GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) — Andrew Brandt managed the Packers salary cap for nearly a decade.
He knows Aaron Rodgers well; he was the one who negotiated the quarterback's rookie deal 17 years ago.
Now, Brandt thinks Rodgers' run in Green Bay is finally over.
"There's a sense that I get from Aaron that there's just sort of this last dance about this year," he said this week in an interview with NBC 26. "Walking off the field on wins and losses. Walking off Solider Field."
"2022 has always been the transfer point in my mind," Brandt, who worked as the Packers Vice President of Player Finance from 1999-2007, said. "And what's happened recently has only confirmed that to me."
Matt LaFleur said Monday the Packers want Rodgers back for the 2022 season, but Brandt isn't buying it.
"I know Matt LaFleur is saying we want him back. But what is he going say?" Brandt asked rhetorically. "What is he going to say to the media? 'We're going to move on from the best player in the league?' No."
Brandt says it all comes back to the Packers' selection of Jordan Love with the No. 26 overall pick in the 2020 draft. They traded up from No. 30 to select the Utah State quarterback.
"I go back to draft night 2020," he said. "It's seared in my mind, where you have a smiling Matt LaFleur and a smiling Brian Gutekunst who just traded up to draft Jordan Love.
"I don't think they're smiling thinking 'hey we're going to get him on the field in 2023,'" he laughed. "I just don't think that."
Brandt said there is no chance the Packers trade love in order to keep the 38-year-old Rodgers.
"I know the Packers," he said. "They're not going to flip a first round pick without having him on the field.
"I don't know if that's ever happened where a first round quarterback has been flipped," he added. "No. No. They're not doing that. Jordan Love is going to play."
It's an educated guess, but there's no doubt in Brandt's mind the time is right to move on.
"There's a chance (Rodgers) walks away, there's a chance he's traded," he said. "And I think those chances are betting than him remaining."
