Gotta love the Bee!
https://babylonbee.com/news/aaron-rodgers-retires-from-professional-foot...

I just looked at my first mock draft since the Packers moved up to #13 in the first round. CBS Sports has the Packers taking (drumroll please...) Zay Flowers, a 5/9" 182 pound WR from Boston College. Ummmmmmm.........

Sharing Some Thoughts:

A. I'm happy that the uncertainty seems to be over now, and I'm happy for Jordan Love who has waited - patiently - for this opportunity. My sense is that he's a good guy (along with being talented) and that Rodgers, on the whole, treated him MUCH better than Favre treated Rodgers.
B, As happy as I am, there is a finality to this that hurts just a little. While I'm not a regular here, I'm not a stranger, and some may know that I'm a lifelong Eagles fan who always admired the Packers, but for whatever reason, when Rodgers came here, the Pack became Team 1-A for me, and the Birds Team 1-B.
And it hurts a little that Rodgers didn't join the small list of the greatest QBs of my fandom who only played for one team -- see Elway, Marino and arguably Staubach and Bradshaw.
Instead, he'll be on the list of greats who did play for at least one other team -- Brady, Montana, Brees, Young, Favre.

C. So, I guess I have three teams to root for now: Eagles, Jets and Pack, and if they're the winners of the next three Super Bowls, I'll be delighted. I hope this trade works out well for both teams, and for the NFL as a whole.

Near as I can tell, the cost associated for the move up from 15 to 13 is a 4th round pick, so Green Bay got a 2nd (42) and a 4th in 23 and at least a 2nd and likely a 1st in 2024.

Getting a 1st (in 2024), and a 2nd & 4th in 2023 with no give back if he retires is quite a bit more than I expected.

I say job well done!

Has anyone seen the details of how his giant contract with the Packers was restructured?

Edit - found this on packerswire.usatoday:

This year's cap hit went from $31.62 mill to $40.31 because the trade happened before June 1st.
But also,
-the Packers didn’t have to pick up any portion of the $59.5 million in guarantees that Rodgers is due this season
-Once through 2023, there won’t be any salary cap impact from trading Rodgers.

That's pretty huge right there - way to go Gutey!

What are you waiting for Rodgers? It's time to go pack, go.

Too soon? I'll see myself out.

Now let's go shopping. Now spend wisely Gute!

Brian: "...you know we have been working on this for a while and to get beyond the draft would have been tough for both teams and so I think again the time Joe and I spent working on this and it was a lot, but can't thank him enough for kind of how we went through it BUT AGAIN IT'S NOT DONE AND I'M TRAINED BY TED THOMPSON UNTIL THE FINAL T'S ARE CROSSED AND I'S ARE DOTTED, NOTHINGS OFFICIAL YET, SO.."

Go listen to Brian's 29 minute and 27 second interview Monday afternoon.

Part of the transcript is below.

At this time Monday April 24PM/Tuesday April 25th AM there is still no trade.

All you have currently is the NFL paid talking head wage slaves doing what the 31 Billionaire Parasite owners of the NFL tell them to do:

Create hysteria and sensationalism through rumor, fabrications, exaggerations, scripted propaganda (aka "public relations")

For those TRUE and PRUDENT Packer fans I would urge you to go to the OFFICIAL Packer website and listen to this afternoon's interview of Brian. It is titled:

Brian Gutekunst expects Aaron Rodgers trade to be completed before draft
Green Bay Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst spoke with the media prior to the start of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Interviewer: "When did the trade happen?"

Brian: "The trade is not finalized yet. We were expecting it to be done very quickly, hopefully soon. A lot of things have been agreed upon, but there are things to go through."

Interviewer: "How much did things accelerate in the last 24 to 48 hours? Did things pick up this week?

Brian: "Not really, I would say in the last 5, 6, 7 days we been talking. We been talking you know much longer than that but I think the last 5 or 6 days over the weekend and stuff there has been a lot of conversation that helped us get to this point, but again there is still things that need to be done, it is not finalized but we do expect it to be done in the next couple days

Interviewer: "Is it just paperwork at this time, at this point?"

(STR Note: What an IGNORANT QUESTION - all business deals are on paper or they ARE NOT DEALS AT ALL. NOTHING. ZERO. )

Brian: "Mostly yeah, but those are significant so we're not there yet, but again were expected to have this done before the draft.

