Aaron Rodgers to Giants is a Nice Dream, But Here’s Why It's Unlikely to Happen

Rumors continue to swirl that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers wants out of Green Bay. But here's why even if those are true, the Giants are probably not a destination for the future Hall of Famer.

When it comes to roster building, an NFL general manager owes it to himself and his employer to leave no stone unturned.

So after initially giving off the impression that he wasn’t going to stick his nose into the Aaron Rodgers-Green Bay fray, Giants general manager Dave Gettleman said during an interview with WFAN Monday that, “You explore everything.” 

But for those of you dreaming about Rodgers riding into New York, such a scenario is the longest of long shots--and not necessarily because the organization has repeatedly and publicly thrown its support behind current starter Daniel Jones.

Obtaining Rodgers would further tax an already delicate Giants salary cap situation that even assistant general manager and apologist Kevin Abrams said last month could be bumpy next year if the cap doesn't take a big jump upward.

Unless Rodgers would be willing to play for peanuts—and why would he—any chance of him coming to the Giants just isn’t realistic.

But, you say, the Giants weren’t supposed to be able to go on the free-agent spending spree they went on this past off-season, yet they made it work. Surely, they can make room for Rodgers, right?

Wrong. 

According to Over the Cap, the Giants have $2,081,216 in functional cap space (for Top 51 signings) and $5,040,201 total cap space this year, money of which they’re going to need to get their draft class signed.

In 2022, based on a $203 million salary cap estimate by Over the Cap, the Giants are in the red in terms of effective cap space ($700,4740) despite having $7.759 million total space with which to work.  

But there’s another reason why the Giants should sit this one out if Rodgers is indeed available via trade. Gettleman has finally built up the roster to where a young quarterback coming in should have success. This was not the case in 2019 after the team drafted Jones with the sixth overall pick—the Giants were in a scramble mode to build a roster around him rather than have the table set so he could hit the ground running, and he ended up paying the price for it.

New York would be far better off spending the draft assets they got from the Bears on a quarterback next year and trading Jones if the former Duke signal-caller isn’t the answer. But for the time being, Jones will be given every opportunity to quiet his critics now that he has a much improved supporting cast around him. 

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