A couple of days ago, former NFL quarterback Sage Rosenfels opined on social media that Jon Gruden would probably love to coach Aaron Rodgers.
Sarcasm? No, not one bit. Not from Rosenfels.
“There was nothing sarcastic about that at all,” Rosenfels said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence. “Maybe mischievous.”
To be clear, Rosenfels believes that Rodgers-to-the-Raiders is about as no-brainer as it gets.
“Doesn’t this make sense to you?” Rosenfels asked. “Jon Gruden is there for the long haul. He’s of course looking for a better quarterback. I’m sure he’s fine with [Derek] Carr, but if he could get Aaron Rodgers, he’d get Aaron Rodgers. He’s done very well with veteran quarterbacks in [the] past. Rich Gannon won an MVP under Jon Gruden’s tutelage back in his Oakland days when they went to the Super Bowl. He was in Tampa as the head coach for Brad Johnson, another old quarterback. Aaron Rodgers throws a heck of a lot better than those guys did at the end of their careers.”
There’s no denying that. Rodgers has thrown for 51 touchdowns and six interceptions over the last two seasons.
“I’m sure Jon Gruden could help Rodgers have a nice end of his career,” Rosenfels said. “It’s the West Coast offense, it’s the West Coast in general, Aaron is from California, Las Vegas is not too far away, new stadium – I could go on and on and on about why this one makes every sense in the world. It should happen. I don’t even know what would be a close second of a team that he would want to go to. Maybe if it was the L.A. Chargers before they drafted Justin Herbert, that would have made sense, right? Because he’s an L.A. guy. But the Las Vegas Raiders make so much sense.”
But why would the Packers trade Rodgers? He’s still under contract for four more seasons.
“Why did the Green Bay Packers give the ultimate double-middle finger to their quarterback who led them to the NFC Championship Game last year?” Rosenfels countered, laughing. “Questions do need to be asked, and I think they’re all answered in that draft. No wide receivers. A power-running back. The reason they didn’t go to the Super Bowl wasn’t because of the quarterback. It was because they couldn’t stop the run against San Francisco They needed a No. 2 wide receiver. They need a better defensive line. They did nothing to help Aaron Rodgers. It was really, really something else.”
Indeed, many analysts wonder if the relationship between Rodgers and the Packers is even salvageable.
“You have to read between the lines sometimes,” Rosenfels said. “To me, these are the lines. It is blaring right there that the Packers, for whatever reason, would like to move on earlier rather than later from Aaron Rodgers.”