“Take all the leftovers” - Aaron Rodgers advised to keep greed aside and be a team player
rodgers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">Aaron Rodgers is taking his time deciding whether or not to stay in the mid-west. However, some analysts have agreed that the quarterback would stay and are moving to the next step. Among those calling for the quarterback to manage his team in an unselfish manner is Mike Tannenbaum on ESPN's Get Up!. On the program, he calls for the quarterback to sacrifice money now for glory later.
"I'm back and I'm gonna go last and the more of the salary cap pie I take, the less of my teammates that are going to be there. So I want you to franchise Davante Adams hopefully get a long-term deal done. I want you to re-sign De'Vondre Campbell, a really good player.
I want to make sure that Za'Darius Smith is back, Preston Smith is back, Billy Turner, Randall Cobb, and this year 2022, we're gonna want to back it could be the last dance. So this is about my legacy show guys getting all that work done. I'm back with whatever leftovers I will take. And that's the exact play that Tom Brady ran in Tampa Bay.
And the rest is history. So the blueprint is right there. I'm in, go do your work. And I'll take all the leftovers."
Why Aaron Rodgers should follow Tom Brady's example
As touched on by Tannenbaum, Tom Brady laid the groundwork and set the example of how to win Super Bowls in the late stages of a career. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, John Elway, and others saw a rise in Super Bowl wins as they reached the late stages of their careers. Aaron Rodgers is in a position to join these greats if he makes the investment.
At an older stage, including Aaron Rodgers, quarterbacks have already made more than enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. As such, with only a limited amount of time left with the game, they typically start to take a "money second, legacy first" approach.
Some of this is because teams won't pay older quarterbacks big money, since they could succumb to injury or retire at any time.
However, Tannenbaum is calling for Rodgers to be the instigator to get the ball rolling and offer to take less money. With less money, the team has more opportunities to sign more players back and add more notable names in Free Agency and via trades.
The team typically doesn't make big swings in free agency, but with the struggles of Jordan Love apparent, the team could be realizing their multi-decade run could be coming to an end. As such, the team has much more incentive to go all-out for an explosive end to a 30-year stretch of dominance in the NFC North.