that level of disrespect festers with you, and I
think Aaron Rodgers deciding to go do Jeopardy. I think
Aaron Rodgers, being the guy that he is, he tried
to keep this quiet and ultimately the Packers were not
listening to him, and so he decided with his representation
(08:06):
to go public with what's going on in this broken relationship.
Right now now, the question is how do the Packers
play this out? The only real way I could see
the Packers being able to keep Aaron Rodgers if I
were advising them and they said, Okay, Clay, how can
we fix this? I think they'd probably have to trade
Jordan's love, basically give him away, and let somebody else
(08:31):
give him a second or a third round pick for
Jordan's love. If they could get that and sign Aaron
Rodgers to a long term extension guaranteeing him another three
years or so of being the quarterback for the Green
Bay Packers, I'm not sure even then that Aaron Rodgers
would acquiesce and agree to continue to be a a
(08:53):
quarterback for the Packers because he may feel like this
entire relationship is broken. But that's the only thing in
my mind that could be done that in any way
would justify Aaron Rodgers being able to be convinced to
come back for another several years with the Green Bay Packers.
(09:13):
I think this is a broken relationship. I think it's
eerily similar to what happened with Tom Brady. The difference
is Brady was an understricted free agent. But I think
that Aaron Rodgers can get a lot of teams out
there bidding on him. And the rumor was hot and
heavy last night that it was gonna be the Denver
Broncos potentially making this deal. And I don't know what
(09:33):
the Packers scenario is going to be. They may not
want to reward Aaron Rodgers. They may drag this out.
They may try to turn it into a public bidding
process where they're able to get a lot of assets
in the years ahead in order to give up Aaron Rodgers.
But I think this is a story that is incredibly
interesting to follow and see exactly how it all ends
(09:56):
up shaking out. And I don't see how it ends
well for the Packers. I think there are a lot
of teams out there that would be interested in Aaron Rodgers.
The challenges. A lot of those teams that would have
potentially been interested in Aaron Rodgers made moves to go
get quarterbacks. The one that did not is the Denver Broncos,
(10:16):
which is why I would kind of circle back around
and say that's the team that could make the most
sense for Aaron Rodgers. Let me explain. We came in
this year, UH to the draft, and I had sort
of put five teams outside of the ones that we
knew were taking quarterbacks, right, the Jags taking Trevor Lawrence,
Zack Wilson, UH, the forty Niners. We knew all three
(10:38):
of those teams were gonna be in uh, in the
mix to potentially go grab quarterbacks. I said to me,
there were five teams that were really still potentially in
the quarterback market, uh and the Broncos, the Patriots, the Steelers, Washington,
and Chicago. Well, I think you can take the Patriots
and Chicago off the board because the Patriots went got
(11:00):
Mac Jones and the Bears went and got Justin Fields.
That leaves us with the Steelers, Washington, and the Broncos
as teams that could theoretically be in the mix to
get quarterbacks. What did the Broncos do. They passed on
Justin Fields and they passed on Mac Jones. That feels
significant to me. What did the Steelers do well? They
(11:23):
still have Ben Roethlisberger. I think this is a no brainer.
The Broncos have to be a substantial favorite to go
get Aaron Rodgers right now. Not to say somebody else
couldn't make that choice, but if you look at the
overall quarterback positions right now and think about how all
of these are lined up and what the situations would
(11:43):
be in general, to me, the only two teams that
would make a lot of sense to go get Aaron
Rodgers are the Broncos and the Steelers. The Steelers don't
make sense for this year, so it doesn't uh. That
doesn't really add up to me the five teams that
came into this draft, but aentually in the quarterback market,
the Broncos are the team that makes the most sense
(12:05):
going forward to get a deal done for Aaron Rodgers. Now,
what would that deal look like? I don't know how
many years would the Broncos have to give away in
order to go grab Aaron Rodgers. Of quarterbacks, this is
somewhat akin to Peyton Manning, except Peyton Manning was a
free agent, you could probably trade away. Uh. Maybe in
(12:27):
a scenario, the Houston Texans could go get a guy
like Drew Lock. Obviously, the Texans are the other team
that is desperate for a quarterback right now. But unfortunately
for the Texans, they don't have a pick in the
first or the second round. Maybe maybe just kind of
tossing it out there, the Green Bay Packers might be
willing to take the risk for Deshaun Watson. Would they
(12:48):
be willing to try to move on from Deshaun Watson
given all the different issues that are outstanding with Deshaun
Watson and make a move to try and make a
trade for Aaron Rodgers. I don't know. I don't know
that I want to take on that obligation or that
mess if I am the Green Bay Packers, because who
knows what might happen with Deshaun Watson. That's kind of
(13:11):
the only proven quarterback I could see you could maybe
get in exchange. Uh, And look, if you really believe
in Jordan's love, put your money where your mouth is
and let him be the starter going forward. So as
we break it down this Aaron Rodgers story is not
going to disappear. We're gonna be talking about it a
ton an absolutely massive amount as we continue to go forward.