Interviewer: "Brian, how important was it to get this done before Friday?"

Brian: "It was very important for us, I think you know it wouldn't have been the end of the world but at the same time I think it would have certainly changed things quite a bit, so getting it done ahead of time is important.

Interviewer: "Why?"

Brian: "I just think certainly the capital for this year you know was very important, certainly more valuable than future stuff, so for our football team. So there was a number of reasons, but that's why."

Interviewer: "I believe at the Owners meetings we talked about the 13th pick and you said it is not like a must have. How did that swap become involved in it. Was that something that they ."

Brian (interrupting): "Yeah, Rob at some point because I know I am going to be talking a lot over the next 5 of 6 days I could go into some of that, but nothing has really been finalized yet, so until it does just bare with me, I'll go through that stuff with you at a later date, but right now we're still ironing some things out, but I appreciate the question.

(STR NOTE: PREMATURELY celebrating Aaron Rodgers haters, Spoiled Packer Fans, Sycophants of Paid Packer Management propagandists, and Aaron Rodgers Church Lady haters addicted to Aaron Rodger's personal life rumors , Brian is telling you that even the BASIC TERMS OF THE TRADE ITSELF - like what, if any draft choice switches there are and what draft choices the Packers are giving and receiving - have not been agreed upon. AGAIN, there is NO DEAL until it is on paper and signed off on by all authorized or required parties, including Rodgers.)

Interviewer: "How important was it for you to limit some of the conditions on the pick the Jets would include for next year as much as possible"

Brian: "Yeah, I am going to echo that again before I get into any of those kind of things we're going to pause there and we will pick it up at the other times I got to talk. (joking looking to his right) I got to talk again right, yeah, ok, so"

Other parts of the interview.

Interviewer: "Hey Gutey you said you wanted to do what was right for Aaron and right for the team. Why is trading him the right thing for your team? Forget about him, why is it the right thing for you guys?"

Brian: "Yeah I think where our team is at, obviously Aaron's up there in age and has I don't know how many years he has. I think he has some really good football left in him, but I think for us as we got through the off season and started talking about where we wanted to go, um, this made a little bit of sense for us. We wanted to get his input like I told you guys in the past and would have loved to have that and see where he sat with that. That didn't happen, that was a little bit unfortunate and disappointing for me,

OUR IMPATIENT AND IMPETUOUS AND IMPRUDENT PACKER GENERAL MANAGER IS TELLING US THAT JUST BECAUSE HE DID NOT GET IN TOUCH WITH THE LONGEST TENURED PACKER OF ALL TIME, THE QB WHO HAS JUST WON THE PASSER RATING TITLE TWO OUT OF THE LAST THREE YEARS - HIGER PASSER RATING THAN ALL 31 OTHER QBs including Mahomes, Brady, Jackson, Allen, Herbert, Lawrence, etc. - AND THE MVP 2 OUT OF THE LAST 3 YEARS, OUR IMPATIENT, IMPETUOUS, AND IMPRUDENT PACKERR GENERAL MANAGER TRADED AARON BEHIND AARON'S BACK!!!!

CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS PACKER FANS?

Brian continuing: "but at the same time I just think as we move forward, we are really excited where Jordan can go. He needs to play and having him sit another year I think would have really delayed kinda where we're going and what we are trying to build"

Interviewer: "You talked about not getting the input from Aaron that you wanted. If you all had a conversation do you think this could have ended differently or.."

Brian: "Yeah that is hypothetical, who knows like I said, um but um you know I would like to have had it, didn't have it , it happens so it kinda is what it is"

AND NOW THIS IMPATIENT AND IMPETUOUS AND IMPRUDENT PACKER GENERAL MANAGER TELLS US THAT IF HE JUST HAD TIME TO SPEAK WITH RODGERS "WHO KNOWS??" THE PACKER GM MAY NOT HAVE TRADED HIM.

Interviewer: "Obviously conditions are part of every trade, but when you look at when you are negotiating based on conditions, how important is it to you to have that be based on participation as opposed to based on performance"

Brian: "Yeah, I am not going to echo, will talk about those and I'll be happy to talk some of you guys through some of that stuff as we go forward, but until this thing is finished I don't really want want to get into the details of that stuff but I appreciate the question.

Brian: "...he will be missed, there is no doubt about it, players like that don't come around very often, um, but at the same time we're really excited where were headed and what we're moving to do and wish him nothing but the best - AGAIN (with a nervous giggle) THIS HAS GOT TO GET FINALIZED before all this is done

Brian: "...you know we have been working on this for a while and to get beyond the draft would have been tough for both teams and so I think again the time Joe and I spent working on this and it was a lot, but can't thank him enough for kind of how we went through it BUT AGAIN IT'S NOT DONE AND I'M TRAINED BY TED THOMPSON UNTIL THE FINAL T'S ARE CROSSED AND I'S ARE DOTTED, NOTHINGS OFFICIAL YET, SO

YOUR PACKER GENERAL MANAGER IS TELLING YOU VERY CLEARLY NO TRADE HAS BEEN MADE.

FOR ANYONE THAT HAS EVER DONE ANY BUSINESS - AS SIMPLE AS BUYING A CAR OR HOME OR A COMPANY - YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE NOTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE POSSESSION OF THE HOUSE OR CAR OR COMPANY AND THE DEAL IS CLOSED AND RECORDED.

I see some of the bewildered herd of so called Packer Fans that follow their Packer Management paid sycophants on this website - in the land of the blind the one eyed is king - are celebrating as if trade has been done.

So are the SELF RIGHTEOUS and Hateful Church Ladies - those that speak of Aaron Rodgers as if they have met and spent time with him and know him personally, when in fact they never have and instead drink down all of "The League's" scripted hysteria and propaganda - i.e. the Billionaire Parasites' owned wage slaves and talking heads' spiel, whose jobs it is to excite these SELF RIGHTEOUS Church Ladies hypocrites with rumors and gossip and disinformation and misinformation and twisting of Aaron's words and out right lies - the Church Ladies are celebrating and happy too.

Then there are the SPOILED BRATS - also Aaron Rodgers haters - who are not satisfied with the fact that the Packers - with Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback and leader over the past 15 years:

appeared in the playoffs more years - 11 - than any other NFC team or quarterback

appeared in more NFC championship games - 5 - than any other NFC team or quarterback,

appeared in more NFC playoff games 21 - than any other NFC team or quarterback

and also had as many Super Bowl wins - as any other NFC team or quarterback over those 15 years, despite the facts that

the Packers - unlike any of the other 32 teams - never drafted a wide receiver, running back or tight end in the first round over the past 20 years, 2003 through 2022,

and despite the emphasis on defense in the first round fielded only 3 top 10 defenses over 15 years compared to Tom Brady's teams having had top 10 defenses in 12 of those 15 years and having had higher ranked defenses in 14 of those 15 years.

TRUE Packers fans will NOT be celebrating this Packer Management ego, jealousy, envy and emotion and resentment driven malicious, ignorant trade of the longest tenured Packer in history and in most TRUE Packer fans' opinions - those that have been watching and cheering the Packers through long periods of winning and long periods of losing for at least 60 and in some cases over 80 years - one of the top 5 greatest and most physically and intellectually talented Packer players of all time, when and if such trade is actually made.

True Packer fans want their Packer players to win and also be treated with the respect they deserve by Packer management.

Victory in child's game without respect for the players that entertain us at risk of dying on the field, suffering brain damage or other crippling injury is not worth the price.

Injury pay cuts and limited leverage: five brutal truths about NFL contracts (published in the Guardian 1/17/23)
Getting injured often leads to a hefty pay cut
The NFL Network journalist Ian Rapoport reported that Hamlin’s four-year, $3.64m contract was due to earn him $825,000 this season but contained a clause to pay him at a lower rate of $455,000 while on the injured reserve list. In other words: a 45% salary cut because he suffered a cardiac arrest doing his job. And that is pretty standard for injured players.
In a sport this violent, the question is not whether a player will get hurt, but when. According to a 2017 Harvard analysis, the mean injury rate in the NFL is 5.90 injuries a game, compared with 0.45 in MLB, 0.16 in the NBA and 0.59 in the NHL. The enormous health risk means teams don’t want to commit to the kind of long-term, guaranteed deals seen in other sports. But that risk is exactly why financial security is so important to players. They’re expected to play hard all the time – and yet they could be one tough tackle away from a massive loss of earnings. The new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) agreed in 2020 raised the number of regular-season games from 16 to 17 and expanded the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams. And more games means more injuries.

