This Off-Season May Make Or Break Rodgers Legacy
I've been calling for action in Green Bay for years and finally the move have started to begin in the right direction. However, if Green Bay doesn't hit a home run during free agency, Rodgers great career will result in only one Super Bowl.
Rodgers has had a fantastic career but the one thing that he is missing on the resume are Super Bowls. It's hard to blame him considering the bums that he's taken into the playoffs but that can easily be adjusted before this summer.
The new general manager will need to avoid the draft and develop method and renegotiate contracts with Clay Matthews ($11.3 million), Randall Cobb ($12.7 million) and Jordy Nelson (12.5 million). All three of these players are on the last season of their contract and if Green Bay cannot restructure, they'll have to cut bait for upgrades.
Ideally, the Packers should reconstruct Matthews and Nelson to smaller contracts so that they're not making the king's ransom as their roles diminish. Matthews and Nelson turn 32 and 33 in May, which doesn't bode well for the Packers given their production levels. Both can still be valuable but not at their current cap.
If no deals can be made, it may be worth releasing Matthews, Cobb or Nelson for defensive upgrades. Even the potential to sign a bigger threat at wide receiver like Jarvis Landry or even Sammy Watkins may be worth dropping one of the three.
It's not realistic for the Packers to cut or resign all three guys, but if they're planning on going after another title, they'll have to go out and spend some money on defensive free agents this year.
Malcolm Butler, Trumaine Johnson, Kyle Fuller, E.J. Gaines, Prince Amukamara, and Rashaad Melvin all could potentially be available this summer. All would be a decent if not good upgrade at the corner position.
They'll have at least $26 million in cap space and if they can bring in a few solid free agents, they can make a great run the next couple of years before Rodgers fades.