(13:35):
And again, I think the Broncos make the most sense.
Is Aaron Rodgers at the age of thirty seven or
thirty eight worth two or three first round picks? I
think it's an intriguing question. I'm not sure that the
answer is yes, But I think if you're the Broncos,
you see this as a potential opportunity to go back
(13:56):
in time and redo the Peyton Manning situation. And so
you would have the opportunity potentially to have a guy
who can give you a Super Bowl opportunity in Denver
going forward. And by the way, let's think about that
for a minute. If he went to Denver, you're talking
about the a f C West being completely stacked now, right,
because you would have Patrick Mahomes against Aaron Rodgers twice
(14:20):
a year Chiefs versus Broncos. That would be an amazing matchup.
And then you're talking about the young quarterback in Justin
Herbert with the Chargers and the poor woebegone Raiders who
are still making ridiculous choices all throughout the first round.
Uh So, that in and of itself is going to
be really intriguing to think about. It would be a
(14:43):
major shift in the balance of power from the h
from the NFC to the a f C to take
away a team as good as the Green Bay Packers
with Aaron Rodgers and suddenly shift his talent to the
a f C. If I'm Tom Brady, I'm excited about that.
If I'm any NFC contender, I'm thinking to myself, Man,
that is a big advantage for us, and it just
(15:05):
makes the a f C that much more difficult. And
it also makes arguably the a f C West then
rise to the level of being the best division in
all of the NFL. Because right now the NFC West
is the best division. But if you had Aaron Rodgers,
Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Herbert all in the same division,
(15:26):
you toss in Derek Carr, who had a decent year
last season, I think that's a pretty tough spot in
order to try to figure out going forward how to
win at a high level in that division. So we
will continue to break all of this down, will discuss
with the crew everything surrounding Aaron Rodgers and more were
(15:47):
breaking down all of the NFL Draft. I am Clay Travis.
This is out Kick. I appreciate all of you hanging
out with us on Fox Sports Radio. And as we
go to break do I need to say something I
do not believe that I do. I think I am
in a good shape. There By the way, interesting details,
(16:07):
UH Power five conferences the SEC with twelve picks, the
Big Ten with seven, the A C C with six,
the Pack twelve with three. The Big twelve did not
have a single first round draft pick. Pretty wild to
think about again, the SEC with twelve, the Big Ten
with seven, the A C C with six, the Pack
(16:29):
twelve with three. The Big twelve did not have a
single draft pick in this first round. Appreciate all of
you hanging out with us. When we come back, more
on Aaron Rodgers where he could end up more discussion
about the NFL Draft. At the top of the third hour,
we'll be breaking down, UH the OutKick Draft and we
(16:50):
did pretty well as a crew. We will discuss all
that more. This is OutKick on Fox Sports Radio. This
is Outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. We are rolling
through the Friday edition after the first round of the
NFL Draft is complete, unpacking all of the results, and
(17:12):
I gotta tell you we probably should have mentioned this
as we were breaking down everything surrounding Aaron Rodgers. The
Packers are saying they are not going to trade him,
which means we could be headed for a Deshaun Watson
like situation minus all of the legal drama, which is
(17:33):
if you remember the discussion before the Deshaun Watson sexual
assault cases started to stack up, the Texans seemed to
be adopting the proposition we will not trade Deshaun Watson
no matter what, and Deshaun Watson kept saying, Okay, well,
basically I'll sit out. That's the situation that Aaron Rodgers
(17:54):
and the Green Bay Packers could find each other in.
This could be a stalemate, This could be a quest
to see who blinks first. And there's such a monster
drop off from the Packers going from Aaron Rodgers almost
to anyone, but certainly to an unproven Jordan's Love who
was only in his second year. The difference there is
(18:16):
the Packers are potentially contending for the NFC Championship, a
Super Bowl run again with Aaron Rodgers. With Jordan's Love,
we legitimately have no idea what the reasonable expectations would be.
