No deal, Packers’ Rodgers would consider retiring

Aaron Rodgers, the three-time NFL Most Valuable Player, is not budging from his stance that he will not return to the Green Bay Packers in 2021.

The Raiders and Broncos remain betting frontrunners to trade for Rodgers, while the 49ers all but eliminated themselves by drafting Trey Lance on Thursday night. But Rodgers is also considering another option if the Packers are unwilling to move him: retirement.

As strange as it sounds for a reigning MVP to retire, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports Rodgers’ position appears legitimate, though Rapoport says Rodgers would have to repay Green Bay $11.5 million each of the next two seasons if he retires. (It’s not clear what the annual salary is for “Jeopardy!” hosts.)

One other financial consideration is that the Packers have a salary cap incentive to wait until at least June to trade Rodgers if they indeed move on from him. “Pro Football Talk’s” Mike Florio reported Friday that the Packers would face $31.55 million in dead cap money if they trade him before that date in addition to the $6.8 million roster bonus they’ve reportedly already paid him for a total cap hit of $38.35 million.

But Rapoport noted that Rodgers’ agent is Dave Dunn, who represented former Raider Carson Palmer when he forced his way off a middling Bengals team ahead of his age-32 season.

Rodgers has three years left on his current contract, which will pay him a base salary of $14.7 million in 2021 and $25 million in each of the final two seasons, according to Spotrac.