NFL offseason storylines to watch: Aaron Rodgers’ next team and trades galore

As the NFL gathers for the combine, we look at the plots that will dominate the news cycle in the coming weeks and months. Stafford and the Rams are in another contractual standoff, with Los Angeles giving their quarterback permission to seek a trade. Stafford is set to earn $27m next season, putting him way behind the highest earners at the position. According to reports, Stafford is looking for a new two-year, $110m deal from the Rams that slices the difference between Dak Prescott (who will earn $60m in 2025) and Trevor Lawrence ($52m).

Stafford is coming off an up-and-down season and the 37-year-old has dealt with multiple injuries over the past two seasons. Still, Stafford holds plenty of cards. He has dangled the threat of retirement before, unwilling to play on without what he deems an appropriate contract. Given the state of the quarterback market, Stafford knows he has a final chance to cash in. Outside Sam Darnold, there are few quarterbacks available who are real needle movers.

Publicly, the Rams say that they want Stafford back. But if someone is willing to pony up, then the Rams may let Stafford walk and recover a first-round pick. If Stafford cannot command top of the market value, then the Rams can bring him back on a new deal that inoculates the team against an injury or further decline.

The list of potential suitors is long. The Raiders, Steelers, Browns and Giants have already discussed terms with Stafford, with the Giants and Raiders leading the way according to the Athletic. You can add the Titans, Jets and the Colts to the list of quarterback-needy teams who may take a run at a veteran this offseason. Even at his advanced age, Stafford showed last season that he would be a significant upgrade for all those teams. Whether anyone is willing to put more than $100m on the table – and a valuable draft pick – for two years of a player approaching 40 is an open question.

The Packers have proposed a ban on the shove play synonymous with the Eagles. Green Bay’s proposal has plenty of support from the coaching ranks, who took to the podiums at the scouting combine in Indianapolis this week to bemoan the supposedly unstoppable play.

Philly’s variation differs from other short-yardage sneaks, in which one player takes the ball and tries to dive for a first down. Instead the Eagles plant two teammates behind quarterback Jalen Hurts, have him dive forward and then drive him from behind to churn out first yards or scores. Over the last three seasons, it has become the closest thing to a guarantee in the sport.

Brotherly Shove or Tush Push?. Either way, it worked ¯\_(ツ)_/¯@jalenhurts | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/tu2LIl9ox2. Critics bemoan the play is dangerous or “not football”. Others see it as the game’s most physical play, a throwback to an earlier, tougher era. Bills coach Sean McDermott, who sits on the league’s competition committee, says that the push – and how defenses are forced to defend it – is a safety concern. “I just feel like player safety and the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game,” McDermott said. “It’s just that play to me [is] potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players.”.

McDermott’s argument is flimsy. The play looks dangerous, but it has been run so infrequently that the league doesn’t have solid data on the injury rates compared to any other single play. Also: it’s the NFL, there is an injury risk on every play, including traditional sneaks or runs that turn into rugby-style scrums.

Green Bay’s proposal smacks of trying to outlaw a strategy because one team has become too dominant at running it. The Eagles have successfully run the shove not because it’s a cheat code but because Hurts, who has incredibly strong legs, can push through a brick wall of defenders in a way other quarterbacks cannot. If it was a hack, the other 31 teams would all run it at the same rate as the Eagles and have similar success. But they don’t.

Huzzah! Prepare for another season of Rodgers headlines. Retirement seems off the table for the quarterback. There will be no podcast, gubernatorial run or a self-branded sun cream that keeps away space lasers – for now. After his release from the Jets becomes official, Rodgers will be free to canvass the market as a free agent for the first time in his career.

The list of takers will be short. At 41, coming off a disastrous spell in New York, with all the noise and nonsense that swirls around him, quarterback-needy teams will probably look to the draft rather than drop Rodgers into their locker room. More than likely, Rodgers will sign a deal as a one-year bridge starter, whether to try to help reignite a fallen franchise or give a pseudo-contender the illusion that they can make a playoff run.

The two likeliest teams to pull the trigger are the Raiders and Steelers. Vegas are all-in on trying to manufacture a winner quickly. Tom Brady is running the show, and his key decisions early in the offseason were to hire 73-year-old Pete Carroll as head coach and to retain the team’s defensive staff. Most of us know the Raiders are not a quarterback away from competing in the AFC, but every move and leak about their offseason suggests they believe they are.