And by the way, the forty Niners have admitted that
they inquired upon finding out that reportedly Aaron Rodgers may
(18:37):
have demanded a trade, which is the smart move I
think they should make given the fact that the NFL
m v P is available. In fact, John Lynch came
out and basically said, yeah, when we heard I'm reading
from him when the m v P of the league
might be available. I didn't know that. I'm just reading
(18:58):
the tea leaves like everybody else and saying, hold on,
is something going on here? Yeah, we inquired, and it
was a quick end to the conversation. It wasn't happening.
So the forty Niners were willing to put together a
package to try to go get Aaron Rodgers and make
aggressive move in order to make that a reality, but
(19:20):
the Packers shot it down. And I think right now,
if you look at all of the available quarterback job
openings right now, the only real team that makes sense
to me on a one year basis other than the Texans,
which I kind of threw out there as a bit
(19:43):
of a hail mary by the Texans. If I'm the Texans,
I call the green Bay Packers and I say, hey,
Deshaun Watson for Aaron Rodgers, straight up, would you do it?
I don't think there's any way the Green Bay Packers
do it because I don't think the Packers want to
take the I don't think they want to move on
(20:03):
from Aaron Rodgers. First of all, I don't think they
want to take the risk of what might happen with
Deshaun Watson otherwise. But in an ordinary world, if Deshaun
Watson were able uh to be traded and it was reliable,
that'd be a heck of a move for the Packers. Now,
I don't think Aaron Rodgers would go with it. Why
would he want to go to the Texans and leave
(20:25):
a good situation in Green Bay for a crappy situation
in Houston. But that's at least a conversation that I
would try to have if I were the Houston Texans,
to see if there might be something there. Leaving that aside,
because again, I think that's a hell mary from the
Texans leaving that issue aside. I think the only team
that it really makes sense for now for Aaron Rodgers
(20:48):
to join is uh, straight up. I think the Denver Broncos. Now,
Danny g you went back through the archives because this
was sort of the slow moving car accident, right, like
everybody is sort of sliding on the ice but not
going very fast, and you're like, man, this does not
look good. You went back and grabbed the audio from
(21:12):
last year when Jordan's Love was drafted, and I came
on the show and I basically said, Hey, this is
the Packers declaring war on Aaron Rodgers. I haven't heard
this obviously, we said it last year. Can you pop
that in let's hear what it sounds like. Yeah, I will,
and really quick so you understand how this clip begins.
You're right, it was slow moving because the general consensus was, well,
(21:35):
Jordan's Love is gonna have to sit the same way
Rogers sat behind Farv. And then a few days after
the draft, Brett Farve came out on a radio show
and made some comments about how it was disrespectful to
Aaron Rodgers. And this was your reaction to Brett Farve.
I would do all I could to not burn that bridge,
and I don't think that they did that. I think
(21:57):
that they burned the bridge that it's gonna be hard
to overcomes at some point. I think it will rear
its ugly here. Uh, good stuff there far If I
want to bring in the crew and see what they
think about this, uh, I think Aaron Rodgers has every
reason to be furious at the Green Bay Packers. And
(22:17):
to me, the Athletic reported this, but it's hard to
believe that there's a great relationship between Brett Farve and
the management of the Green Bay Packers at this point
in time. Uh. And so you look at this right now,
and and to me, I mean, this is a this
is a mess, right, this is a real mess. And
(22:39):
it seems like a declaration of war between packer management,
in particular new head coach Matt Lafleur and Aaron Rodgers.
Danny g any other way to see this than the
way I'm seeing it, I don't think. So. There were
so many playmakers available in this draft, and I thought
for sure the Packers would go for a wide receivers,
(23:00):
somebody to help Aaron Rodgers, and also they could have
used some punch on their defense as well. But to
go this route was definitely head scratching, and for Jordan's Love,
I really was hoping that he would go to a
team where he'd only need to sit for one season,
similar to Mahomes. Instead, this seems like a total waste
(23:20):
of a rookie deal on love. I I agree completely
on that, and and honestly, the only way to read
this is that the Packers are interested in trading Aaron Rodgers.
