Aaron Rodgers became the highest-paid player in NFL history when he signed his contract extension, and the new deal seemed fairly straightforward. Rodgers had said in the past that he would be open to structuring his next contract in a non-traditional manner, but he believes the league simply isn’t ready for that.
In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Rodgers reiterated that he was open to some type of contract structure that would tie his salary to the salary cap as it increased in future seasons.
“I don’t think the NFL is ready for those type of contracts,” Rodgers said, per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “There’s language that need to change for those to become more standard, but there just isn’t the movement in that area on franchise side to do contract that allow players to have more of the leverage that NBA players have.”
Rodgers said NFL teams prefer to hand out big bonuses up front in order to manage the salary cap, unlike the NBA which has a more guaranteed structure and often allows players the ability to opt out. The two-time MVP said he realized there “wasn’t a lot of wiggle room” with negotiating a different type of deal, thought Packers GM Brian Gutekunst insisted the structure only had the best interests of the team in mind and not the rest of the league.
With his new extension, Rodgers is under contract with the Packers through 2023, when he will be 40. Still, he said he doesn’t necessarily think the deal guarantees that he will remain with the Packers for the rest of his career.
“I don’t think this guarantees anything other than maybe the first 3 years of the deal,” he said. “To get to the end of the contract would take sustained, consistent play.”
When you look at the figures of Rodgers’ extension, it goes without saying that he is being paid handsomely. But you can understand why NFL players would prefer guaranteed contracts like the ones MLB and NBA players get. Rodgers was open to exploring avenues that could get the league closer to that structure, but he knew he was facing an uphill climb.
