Rodgers Gets His Thunder Stolen
Well that was a hell of a week.
Rodgers strikes me as the type of person who says they hate drama and try to keep it out of their life and everyone else can see right through it. The ones who claim to avoid and hate drama are the ones who always seem wrapped up in it. Rodgers is a troll and he loves riling up the media and then playing dumb. About a week ago he made a cryptic Instagram post that was basically a long list of people he was saying thank you to. It was vague, but Rodgers knew exactly how people would discuss it because it sounded like potential retirement talk if you went in looking for that. I didn’t, but I’ve got terminally online brain worms so I saw it as him being Rodgers and stirring up trouble. He’s been having fun like this for several years now, teasing everyone and causing media drama to manipulate his way into getting what he wants. It’s almost inspiring to see a guy so clearly intelligent enough to do this but also do a cleanse where he ingests ghee and vomits and shits. Then again, going by his record, maybe he’s a fully lost Berkeley naturopath and medical treatment is his blind spot.
The Packers got their guy back and he’s signed on for probably the rest of his career until he pulls this shit again next year. It was massive news on Tuesday morning, and everyone immediately turned to laugh at the Broncos, who appeared to be heavily courting Rodgers. That laughter lasted for roughly an hour or so until the bomb dropped. Seattle traded Russ to Denver for a buttload of picks. Denver goes win now and Seattle goes full rebuild, also releasing Bobby Wagner a short time later. Seattle is in a new era.
My gut reaction is Denver won that trade. They gave up a lot for Wilson but they really felt like a QB away from being a playoff competitor. Wilson has some question marks these days but it’s hard to deny he’s still capable of being himself. Seattle may have gotten a lot on paper, but they have to turn that draft capital into good players for it to work. Pete and Co really haven’t earned the benefit of that doubt yet. They almost lucked into Russ the first time, now they have a QB problem and a bad roster. Do they go for Watson? They probably wont play for Garoppolo. There’s no good choice in the draft. Seattle might be entering a dark age.
In other trade news, the AFCW is in an arms race with the Chargers going after Khalil Mack. The AFCW now features Russ, Mahomes, Herbert, and Carr. I think Carr deserves more credit as a player but lol he’s still the worst of that bunch. Good luck, Raiders. The Colts also pawned Carson Wentz on the Commanders (god I hate that name the more I hear it) but I think that will deserve its own comic next week. I saw someone compare Wentz to a pyramid scheme and wow, what an apt comparison.
Anyway, anything to avoid talking about Rodgers some more. He’s probably seething about it. Fills me with ghee.
I’d say it’s way too early to start talking about who ‘won’ this trade. As it looks right now, it’s a quality deal that satisfies what each side is looking for.
Denver finally gets a QB that puts them in legitimate contention for a Super Bowl (or at the very least, gives them a reasonable chance to beat Kansas City for the first time since Peyton retired), while Seattle can finally initiate a long overdue rebuild with a boatload of picks that they’ve lost over the last however many years via poor trades and bad deals. If both teams play their cards right, neither side will ‘win’ this trade. Trades don’t always need to have winners and losers.
Honestly though, I think Denver may have ended up with the better QB for their situation. Rodgers is a better passer than Wilson, but if Brady and Stafford’s respective SB runs with new teams are any indication, it’s almost guaranteed that Wilson will find himself struggling at some point in the season while the team gels and he learns the offense. I trust Russell Wilson to help lead the team out of a hole when things start going south a helluva lot more than I do Aaron Rodgers.
I don’t know if I like either side for it. On the one side, I don’t think the Broncos were a QB away from contention, and the fact that they spent roughly two thirds of a Walker to pick up a proven Super Bowl QB who is maybe not quite there anymore while at the same time letting their defense fall away with no clear path to build it back up just doesn’t make sense.
On the other side, like I said this was as close as we’re going to see to the Herschel Walker trade happening again, but it still seems like the Seahawks got less than full value for Russ while also choosing their 70 year old coach who’s at the end of his career and hasn’t had any real magic in him since about 2015 over their 33 year old QB who’s at the tail end of his prime but still probably has five viable years left.
I mean, whether or not the Broncos get a Super Bowl out of Wilson, the odds are much higher for them now than it was on Monday. The Seahawks got a lot of draft capital back. Whether they can turn that into players or flip it for Deshaun (assuming he comes out of today clean) is still to be seen, but they have a chance to rebuild. I’d say the odds are on the Broncos side though
That’s fair, though I don’t believe that Denver really let their defense fall away. They may not have the raw star-power that TB or LA was boasting, but they have very respectable unit overall with young talent like Patrick Surtain II that will only get better. They’re about as close as you can get to being “a QB away” and they likely realized that they weren’t going to get another opportunity like this to snag a proven passer. Russ was not going to be on the market for very long, so it’s better get him on the roster now than wait around. Denver has quality targets, a solid backfield and a good defense which, when paired with an elite QB like Wilson, gives them as a good a shot as any to compete for a ring.