I think that is the only possible way you can
read this where it makes any sense at all. Dub
Am I insane for saying this is a declaration of war,
And the only way that I can see it making
(23:42):
sense is if they're planning on trading Aaron Rodgers. No,
I don't think you're crazy, And I think you just
mentioned something that really speaks volumes to this whole situation.
The Packers traded up to get Jordan's love. They only
traded up four spots. I mean they could have waited
if they really wanted him to thirty because if if
another team really want him, like you just said, they
would have already had him. He would have been off
(24:03):
the board. So this to me was more of like
a a signal sent to Aaron Rodgers, Hey, we're trading
up to get this guy in the first round, not
only were we taking him in the first round, but
we're gonna trade up to get him, So to me,
I don't see it any other way. But other than
what you've just laid out between you know this this
declaration of war against Aaron Rodgers, and it doesn't make sense.
Another reason is they just gave him a just a
(24:25):
monstrous contract, Aaron Rodgers, and for them to go out
and draft a quarterback in the first round, it it
really does not make a whole lot of sense to me.
Not only that they were in the NFC Championship game,
they were poised to be able to go to a
second Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers, which is hard to do,
(24:47):
particularly for an aging quarterback. And give Aaron Rodgers a
chance to potentially go out at the peak of his
abilities like we saw happen with John Elway, like we
saw happen with Peyton Manning, to ride off into the
sunset with that second super Bowl. That gives you forever
an opportunity to further burnish your legacy. Now, fortunately for
(25:10):
Aaron Rodgers, he's one at least one super Bowl at
a you're a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Steelers
still haven't really got a guy who makes sense after
Ben Roethlisberger and he's coming off of a severe injury.
I mean, as a Steeler fan, if I'm sitting around
and they had gone and gotten Jordan's love, I may
not love it, but at least you can say, well,
(25:30):
we can't roll with Mason rud Rudolph and Duck Hodges again. Uh,
if we end up with an injury, if Aaron, if
Ben Roethlisberger doesn't come back healthy. But it seems like
Mike Tomlin and the Steelers weren't even willing to do
that to Ben Roethlisberger, maybe because they didn't want to
create that stir and he's coming off of an injury.
This is to me, if you're Aaron Rodgers, an indefensible
(25:52):
move by the Packers. Well yeah, I mean for the
things that have already been talked about. I mean, you
you have a team that as a contender in the NFC,
and you're going to draft with your number one pick
a player who is unlikely to help you this year
or probably next year. I mean, maybe they get him
on the field to do some Taysom Hill stuff, but still,
how impactful is that going to be? They could have
used that pick in a better way, plus taken a
(26:15):
consideration the personality of Aaron Rodgers. Uh, he's not going
to just let this pass. I don't believe this is
gonna be an issue all season long. They have chosen
to make this a distraction as an organization. And it's crazy. Yeah,
I mean it is absolutely insane. Roberto, are you with me?
I mean, is is it? Let me take a step
(26:37):
back here and just get everybody's opinion. If I had
told you before the drafting of Jordan's Love, if I
had come on and I had said, hey, guys, I
think the Packers are are putting Aaron Rodgers on the
market as a free agent quarterback. Not a free agent quarterback,
but a draftable quarter I mean a tradeable quarterback because
of the draft, and they're gonna go get a first
(26:58):
round quarterback. They are basically letting it be known to
the entirety of the NFL Aaron Rodgers is available for
the right bidder. If I had said that to you,
would you have thought I was crazy? Danny g That
would have been a crazy thing to say, right, Oh yeah,
And I would have proposed that my favorite team immediately
(27:18):
pick number twelve and nineteen to the Packers to acquire
Aaron Rodgers. Okay, that is last year's discussion of the
Aaron Rodgers situation in the wake of the Jordan's Love Draft,
and I have to be honest with you, I think
we nailed it. Now. Aaron Rodgers nobody anticipated that he
would have one of the greatest years of his career.
(27:40):
I don't think at the age of thirty seven. But
Aaron Rodgers now is in an interesting spot because I
know some people can say, well, the Packers hold all
the cards here because Aaron Rodgers under contract with them.
And we talked a little bit about this with Deshaun Watson,
the differences with the Jeopardy hosting, which now looks even
(28:03):
more like a message to the Packers of hey, I
don't have to come back and play if I don't
want to. Aaron Rodgers, in theory, could decide I don't
need to play anymore in the NFL. He's made plenty
of money. This could be a pride related decision for
him where he went out and demonstrated that he still
(28:24):
has several years left to play. I think he's going
to force a trade to the Denver Broncos. That to
me feels like the most likely outcome here if I
were projecting going forward. You heard us mentioned there, John
Elway and Peyton Manning, the last two quarterbacks to go
(28:44):
out on a Super Bowl on their second Super Bowl.
If I am with the Broncos and I am pitching
the idea of Aaron Rodgers joining our franchise, what I'm
telling him is you can be the third in that
trio of quarterbacks who come to Denver, get a Super
(29:06):
Bowl and are able to ride off into the sunset,
not just with the Super Bowl, but with a second
Super Bowl, which forever burnishes your legacy as a dominant
force in this league. It's certainly, given the the amount
of talent that Aaron Rodgers has, would be a fitting
into his career. But I just keep coming back around too.
(29:27):
If you had to choose, whose side are you on?
The Green Bay Packers or Aaron Rodgers. Last ten years
in the draft, the Packers have gone defense first nine times,
the only time that they went with an offensive player,
the only time that they went with an offensive player
in the last decade with Brett uh sorry, with Aaron
(29:48):
Rodgers from the age of seven to thirty seven was
when they made the decision to draft Aaron Rodgers replacement
with Jordan's love, and they did it again last night,
which felt even more like a middle finger to Aaron Rodgers.
They went and took a corner out of Georgia with
their thirty overall pick, Eric Stokes, again just confirming that legacy.
(30:14):
The Packers know what they have in Aaron Rodgers, and
they've been convinced that he's good enough that he can
uplift the offense with his unique skill set and talent
such that they have decided to go grab defense every
single time, with the exception of when they drafted his
back up. That story deserves way more attention, and if
(30:35):
I were Aaron Rodgers, I would completely see it as
a slap in the face. When we come back, I'll
ask the crew where they think Aaron Rodgers could go
other than Denver and I threw out the hell Mary
of Houston. I just don't see any major choices that
would make a lot of sense for next year. It
doesn't make sense to me anywhere, but Denver and I'll
(30:57):
explain why as well a bit more as we unpack
this plus top of the third Hour we'll drive in
dive into how we did with the OutKick listener mock draft,
and we set spoiler alert a new all time high
in success there. This is Outkicked the Coverage with Clay Travis. Hey,
(31:24):
I'm John Middlecoff and I host the Three and Out Podcast.
Do you like football? Do you like the NFL? Do
you like the NFL draft quarterbacks? Coaches? Well, I talked
about it all on the show. I used to work
for Andy Reid as a scout. Now I give you
my unfiltered and raw opinions on everything that goes on
the NFL. And you know we're talking college football because
of how important the draft is year round. Listen to
(31:47):
the Three and Out Podcast with me John Middlecom on
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts. Okay, early poll results, you can go
vote in the easy You can search out my name
Clay Travis at Clay Travis on Twitter. And I put
up this question, whose side are you on in the
NFL's newest stare down Aaron Rodgers demanding a trade or
(32:10):
the Packers refusing to trade him. Uh, we'll see exactly
how the equity breaks down there. And I will share
the results with you, But I want to go around
the horn with the crew here. Can you guys think
of anywhere other than Denver that makes sense to trade
for Aaron Rodgers. I saw Kenny reached out to me
on social media and said, hey, what about New Orleans?
(32:33):
Wouldn't that be an instant fit? I think the challenge
with a lot of teams. Yes, there are lots of
places where Aaron Rodgers could fit in a hurry. The
problem is most people have already resolved their quarterback situation.
So New Orleans has already got a ton of money invested,
they have no salary cap room. They've got a ton
of money invested already in Taysom Hill and in Jamis Winston.
(32:54):
So it's not as if you can just get rid
of those guys. Now. If the Packers were willing to
trade for another quarterback, I think you could certainly say, hey,
the Raiders could make sense, right if the Packers wanted
to bring in a high dollar contract for a quarterback.
But I don't know why the Packers would want another quarterback.
(33:15):
If they were willing to make a trade, the reason
they would do it would be, I think for multiple
first round picks to be able to draft with in
the years ahead, not for an additional quarterback because they
already have a first round quarterback on the roster. That
would be my analysis of why I think the Broncos
makes sense. Because right now the Broncos are going to
(33:37):
go out and their quarterback situation would be Drew Lock
or Teddy Bridgewater, whoever wins that competition. That is a
pale approximation of what might be possible if they had
Aaron Rodgers, Danny g can you think of anywhere else
that makes sense for Aaron Rodgers to go? Well, my
first thought was what a suite reunion it would be
(33:57):
for Derek Carr and Davonte Adams, who played together as
stars at Fresno State. So yeah, I actually think car
would be a nice fit in Green Bay. I just
don't think they would do it. Man, if al Davis
was still alive, he would have already thrown everything in
the kitchen sink in to get Rogers. And the reason
why is you are in the same division with Patrick
(34:20):
Mahomes and Justin Herbert. Derek Carr is a really, really
good quarterback, but he's not an elite. I don't that's
exactly why. I don't think the Packers would want Derek Carr.
They have to take on his contract. Now, maybe if
the Raiders also put three first rounders in, well, yeah,
it wouldn't just be straight up to understand, it's not
just straight up, but I'm saying, but at least car
would give them a bridge though, to then start Jordan's love. Yeah,
(34:44):
I think Jordan's love has already been there a year
if if he's not ready to go by year two,
in many ways, that pick is even more worthless than
it already was. They just want picks. But in the
Niners offering Jimmy Jimmy Garoppolo in the third round picking
up a buch of the first round picks, and he's
said no to that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a
good example. I mean, Jimmy G's contract is such that
it would hamstring them. I mean, if I'm the Packers,
(35:05):
first of all, I understand them not wanting to trade
at all because they were really close to the Super
Bowl and they have an m v P quarterback in
Aaron Rodgers. But if they were going to trade him,
the only way it makes sense to me is if
they're getting multiple first round picks and not having to
take on any salary encumbrances and or other words, this
isn't Jared Goff. When Detroit, in order to move on
(35:28):
from Matthew Stafford, agrees that they will take Jared Goff's contract,
which is a big part of that deal as well. Uh,
this to me is a situation where the Packers would
have to demand multiple first round picks. Maybe there are
players on a team that they would trade with that
they like that they would be interested in bringing on
(35:48):
as well, but taking a guy like Derek Carr to
me as a non starter, which is why I've used
the Denver Broncos or the Hail Mary Houston Texans opportunity
as an example, because those teams are are bereft of
quarterbacks and there isn't really a situation to make sense. Now,
Deshaun Watson's five years old. If you thought that he
(36:08):
was going to escape legal liability, that might be a
move worth making. What about you, dub anybody that makes sense? Well, yeah,
I think I think Miami could make sense because to me,
if you're trading, let's say you trade four first round picks.
If the other teams getting Aaron Rodgers what are those
first round picks even gonna be. They're gonna be like
twenty five at best every single year because the team
you're trading, he's gonna be really good. That's a good
(36:30):
point too. Is gonna have Aaron Rodgers, so the team
is gonna be really good, Which is why turning down
the forty Niners when they knew they had a guaranteed
number three pick is such a big deal and indicative
of the fact that the Packers don't want to move on. Yeah,
exactly right. But I look at a team like the Dolphins,
who have had seemingly a hundred first round picks in
the past four or five years. They obviously have some
(36:51):
guys that are young, that are talented, that aren't that expensive.
Maybe you could package those players along with those three
or four future first round picks. But me, the deal
the forty Niners made, I don't know if it gets
much sweeter than that. Yeah, And initially when the Broncos
drafted Patrick Certan, I believe it was right. My thought was, Hey,
(37:11):
that might be a pick that they're taking on behalf
of the Packers. But then when the Packers came in
and took another first round cornerback. That seems less likely
to me. In other words, I was thinking, Hey, maybe
they're still hammering out the final terms of this deal,
but the Packers are going to get whoever the Broncos
draft at nine plus a couple of extra picks going forward,
(37:34):
that seems less likely. One team, by the way, and
I'll ask Eddie about this when he comes back that
could theoretically make sense is the Pittsburgh Steelers, but not
this year while they still have Ben Roethlisberger, who they're
bringing back. Uh, we'll discuss that a bit, but I
just really don't see very many opportunities out there. Um,
all right, when we come back, we're gonna break down
(37:55):
the OutKick Listener draft and see how we did. And
the spoiler alert there is we set a new record
for success, and I'll break down for you all of
the pics that we got right there. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
(38:17):
and within the I Heart Radio app search f s
R to listen live.
Hosts And Creators
Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.