Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Aaron Rodgers could be shut down by the Packers after his Week 12 injury and with Green Bay out of the playoff hunt. How could that turn out?
In the Green Bay Packers’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in primetime of Week 12, quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ season from hell got even deeper into the abyss. After suffering a rib/oblique injury in the third quarter, the back-to-back NFL MVP left the game and did not return, making way for former first-round pick Jordan Love to see meaningful game action.
While Love was unable to orchestrate the comeback, the third-year quarterback played admirably. More notably, though, the notion of Rodgers being shut down for the rest of the season was brought about. Rodgers, for his part, said that he would like to play until the Packers are mathematically eliminated, but that may not be the best move.
But what happens if Green Bay does move forward in protecting Rodgers and shutting him down? In truth, there are three possible outcomes in that situation, all of which have quite different endgames for the franchise and its situation at quarterback.
3. Jordan Love starts and succeeds, allowing Packers to trade Aaron Rodgers
Though there have been plenty of times that we’ve seen Jordan Love looks completely out of his depth over the past few years when he’s been on the field either in the preseason or in mop-up duty, what he showed on Sunday Night Football was, at the very least, intriguing. He looked the part of an NFL quarterback.
Love entered the game with his team trailing by 14 points and helped climb back into the game with a touchdown and a field goal drive to cut the final score to just a seven-point deficit. In the effort, the 24-year-old went 6-of-9 for 113 yards and one touchdown while not turning the ball over and not taking a sack once he got on the field.
Despite the warranted trepidation around Love based on what we’ve seen when he’s played, the truth of the matter is that he could very well have been developing and making strides behind the scenes. Thus, there’s a chance that he could take over for Rodgers if the future Hall-of-Famer is shut down and impress fans and the front office.
That would be perhaps the most favorable outcome for the Packers. They would have a quarterback to roll confidently into the 2023 season with, would have a nice draft pick as the best they can finish would be 9-8 on the season, and would be able to trade Rodgers to another team looking to upgrade at the position to A. save money and B. recoup draft capital.