Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst says quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the "domino that has to fall" before the team address the futures of other stars such as wide receiver Davante Adams.
Speculation over Rodgers' intentions this offseason increased when the four-time regular season MVP, who is 8/1 to win the award again in 2022, published a lengthy Instagram post on Monday night.
Cryptic message
His message, although stating nothing specific about his future, centered around gratitude and appeared to many to be the sort of post someone would share if they were retiring or leaving their team.
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The Packers seem to be stuck in a holding pattern while they await something definitive from their QB, who said at the NFL Honors show earlier this month that he would make a decision relatively soon.
However, the 38-year-old denied claims that his social media post was a cryptic message over retirement plans by telling The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday that it was genuinely about gratitude.
"There's nothing cryptic about gratitude," was Rodgers' response.
Packers chief still formulating his plans
Gutekunst isn't interested in trading the franchise's face of the past 14 seasons, but knows it would all change if Rodgers requested to leave - potentially then affecting the plans of other key players.
"Obviously everything around here centers around the quarterback. That's kind of how we do things," Gutekunst said on Wednesday, via nfl.com.
"It's a big piece. It's a domino that has to fall before we go down other avenues. So it's important as we go through this and the puzzle pieces that we got to make fit. That's the first one to go. ... There's some timing elements to things. We've had really good conversations with Aaron and everybody throughout the process."
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