Denver Broncos: Peyton Manning doesn’t see Aaron Rodgers in Denver
Former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is about to be enshrined forever into the NFL Hall of Fame, but not before he made an appearance at the 2021 MLB All-Star festivities. Manning retired from the NFL following the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 victory in February 2016. Since that time, he’s become a full-blown Colorado sports fan and lifer.
Of course, when Manning comes around, media members are going to ask him some of the burning questions regarding the Denver Broncos or the NFL in general, and one of the biggest topics of discussion over the summer has obviously been Green Bay Packers MVP Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers has recently stated that he’s going to work out for the few weeks leading up to training camp and then see what happens from there. His stance, at least from what has been released publicly, has been and remains that he’s not happy with the Green Bay Packers.
For the first time in his NFL career, Rodgers skipped OTAs. It remains to be seen if Rodgers will show up to training camp and if he does, what kind of amends would have to be made.
It was reported earlier in the offseason that Rodgers turned down an offer from the Packers to make him the highest-paid QB in the league at $45 million average annual value.
So what does Peyton Manning think Rodgers is going to do?
Peyton Manning said he doesn't expect to see Aaron Rodgers following in his footsteps with the Broncos — at least not in the 2021 season. pic.twitter.com/aphdQk360v
— theScore (@theScore) July 13, 2021
Manning spent some time this offseason working with Denver Broncos incumbent starting quarterback Drew Lock, and as someone who intended to start and finish his career with just one team, you can understand where Manning is coming from on a number of angles with this.
Manning is an NFL historian and Rodgers is at the back-end of a Hall of Fame career which, to this point, has been spent completely with the Packers. Most Denver Broncos fans couldn’t care less whether the trade for Rodgers happens three weeks before the season, three days before, or whatever.
Getting Rodgers to Denver has been on every fan’s mind all offseason. Rodgers has made it known to those close to him that Denver is a place he wants to be.
While there is definitely some validity to what Manning is saying and you can understand his empathy for Drew Lock as the Broncos’ current starting QB as well as the fans of the Green Bay Packers, it’s impossible to not be excited about the possibility that Rodgers could join the Broncos at some point.
How many times has the league MVP changed teams the following offseason after winning the award?
Acquiring Rodgers would put the Denver Broncos right up there with Kansas City as favorites to win the AFC.
Even if it doesn’t happen, the Broncos figure to be a much better squad in 2021, it’s just hard to get everyone on board with potential when the team has missed the postseason every year since the Super Bowl win.
Training camp starts in just a couple of weeks, and it doesn’t seem like the Packers are in any rush to give in to Rodgers if a trade is truly what he’s asked for.