Packers deny they have had Aaron Rodgers trade offers as Broncos hunt for QB
The Green Bay Packers say they have not received any trade offers for Aaron Rodgers despite speculation the quarterback may move on from the team this offseason.
The 38-year-old won his second straight MVP this year but the Packers once again fell short of the Super Bowl. Rodgers has hinted that he may retire but he has also been linked to teams such as the Denver Broncos, who have draft picks they could trade and are in the market for a quarterback to complement their strong supporting cast of players.
However, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Tuesday he has yet to receive a call from any other team. “Not at all,” Gutekunst said from the scouting combine in Indianapolis. “Not at all. Not a single person.”
Rodgers is still to declare his intentions for the coming season but has promised to make a decision in the coming weeks. Gutekunst said he hopes to know Rodgers’ plans by 16 March, when free agency opens.
“I would hope so, yeah,” Gutekunst said. “That’s obviously the start of the new league year. There’s a lot of decisions that have to be made before that. So that would be helpful. I would think we would know something before then.”
The Packers are well over the league’s salary cap for the upcoming season, meaning they would struggle to build a strong team around Rodgers.
On Tuesday, the Broncos said they are in the market for a quarterback and would be willing to make a trade if a suitable player was available.
“We work through it. We just want the best guy,” Broncos general manager George Paton said. “We don’t care if it’s free agency; we don’t care if it’s the draft; we don’t care if it’s a trade. We’re going to exhaust all options to try to get the best guy for the Broncos.”
The 2022 draft class is considered an underwhelming one in terms of quarterback talent but the Broncos, who have the No 9 pick, reportedly interviewed the top candidates, Kenny Pickett, Matt Corral and Malik Willis, on Monday.
“I went to all of their live games, and you get to know them a little bit
there. Then the ones who showed up at the Senior Bowl, that’s another look there. This is just another step in the process,” Paton said. “This class is an interesting class. You have five or six talented guys, and they’re all different. So we just really need to hone down and sort it out and stack them, and see who’s best for the Denver Broncos if we go that direction in the draft.”