It's a rare storyline that can overshadow the NFL Draft, but the Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers have done it.
Rodgers, the reigning league MVP, has made it known that he does not want to return to Green Bay. The Packers management has let it be known they will not trade Rodgers, who has three years left on his four-year, $134 million contract extension.
After the news broke last week about Rodgers demands, the star quarterback headed to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby while general manager Brian Gutenkunst did damage control and the rest of the sports world weighed in.
Former MVP and four-time Super Bowl winner Terry Bradshaw had some of the most scathing takes. Telling the Moose and Maggie show on WFAN in New York that Rodgers looks weak in his opinion.
Bradshaw, who is a co-host for Fox's NFL broadcasts, didn't stop there, going on Colin Cowherd's show to say that Rodgers has the worst footwork he has ever seen for a starting quarterback and that he is coddled.
Meanwhile teammate Davante Adams, who has caught 546 passes for 6,568 yards since being drafted by the Packers in 2014, was already lamenting what it would be like to lose Rodgers as his quarterback.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told ESPN that he wasn't even willing to let his mind "go there" when it came to the idea of Rodgers no longer being in a Packers uniform.
While LaFleur wouldn't go there, ESPN's Bill Barnwell broke down the seven teams who could make a compelling offer with him ranking the Broncos as the No. 1 option with a package consisting of cornerback Patrick Surtain II, wide receiver Tim Patrick, quarterback Drew Lock, and first round picks in 2022 and 2023.
And while that kind of hypothetical trade may seem like media fodder, to get an idea just how far Rodgers' demands reverberated around the NFL, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan — who reached the Super Bowl just two seasons ago with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo — told Rich Eisen that the team did reach out to the Packers during the NFL Draft to see about the possibility of making a trade.
It was a story that felt impossible just days ago, but now the general consensus in the NFL is that something monumental might be happening in Green Bay.
Former Packers and Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, who had his own contentious relationship with the Packers and Rodgers, told ESPN on Wednesday he does not believe Rodgers will play for the Packers again.
"If there's not a trade, my gut tells me that he'd rather sit out than play. That's just my gut," Favre said. "There's no reason for me to say that other than that's what my gut's telling me, and I think you guys know Aaron fairly well enough to sort of feel the same way."
And when Peter King, one of the most connected reporters in the NFL, was asked by Dan Patrick if he thought Rodgers would be the Week 1 starter for the Packers, his answer:
