We're into March now, less than two weeks from the start of the new league year in the NFL, and we still don't know Aaron Rodgers' plan for 2022 and beyond.
Not knowing what's up with Aaron Rodgers could be keeping Vikings from call on Kirk Cousins
One reason "everything's in play" for the Vikings at QB, as General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said this week, is the indecision in Green Bay.
March 3, 2022 at 3:29PM
If his intention is to stay in Green Bay for at least one more season, and he has given the Packers private assurances of this, then it works to Green Bay's competitive advantage to keep quiet.
If he really hasn't made a decision yet, then he is holding up the Packers' offseason planning.
Either way, though, he is potentially holding up planning for multiple teams — including the Vikings.
You can read Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's quote about "everything's in play" with Kirk Cousins from this week's Scouting Combine a number of ways. Andrew Krammer and I dissected it in some detail on Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast.
It could just be a general sentiment from Adofo-Mensah acknowledging that every situation is fluid and it would be bad business to close doors.
But if the Vikings wanted to be clearer about their QB situation, they could be — much like Miami just was in ruling out a DeShaun Watson trade and sticking with Tua Tagovailoa.
To me, one of the main reasons everything is in play is that we don't know where (or if) Rodgers is going to play.
If Rodgers tells the Packers he wants a trade and says he will retire if it isn't granted, the NFC North is suddenly wide open in 2022. That wouldn't necessarily be a cause for the Vikings to extend Cousins, but it would create greater incentive to at least restructure his contract and try to win with him as their QB in 2022.
If Rodgers tells the Packers he wants to stay for at least one more year, the field tilts in the other direction.
Green Bay has been the class of the NFC North each of the past three seasons under Matt LaFleur, and there's no reason to think that would change in 2022 with Rodgers as the quarterback. The Vikings might be better served trying to trade Cousins now and reloading for 2023 and beyond (an eventual future without Rodgers in the division).
Plus, Cousins would suddenly become a very attractive trade option for a QB-needy team like Denver that might have been holding out to no avail for Rodgers. Indeed, Cousins might be the best QB available if Rodgers stays put.
At some point soon, all these decisions will be made. But even as Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell work quickly on their own roster, they have to be mindful of what's happening with their biggest rival as well.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
