It was obvious that the Packers were going with Love on Tuesday. You don’t let your QB1 talk to another team about playing for them unless you’re planning on replacing him. Rodgers can go to the Jets or retire. Either way he’s done in Green Bay.

"All of this leads me to hope that the Packers could be really good right away this next season -- even going beyond contention for a wild card to striving for a division title."

A surprize team will contend (at a high level) in season 2023....That team is NOT located on the East Coast..... That surprize team resides in the great state of Wisconsin...

There are weapons we could get that would help. Will they produce enough to result in two additional wins? I don’t think so. Needless to say, we have four 2nd year players in the WR room, so regardless of what we draft you’ve got to imagine they’ll be looking to bring a veteran in via Free Agency or through the Jets trade package. I don’t see us making a move for a true WR1 with Watson having the ability to ascend to stardom as early as this year.

trade rodgers...sorry

"but he hasn't said anything. Its the media thats doing all of the talking. Rodgers hasn't said Boo"

Think about that a little. His silence produced much more media interest than it would be if he talks. Even Rappaport and Schefter stoped their speculation after ACR call them on the last McAffe show that nobody knows anything about his position, especially those two.

Collecting info about how media talks he can adjust his announcement when and if any deal will be made, giving him leverage to again looks like the most clever over all of them. This prolonged silence also serving to rise as much media interest as it may.

He has talent for football, no doubt, but his talent to manipulate media is at much higher level.

Could be a one year deal, but it is possibly just for 7 or 8 games. The trade deadline is usually week 8. It seems possible that GB might part with Bakh at the trade deadline, particularly if they aren't contenders, Tom and Nijman (rookie, etc.) look good.

Bakh is due $21.5M in 2024 and the acquiring team would get him for 10 or 11 games, roughly $733K and $353K in potential game active bonus payments. $22.8M for 10 games in 2023 and perhaps 17 more in 2024 might be enticing. If you're in contention in october and Bakh costs $1M for the rest of the season, lots of fans and GMs will not worry about 2024 - it isn't guaranteed money, after all.

Exactly what I had been wondering, thinking if Bak were to be included in a package deal with AR, part of our compensation would increase if the Packers were to take on the bigger portion of his cap hit? Or taking on more of both AR & DB $$$ owed in exchange for increased draft capital thrown in?

That’s the only thing that makes sense to me with this minute leakage of info on the trade details, which yesterday pointed to the money being the issue.

Absolutely, but with their free cap, those picks, they will be a very different beast. There is no guarantee that they screw it up, well, maybe if they really stick to Fields (I’m not a believer in him or his likely longevity).

Murphy said that early, and then had to backtrack and send front office personnel out to AR's place to grovel. And then signed off on that monstrosity of a contract.

It is true that responsibility for the AR saga is murky, but that is because Murphy changed the organizational structure such that no one knows who does what, only that they all report to Murphy. If they all report to Murphy, then he is the responsible party. Hence, the pitchforks generally get aimed in Murphy's general direction.

oh

Murphy's a dumbass for not trading Rodgers after three straight failures in the playoffs. And then he said "we're not idiots". Yes, Mark, you, at least ARe and idiot.

He doesn't get a pass from me.

To make a mistake but be willing to see it does redeem to a considerable extent, however the nature of the contract we achieved that but means we are left with a significant burden that need not have been taken on.

Now we get to see if LaFleur is a real head coach. If he is reborn free from Rodgers that’s a positive for Murphy, but if he’s not, it will be pretty clear that the reason we never got back to the big dance was a choice Murphy imposed. However, if he does appear reborn, one should be asking about the wisdom of the pairing with Rodgers for so long as well. Even the positive raises fundamental questions for Murphy. We still have the issue of the wisdom Barry and continuity to work out too, even if LaFleur’s offense is a revelation.

Finally, none of this fixes what Murphy has done to the Harken structure. That in itself should be an unacceptable situation. It will almost inevitably bite us in future after he’s gone at some point if not fixed.

I find it interesting that some have the desire to exonerate a guy who just blew tens of million in cap and probably more in trade than we may get, when we could have just parted ways without any cap consequences last year. I guess people can be fans of almost anyone or just much more comfortable with trusting deference to leaders.

Now we have to wait and see if Rodgers is amenable and hope he is or retires. I doubt the latter is particularly pretty if it’s not what he wants. The idea that he could return and that end happily now is a stretch at best. However, we can’t stop him as that would effectively require cutting him, which we can’t do due to that contract, which Murphy drove through with Ball.

So, while I do give some credit to Murphy for realizing his error of a year ago, I don’t think that gets him into the positive realm. Fascinated by the need of some here to manufacture confidence in Murphy. It’s not justified as I see it. Unless Rodgers takes the oath we are now forced to pray he does, this could yet get very ugly and even if he does we are paying royally for the privilege.

Now what I would dearly love to know is what changed. I don’t for a minute buy the idea that it’s Love primarily. We could have let him go last year and signed a replacement place holder easily. Look at what Seattle did. From stating that we’d be idiots to let him go for a deal likely as least as good and with less cap consequences and control on our part to now overtly hoping he elects to go is a very significant journey. No, there’s more to this. I have a feeling someday it will leak out in this case, or some version.

Say what? He signed off on the mega deal just last year? Now if the deal wasn't done yesterday he's talking out of turn and hurting their negotiating position. No apology from me and I can't wait til he's retired. After that I hope they split the job so there's a president of business operations and a president of football operations. I also hope that president restores the previous hierarchy. No one knows the future but it wouldn't surprise me if everybody in this current FO is gone in the next couple years.

No way.

Murphy deconstructed a fantastic management system built by Bob Harlan for his own gain. In doing so, he usurped all power within the Packers organization.

He chose LaFleur, not Gutekunst, whom Murphy eviscerated in so doing. Murphy fostered insubordination by keeping Aaron Rodgers, further compounding his error by paying him more.

The writing was on the wall then. Almost 3 years ago.

Rodgers’ “MVPs,” were more about his own stat padding, than his being an irreplaceable member of this Packers team. When has he ever exhibited “team first” motivations or actions?

Quite frankly, Rodgers’ actions often proved to be the opposite.

How does one throw to no one other than a triple covered WR for an entire 3 Quarters of a playoff game, with other options running free, wide open?

How do you not show up to build rapport with new key players?

How does THE money guy for a team as rich as the Packers turn away one of the best ST Coaches in NFL history in Rizzi, when the HC he alone selected requests him to be on his coaching staff?

Considering team goals, and the overall betterment of the Green Bay Packers, both Murphy & Rodgers have been meddlesome distractions hindering the team in its quest to achieve those goals.