The Aaron Rodgers trade saga continues to hover over the Green Bay Packers and basically the entire NFL. While things haven't exactly been progressing to any sort of agreement thus far, the Packers QB does have one massive trump card up his sleeve if things don't get any better.
Aaron Rodgers could potentially opt out of the 2021 NFL season entirely. Yup, you read that right. But this isn't an extreme holdout scenario where the Packers star forego massive piles of moolah just to send a message to his bosses. Rodgers could have his cake, and eat it too.
Via Pro Football Talks' Mike Florio on the Rodgers-Packers situation:
The letter agreement between the NFL and NFL Players Association from Tuesday of this week does indeed grant broad powers to all players to opt out of the 2021 season, regardless of whether they opted out in 2020 or whether they have been diagnosed with a higher-risk condition since October 1, 2020. Although such players would be entitled to no stipend for 2021, any player who executed his most recent contract before October 1, 2020 can indeed opt out voluntarily, no questions asked as to motivation or qualification or possible ulterior motive.
This includes, most notably, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. By next Friday, July 2, he can pull the plug on the 2021 season. It would be a permanent and irrevocable decision, but he can do it.
But while he would be keeping upwards of $18 million in cash, Rodgers also has to forfeit his eligibility to play in the upcoming NFL season entirely. For a competitor such as the Packers star QB, that would definitely sting quite a bit especially when the itch to play arrives mid-season. This would definitely be a stunning decision to make given that he's still playing the best football of his career in Green Bay and coming off an MVP season. But stranger things have happened.
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