TRUE Packer Fans will be cheering - and never booing - Jordan Love or any Packer player, but they will not surrender TRUTH to Packer Management paid Propagandists and their obsequious obedient servile sycophant brown nosers.

Let's now compare Jordan come September 2023 with Rodgers, September 2008.

Jordan this year will be playing with 4 second year receivers - Watson, Doubs, Toure and Melton.

Rodgers in 2008 was not only playing with a 2nd year receiver in James Jones and a 3 year receiver in Greg Jennings, but 2 absolute rookies in Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley, both who did not start and Finley hardly saw the field (6 catches).

Rodgers also had but one veteran receiver, Donald Driver, 33 years old on the downside of of his career. and tight end Donald Lee, nothing to write home about - comparable to Josiah Deguara in talent.

Jordan should have also been provided veteran wide receivers by Brian and Ball - -simply by retaining their very affordable own players. .

Ball and Brian should have immediately resigned Lazard (Jet cap hit $3.2M) and Tonyan (Bear cap hit $2.6 M) - in fact, as with Davante Adams and MVS in the spring and summer of 2021, these contracts should have been resolved in the spring & early summer of 2022

Lewis and Cobb, should have been signed right at the start of free agency in March 2023.

But Brian Gutekunst GM and Russ Ball know THE COST OF EVERYTHNIG AND THE VALUE OF NOTHING - INCLUDING THE VALUE OF THE INTANGIBES OF FREINDSHIPS, MENTORSHIIP AND LEADERSHIP of veterans that are actually still out performing just about every Packer receiver - Cobb YAC and fewest drops per target - and tight end - Lewis blocking and making the clutch downfield catch against the Dolphins.

Packers currently have $22.4 M in Cap space - 4th highest in the NFL - and can gain about $8M more in cap space with conversion of game active and workout bonuses into signing bonuses.

Brian - and Russ Ball - should have signed these veteran receivers and tight ends - and Jarran Reed (Seahawks $3M cap hit) and Kyrs Barnes (among the Packer best tacklers - Arizona $1M) as well - and when first able to do so back on March 13th, 2023.

And here was some Packer Management PROPAGANDA and the required AND dutiful SYCOPHANCY from early March 2023:

"#PackersDaily: Russ Ball is a wizard but there's only so much he can do"

Nonetheless, Jordan should be held to the same standard as Aaron in 2008 and measured against Aaron's 2008.

Now if this ignorant emotion and jealousy driven trade goes through - and maybe even if this trade collapses and Brian is forced to do the prudent thing and retains Rodgers as the backup in case Jordan fails as the starter, which based on probability he will - we will get to see reality and we can compare Jordan's 2023 performance with that of Aaron's in 2008:

The Packers finished 6 and 10 in 2008 not because of Rodgers who was near the top of 32 starting quarterbacks in just about every important QB category, but due to key injuries on defense to nose tackle Cullen Jenkins (Jenkins drew double teams and the Packers had 9 sacks in the 1st 4 games and only 18 in the finally 12 games after he was lost), linebacker Nick Barnett (defense's play caller and leading tackler in 2007, lost for the last 7 games of 2008), and safety Atari Bigby (Bigby led the Packers in interceptions in 2007 and was 3rd in tackles) in game 2.

As a consequence of these injuries, the Packers defense in 2007 was ranked 6th and gave up 291 points and in 2008 the Packers defense was ranked 22nd and gave up 380 points

Rodgers in 2008 was near the top of the 32 starting QBs in all categories, despite playing through a severe injury to his right throwing shoulder in week 4 against Tampa Bay that limited him in practice and he played through for several games.

Statistic: 2008 total (NFL Rank)
Passing Yards: 4,038 (4)
Completions: 341 (7)
Completion %: 65.6 (10)
Touchdowns: 28 (4)
QB Rating: 93.8 (6)
20-plus yd. completions:48 (5T)
40-plus yd. completions:16 (1T)
Third-down QB rating:105.8 (3)
First downs passing:182 (9T)

Consequently, there is no grace period for Jordan in 2023.

