Five years in the past, then-Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hijacked (maybe not deliberately) the draft-day information cycle with phrase that the 49ers nearly traded for him. It prompted hypothesis all through spherical one of many 2021 draft that a commerce may occur, with the Broncos rising as a potential candidate.
It did not occur, clearly. Rodgers, the 2020 NFL MVP, gained the 2021 NFL MVP award earlier than spending yet another 12 months in Green Bay.
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Now, with (so far) solely the Steelers linked to Rodgers throughout the 2026 free-agency cycle, Denver has doubtlessly re-entered the chat.
There’s speak of the Broncos presumably bringing Rodgers in for a go to. The motivation comes from the chance that present starter Bo Nix will not be totally and fully again to one hundred pc when Week 1 rolls round.
This notion conflicts with current feedback from Broncos proprietor Greg Penner, who declared on the NFL’s annual assembly that Nix is “ahead of schedule” from the damaged ankle he suffered late within the playoff win over the Bills and must be good to go for OTAs.
Beyond the fundamental query of whether or not Nix can be wholesome is whether or not Nix offers the Broncos the perfect probability to get to the Super Bowl and win it. Coach Sean Payton, who like every coach who has gained a Super Bowl with one staff is keenly conscious that no coach has gained a Super Bowl with two completely different franchises, could also be tempted to roll the cube on a attainable one-year improve (if Rodgers would really be an improve) as a way to end the work the Broncos began in 2025.
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For Payton, the opportunity of blazing a new path for NFL coaches might be the factor that will get him to Canton. If he thinks Rodgers offers them a higher probability to win the Super Bowl than Nix, why would not Payton at the very least ponder the chance?
From Rodgers’s perspective, which staff offers him a higher probability to stroll away with a second Lombardi Trophy in his again pocket, the Steelers or the Broncos?
It’s all very early. And it is not an April Fool’s Day gag. The Broncos might be turning to Rodgers, at a time when the Steelers have assumed the place for the second straight offseason.
If — and for now it is a huge if — Rodgers results in Denver, he would not play the Packers (until the 2 groups meet within the Super Bowl, for the primary time because the 1997 season). But he would make visits to the Jets, the Steelers, and yet another journey to San Francisco, the staff he needed to draft him in 2005 and the staff that attempted to commerce for him in 2021.