The Baltimore Ravens initiated an earthquake on Friday night when they made their 28 year old quarterback Joe Flacco the highest paid player in the NFL. Flacco, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, is set to make a staggering $120.6 million over six years.
Intuition would say that Flacco is the happiest man in the league, but in reality, that’s just not true.
Green Bay Packers front-man Aaron Rodgers is considered by most the best player in the league and just happens to be up for a contract extension this upcoming season. Rodgers currently is the 13th highest paid player at his position at 12.7 million per year.
Can’t you just picture Rodgers walking by Packers General Manager Ted Thompson with that sparkle in his eye?
Anyone who claims Flacco is better than Rodgers can just stop reading this article right now and while you’re at it, please re-evaluate your ability to watch football. With that said, let’s move on to why Rodgers should and will be the highest player in the NFL.
Much like Drew Brees’ situation in 2012 with the New Orleans Saints, the Packers are pretty much tied to paying Rodgers as much money as they possibly can. This off-season and ensuing season will quite possibly be the most important season for the Packers future since picking Rodgers over the living legend Brett Favre.
That decision couldn’t have worked out any better with Rodgers putting an aerial assault on the NFL record books and winning a MVP Award in 2012 to go along with a Super Bowl trophy the previous season.
However, the abundant success in Green Bay over the past three years has created quite the logjam in regards to the veterans who want to get paid on this team.
Not only will Rodgers be seeking a max deal, linebacker Clay Matthews will desire a juicy contract that could surpass the ridiculous $16 million a season the Buffalo Bills gave to Mario Williams. Add tight end Jermichael Finley and wide-receiver Greg Jennings in the mix and the Packers just don’t have a big enough pie (due to salary cap restrictions) to feed everyone.
Cutting safety Charles Woodson and center Jeff Saturday was a nice start, but Green Bay will have to part ways with a few of their superstars in order to appease the best of them all.
Expect Green Bay to do some very creative things in the front office in order to make sure Rodgers becomes the richest man in NFL history in the next year.
What do you think the Packers should do with their roster? Let me know by commenting below!
Nick Grays is a senior writer at the Sports Bank where he covers the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers. He also enjoys to share Fantasy Advice and pretend to be a Golf expert from time-to-time. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here or visit his blog Nick Knows Best. If social media is not your thing, shoot him an email at grays@uwalumni.com.
*Pictures obtained from zimbio.com (Photoshop addition done by me) and juniormiller1310.blogspot.com.