Packers were 3 and 1 before Rodgers broke his thumb year and 13-3, 13-3 and 13-4 the 3 years prior and unless Packer management continues to rip the team apart the Packer 2023-24 team will be better than the 2021-22 Packer team every where other than maybe receiver and tight end depending on how 2022's and 2023's draft picks work out.

In 2023, Jordan will now have had 4 years to develop. Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, and Justin Herbert, the other QBs drafted in the first round of 2020, all had to start immediately or nearly immediately in Tua's case and have now played 3 years. Jordan has had 3 years to watch and learn from the greatest NFL QB of all time.

If Jordan doesn't come close to matching Rodgers QB numbers from 2008 - adjusted upwards for changes that have made the game easier for QBs and offense - Jordan is never going to be the Packers future starting QB.

The Packers are just a year removed from 13-3, 13-3, and 13-4 seasons and if not for injuries last year and adjustments due to Packer Management's screw up of the Davante Adams situation, the Packers would have had a comparable season last year.

Barring injuries, the Packers should expect to go 13-4 and have home field advantage.

If not, it is because:

a) Jordan is failing (i.e. Brian's choice)

b) Brian has otherwise screwed up the team over the last 13-14 months.

The Packers are not some team attempting to tank in 2023 or the ridiculous Dallas Mavericks and Mark Cuban tanking in 2023 who should have their 2023 first round draft pick taken away.

If you look at the year by year 2000 through 2022 NFL statistics for total QB performance from Stats Muse - totals for all 32 teams quarterbacks - you will notice that quarterback performance numbers have improved significantly. This is in no small measure to the continuous rule changes to protect quarterbacks and create more offense and scoring.

If you compare 2008 totals for all QBs - Aaron's 1st year as a starter - to 2022's totals for all QBs, you will notice the following:

Passer Rating - has increased 7.1% (Aaron's 93.8% in 2008 would have been 100.4% in 2022)

Pass Attempts per season has increased 9.3% (Aaron's 536 in 2008 would have been 586 in 2022)

Completion Pct. - has increased 5.2% (Aaron's 63.6% in 2008 would have been 66.9% in 2022)

Yards per Attempt - has increased 1.4% (Aaron's 7.5% in 2008 would have been 7.6% in 2022)

Yards per Game - has increased 4.5% (Aaron's 252.4 or 4,038 yards over 16 games in 2008 would have been 263.88 or 4,486 yards over 17 games in 2022)

TD% per pass attempt - has increased 7.6% (Aaron's 5.2 % in 2008 and 28 TD passes would have been 5.6% in 2022 and 32.5 TD passes in 2022)

Interception % per pass attempt: has fallen 17.1% (Aaron's 2.4% in 2008 would have been 1.9% in 2022)

Interceptions: have fallen by 10.2% (Aaron's 13 in 2008 would have fallen to 11.6 in 2022)

Keep these numbers handy as we compare Jordan in his 4th year relative to Aaron in his 4th year in this Ignorant, emotion based Packer Management trade goes through.

Looks good!

Can they keep the streak alive with 3 HOF QBs in a row?

In honor of the trade, my first PFN draft with the new choices!
13 CB Devon Witherspoon (BPA)
42 TE Darnell Washington (Thank you Jets!)
45 WR/RB Jahmyr Gibbs (the best slot WR in this class)
78 DL Keeanu Benton (the next Kenny Clark?)
116 WR Jonathan Mingo (Deebo potential)
149 QB Jake Haener (smart, efficient, leader, winner)
207 ED YaYa Diaby (high RAS and very effective as a senior)
232 RB DeWayne McBride (faster Emmet Smith?)
235 TE Davis Allen (great hands/contested catcher)
242 S Daniel Scott (an actual deep safety with high RAS)
256 TE Brenton Strange (all-around ability)

What in the actual hell is going on right now? Usually these comments are loaded with Gute/Murph haters and all I see this morning is how well this trade worked to our advantage (or should work). Hats off to the front office. Now let's take advantage and make this reload count. I don't expect much out of this year, thinking anything .500 or above would be overachieving but with this draft capital, the dead money we've ditched and the offseason drama gone I would expect big dividends by years 2 & 3. This should be an interesting draft to say the least. GPG!!!

"Aint no team in the NFC gonna fear the Packers anymore"...Richard Sherman....