As for Seattle, they squeezed about as much as they were going to get for Russell Wilson especially since he was coming off a down year. They can still turn those picks into something and it seems like they’re looking to make more trades in the coming days, so it’s not like these are all the picks they have to work with. You raise a great point about Carroll, though. That’s honestly the only thing that doesn’t make sense about this. Carroll is the oldest coach in the league and I highly doubt he wants to spend his finals years coaching through what appears to be a long rebuild. Maybe he’ll retire in the offseason or after next year? Who knows.
And now Mack is traded to the Chargers. Rodgers is quickly becoming irrelevant!
I find that when people say they hate drama, it means they hate drama they aren’t in control of
Also, it amuses me how people’s opinions have changed on Rodgers in the past year or so, like he hasn’t always been a prick
He was probably always a prick, we just didn’t know about it.
Nah, it was already out there when McCarthy got fired, and a lot of people dismissed it
In fairness to people, McCarthy *WAS* coaching poorly, and hasn’t exactly redeemed himself in Dallas, so Rodgers wasn’t fully in the wrong in that situation.
Also, before this past year his issues didn’t really impact my life. As someone living in the state where he called himself “immunized” but then acted like he was vaccinated, he may have put my health in danger (I have pre-existing conditions that put me at high risk) with his nonsense this time.
Fair point on the latter, but the stories of Rodgers being a jerk were out there independently of McCarthy’s coaching ability, whether that’s Jennings and Finley saying it publicly, or Rodgers’s brother saying it on that reality TV show, or the anonymous sources saying it to that reporter when McCarthy was fired, or that story about how a Packers executive told him to not be the problem when they hired Lafleur. It’s been out there for years now
I think most people knew Rodgers was the usual type of hyper competitive tool a lot of athletes on his level are, but he was still generally seen as smart and most of his “transgressions” had this filter of media nonsense around them so I don’t think people looked into it as hard as they did after he got caught lying. The Immunized lie just dropped the facade on him very abruptly and everyone finally realized he’d been this guy all along
Ever thought of making a group free agency picture at the end of free agency of all the top players in their new jerseys like the draft cards?
Mostly just saying that cause Holy shit so many moves have already happened and I gotta see the guys in their new jerseys
wait, who is roders
Oh you know him. He’s that guy that did the thing that one time, remember?
The lack of spell check in graphics programs is going to be the death of me
fixed it, thanks for spotting that
lol i legit wasnt sure if i was missing some in joke, was half waiting for this comment to be flamed to hell
I didn’t respond for the same reason.
Cool, I get to watch Seattle suck and fail next year. Not as cool, I don’t get to watch Rustle fail with them.
The underrated part of the SEA-DEN trade which you’ve mentioned and nobody else seems to is that SEA needs to draft well (if they don’t flip them for the “alleged” sexual predator from Clemson). As a part time Seahawks fan, they’ve had ABYSMAL drafts since the LOB era. You don’t get to that level of success without having massive success. For crying out loud they drafted Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner, AND Russ in one draft! Point is, they’ve lost their mojo. They’ve reached a bunch in recent memory. I remember shouting in disgust at my screen when they drafted Rashaad Penny and LJ Collier. They seem to be smelling their own farts and I’m not confident they know what to do with the power they’ve been given.
I originally mentioned that and it got cut when editing the post, but you are exactly right and one of the reasons I’m down on Seattle. Their best draft pick in the last few years was DK Metcalf and I cannot remember another good one. The myth of Seattle drafting is long over.
Also, Dave, “Commanders” is not the preferred nomenclature.
Commies, please.
Somebody get the Costacos Brothers out of retirement to make a Carson Wentz “Commander in Chief” poster.
I will never stop calling them the WFT.
i’m partial to the ‘ders
Jerry Jeudy’s twitter on the 8th is the opposite of that chart.
I got sick of Madden and other football talking heads fawning over Brett Farve, so when word came out that Farve was being a dick and not mentoring Rodgers, I projected all that into disliking everything Farve, too (even his part in Something About Mary).
So when I really hoped he’d win two SB’s just to show “them”.
You now what? We’ll probably never know, but I’m starting to wonder if Rodgers was a dick to Farve first.
Hahahahahahahahaha… Thank you you arrogant bastard Jerry Jokes. Ha! How bout dem cowboys!
BRADY COMING BACK FROM THE TOP ROPE
Dave’s gonna have a fit over this…
I will never forget Wentz as a centaur.