Last year, after the Packers traded up in round one to select quarterback Jordan Love, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer made an observation that was mainly joke and perhaps some wishful thinking: “I think Rodgers should retire.”
Now that Rodgers reportedly wants out of Green Bay (and has said nothing publicly to push back against that), the Vikings are watching and waiting, like the rest of us.
“You always read things and stuff like that,” Vikings G.M. Rick Spielman told PFT PM earlier this week when asked whether and to what extent he monitors these situations. “Aaron Rodgers is maybe the best quarterback who has ever played this game, and I’m never going to talk about anyone else’s players. One, I’m not allowed to. It’s illegal. But you just always look at different situations. The most important thing is evaluating u,s and our decisions and if we do make mistakes how do we correct them or what will we do differently. If something works out, great. . . . My main focus here is on the Minnesota Vikings.”
Still, if Spielman regards Rodgers as “maybe the best quarterback who has ever played the game,” one or more people in the Minnesota organization (including Spielman) surely have their fingers crossed, hopeful that the Packers will indeed trade Rodgers out of the conference.
And then, maybe after he’s traded out of the conference, he’ll be cut following one year with a new team and then sign with the Vikings. But something like that could never happen with the best quarterback in Packers history.
