5 bizarre NFL offseason predictions: Aaron Rodgers-Packers saga, Lamar Jackson demands trade and more
As Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, and fans are aware, the offseason is a truly bizarre place. Here, team fortunes are just as unpredictable as at any other time on the calendar.
Of course, fans don't watch but rather read the turns and twists this time of the year. However, one can argue that the offseason is even more open-ended than the regular season.
With the possibility of anything coming for Rodgers in the next several weeks and months, things can get weird. Here's a look at some of the weirdest outcomes that could come about.
#1 - Aaron Rodgers gets traded and retires
Aaron Rodgers is currently weighing his options, but he's not the only one. The Packers are rumored to be exhausted with Rodgers. After a season of missing the playoffs, fans and pundits feel that now might be the time to truly test out Jordan Love. Rodgers' team has already missed the playoffs once and if Love fails to do so in 2023, the sting won't hurt as much.
Aaron Rodgers says on @PatMcAfeeShow that he's going on an "darkness retreat" in a couple weeks. It's 4 days, complete darkness, just himself, in a little house.
"I've had a number of friends who've done it and they had profound experiences."
He expects a decision after that.
However, if he does fail to impress, the team will have, at least, gained the knowledge that they need to go back to the NFL Draft. Had they carried out the swap for Love last year and missed the playoffs, the general manager would be feeling the heat.
Instead, now that it is established that this is where the team is after a Aaron Rodgers-led season, they can go in a new direction.
When is Aaron Rodgers going into his darkness retreat @RapSheet 😂😂
#PMSOverreactionMonday https://t.co/Q5WPbkwdEO
As such, they'll trade Rodgers. The celebrated QB, still earning a nice chunk of change, will try to go into the season with an open mind.
However, after suffering the shock of getting back to square one, Rodgers will 'nope' out of the year and call it quits in the opening days of training camp.
I’m not all-in on the Aaron Rodgers darkness retreat. But parts of it, I could get down with. https://t.co/x83AmZHDyw
#2 - Lamar Jackson gets traded to Patriots
At face value, Lamar Jackson and Bill Belichick are at the two opposite ends of the spectrum. Jackson comes from a rah-rah Ravens team while the Patriots are purely cold, hard, killers. However, losing can change a man and the team hasn't won at a clip they're accustomed to.
As such, when negotiations officially break down, the quarterback will get traded to New England where Belichick is likely fed-up with Mac Jones and the offensive struggles. Remember that Belichick already coached Cam Newton, who is one of the most well-known mobile-first quarterbacks of the last decade.
#3 - Tom Brady returns to football at the 11th hour
No. 12 retired on the same day in 2023 as he did in 2022. This time, however, he will last longer than the six weeks of his original retirement. That said, the quarterback will struggle as the summer days start to get shorter and reports begin floating around about training camp.
After a summer off, the quarterback will have accomplished all he wanted to and with his job at FOX not starting until 2024, he will have time to kill. Why not throw around a football a few times?
Failing a rush to get ready for Week 1, he'll get tempted once again in the late season to sign with a playoff team working through an untimely quarterback injury.
Will Tom Brady stay retired?
However, the odds of the legendary QB jumping back into the lineup will be late in the offseason as training camp whispers become pictures.
#4 - Seahawks take two quarterbacks in 2023 first-round, trade Geno Smith to Jets
Geno Smith may have played better than even the Seahawks were expecting. That said, with so much trade capital courtesy of Denver, the team would be remiss to shirk a quarterback with those picks.
As such, the team has the potential to take two top quarterback prospects this year with the fifth overall and the 20th overall pick.
If they do this, they'd have a bridge quarterback and a quarterback of the future. They could throw one top rookie into the fire and if he doesn't pop, they can throw in the other after weeks of practice prep. If they decide this route, the Seahawks then would need to figure out what to do with their current quarterback.
In this scenario, neither Rodgers or Carr decide they want to be with the Jets one way or another. The Jets self-scout and decide that Geno Smith could be had for cheap. Based on the team's quality defense, skill position players, and head coach, they're in a much better spot now than in the 20-teens.
They pull the trigger and trade with their common trade partner, the Seahawks, to get their quarterback.
#5 - Baker Mayfield joins the XFL and dominates
Baker Mayfield isn't someone who is going to be content to hold a clipboard for the rest of his career. After a troublesome 2022 season, the quarterback will decide he wants to start for a team and prove his worth more than what he did with the Los Angeles Rams and Panthers.
Instead of taking the offseason to lick his wounds, the free agent will make a jump to the highly-talked-about XFL and take over the league. He will win a championship before the summer starts and then revisit the NFL market in the hopes of turning enough heads. This will give him one last chance to compete for a starting job.