Evan Siegle/Green Bay Packers
Oh Aaron, you’re so fine. You’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Aaron. Rodgers in action during his only pre-season appearance, vs. Pittsburgh.
The Green Bay Packers kick off the 2018 season in a prime-time night game at Lambeau Field on Sept. 9 against the Chicago Bears. A dozen days earlier, on Aug. 29, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers signed a new contract making him the highest-paid player in National Football League history.
The record-breaking four-year, $134 million extension ultimately could be worth $180 million, based on incentives tied to playoff appearances and quarterback ratings, according to ESPN.com.
It’s tempting to debate whether any man is worth that kind of money, even if he is a former NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion who helped the Packers put Brett Favre behind them once and for all.
But it’s also easy to imagine where this team would be if the Packers hadn’t ponied up to keep Rodgers, 34, in Green Bay until he turns 40.
After the quarterback went down last season in week 6 with a broken right collarbone, the team lost eight of 11 games — most of them with backup (and recently traded) QB Brett Hundley at the helm. The Packers limped to a 7-9 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
Hope springs eternal in the NFL, though, and Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy, now entering his 13th season, certainly sounds hopeful: “There’s always a benefit to negative situations,” he recently told Sports Illustrated, which picks the Pack to lose to the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the playoffs. “Adversity strikes. There’s shock, but it’s really what you do going forward.”
Going forward, the Packers likely will battle the Vikings and Detroit Lions for top honors in one of the league’s toughest divisions.
Rodgers will be playing with guys forced to pick up the slack last season in his absence, including wide receivers Davante Adams and Randall Cobb, and All-Pro tackle David Bakhtiari. Defensively, Green Bay’s No. 1 all-time sack leader Clay Matthews will be expected to shut down opposing quarterbacks to help give his own returning QB as much of a scoring cushion as possible.
If those guys and others can build on the few bright spots from last season — and if Rodgers stays off the ground as much as possible — the Packers should at least snag a wild card spot. After that? Let’s just wait and see.
We don’t want to put too much pressure on the $134 million man.
