Financial Details in Aaron Rodgers’ New Packers Contract Reportedly Revealed

Bob Leverone/Associated Press

The Green Bay Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers agreed to terms on a reworked contract on Thursday.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero provided an update on the tweaks made to Rodgers’ contract for the 2021 season:

Pelissero added Rodgers’ signing bonus and $6.8 million roster bonus will be paid out over the course of the 2021 regular season, and the Packers will save around $10 million in cap space this year. 

The new contract ends a months-long saga that cast doubt about whether or not Rodgers would play for Green Bay again. 

Speculation about Rodgers’ future came up following Green Bay’s 31-26 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game. He created that chatter by giving a vague response about his future.

“A lot of guys’ futures, they’re uncertain. Myself included,” Rodgers told reporters in the immediate aftermath of the Packers’ season-ending loss. “That’s what’s sad about it most: getting this far. Obviously, there’s got to be an end to it at some part whether we make it past this one or not. But just the uncertainty is tough and the finality of it all.”

It was a strange comment given that Rodgers was coming off an MVP regular season in 2020 and was under contract through 2023.

Prior to the first round of the NFL draft on April 29, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Rodgers told some people with the Packers he didn’t want to return amid ongoing frustration with the organization.

Per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Rodgers “doesn’t like anyone” in Green Bay’s front office “for a variety of reasons.”

Green Bay’s front office did begin planning for life without Rodgers in the 2020 NFL draft. The team traded up to select Utah State quarterback Jordan Love with the 26th overall pick. 

The move caught most outside observers off guard because there were other areas on the roster that seemed to be in more immediate need of an upgrade. But it wasn’t a totally unreasonable selection because the 2018-19 version of Rodgers, while still productive, seemed to indicate he was on the decline.

In October 2019, The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin wrote an article tracing the start of Rodgers’ decline back to the 2015 season:

“Calling his performance during this (2011-14) period 90th percentile is selling him short: Rodgers’s 300-play peaks in 2011 and 2014 have been exceeded by only two quarterbacks during that time period: Manning in 2013 and Drew Brees in 2018 (prior to Brees’ late-season struggles).

“However, Rodgers’ efficiency dropped steeply beginning in 2015. Since then, he has rarely reached the 90th percentile—or even the 75th percentile—of quarterback efficiency. Hovering between the 50th and 75th percentiles would place Rodgers in the Nos. 9-16 range of quarterbacks; in the upper half of the league but not in the top-three range we’re accustomed to. And aside from a return to form at the end of 2016, he has remained there for four-plus seasons.”

Rodgers returned to the 2011 and 2014 levels last season. He led the NFL with a 70.7 completion percentage, 48 touchdown passes and had the league’s lowest interception percentage (1.0) on 526 attempts.