Now that Matt Ryan is the NFL’s first $30 million a year player, everything is in place for the Green Bay Packers to extend Aaron Rodgers’ contract.
What will that historic deal look like?
The short answer and best guess is that Rodgers’ impending contract extension will average between $31 million and $32 million in new money to Ryan’s $30 million, and include a full guarantee in the $110 million range, which would top Ryan’s $100 million guarantee.
Could Rodgers squeeze more out of the Packers? Maybe. He ranks with Tom Brady as the two best quarterbacks in the game.
But Rodgers also has to ask himself, how much more money is worth it? Players want to be paid what they can get, but legacies are burnished by Super Bowls above all else, and the higher his salary, the more it cuts into the Packers’ ability to put talent around him. That’s what Rodgers and his agent, David Dunn, have to weigh in their negotiations.
As a Packers fan, and a huge Aaron Rodgers fan, I highly doubt he’ll walk away from Green Bay. He has family here, friends, and is a huge presence throughout Green Bay. All that, including his teammates, is a hard situation to walk away from.
At the end of the day Rodgers needs the best possible roster surrounding him to ward off anyone saying he’ll leave. He is in the twilight of his career and deserves the best the Green Bay Packers organization can provide him with. 