Packers ‘no way in hell’ were trading Aaron Rodgers to 49ers

The 49ers inquired about trading for Aaron Rodgers earlier this offseason, but the Packers gave a pretty clear-cut response.

Remember all those reports just before the 2021 NFL Draft that the San Francisco 49ers were among the teams interested in the reigning MVP, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers?

Well, as it turns out, those rumors and reports were true.

The Niners were interested. After all, who wouldn’t be? Perhaps only two or three teams around the league wouldn’t be interested in landing the future first-ballot Hall of Famer, only because those teams have Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks of their own.

According to a conversation San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan had with The Athletic (h/t Jared Greenspan of the New York Post), the 49ers’ interest was shot down awfully quickly.

“You know there’s no way in hell that we’re trading him to you guys.” — Kyle Shanahan describing what Packers told him about Aaron Rodgers

Just before the draft kicked off on April 29, not long after reports surfaced Rodgers wanted out from Green Bay, Shanahan spoke with Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, someone with whom Shanahan had a rapport from their days together with the Atlanta Falcons, and asked about Rodgers’ availability and mentioned general manager John Lynch would be calling Green Bay’s general manager, Brian Gutekunst.

“And Matt told me what I pretty much thought he would,” Shanahan said. “He’s like, ‘Aw, you can have him call him, do whatever you want, but you know there’s no way in hell that we’re trading him to you guys.’ … And I came in the next day, I told John, ‘You can call if you want, but I don’t want to waste your time.’ And John quickly agreed and so he never ended up calling.”

So much for that.

Packers likely didn’t want to create a 49ers ‘superpower’ in the NFC

Rodgers’ falling out with Gutekunst and the Packers front office is well-documented. Green Bay’s first-round draft selection of Utah quarterback Jordan Love apparently didn’t follow a phone call to Rodgers, and the lack of offensive weaponry grabbed to support Rodgers has also reportedly created friction.

As such, Rodgers wants out and could easily sit out all the way through training camp and potentially into the regular season.

The Packers could move Rodgers, of course. But it’s not likely they’d be highly interested in moving him to an NFC team, particularly one with Super Bowl aspirations and a playoff-caliber roster like that of the Niners.

San Francisco is expected to be back in the playoff hunt. With Rodgers, the entire balance of power within the conference would be altered, and the Packers would certainly be looking up at the 49ers in the NFC hierarchy.

Even with Rodgers, Green Bay suffered that embarrassing 2020 NFC Championship game loss to the Niners just over a year ago.

Instead, San Francisco used the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft on quarterback Trey Lance, hoping to develop him behind its current starter, Jimmy Garoppolo, while still eyeing a playoff berth this season.

Rodgers’ situation, meanwhile, looks to be anything but resolved.