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On Monday morning, Jerry Rice told 95.7 The Game listeners that he can’t envision Green Bay Packers quarterback
Aaron Rodgers wanting to play for the San Francisco 49ers.
“Aaron is not going to want to come here,” Rice said. “He doesn’t want to come here because the 49ers didn’t draft him. He’s still got that grudge. He’s still got that on his shoulders.”
Mike Silver of NFL Media wrote an intriguing piece for NFL.com, analyzing the discontent that may be brewing in Green Bay between Rodgers and the Packers. After his second consecutive loss in the NFC Championship Game, the somber-sounding quarterback seemed unsure about his NFL future, and whether that included a return to the Packers.
“[There are] a lot of guys’ futures that are uncertain,” Rodgers said via Silver, “myself included. That’s what’s sad about it most … getting this far. Obviously, there’s going to be an end to it at some point, whether we make it past this one or not. Just the uncertainties, (it) is tough, and the finality of it.”
Silver felt that Rodgers’ words could be viewed like this, as a message to the Packers: Your way of doing business has to change, or maybe I should be on my way.
The NFL analyst, who also joined 95.7 The Game on Monday, doesn’t necessarily agree with Rice’s perception of Rodgers’ attitude toward the 49ers — the team he grew up cheering and hoped would draft him in 2005.
“I don’t think he’s going to play for Mike Nolan (any time soon),” Silver quipped during the Steiny, Guru & Dibs show, “… Do you blame Jed York for the decision to take Alex Smith, who by the way, Aaron Rodgers would agree is a great dude, and we all love, right? No, I think if you’re Aaron Rodgers, if you can’t play for the Packers — I think he wants to play for the Packers, who are less passive.
“If you can’t play for the Packers because all they care about is sitting on their hands in free agency and waiting to see who falls to them in the draft — unless they can trade up to take your successor, by the way — then I think you want to go play for a killer who will get the absolute most out of your ability, and load up to try to win.
“Do you think Kyle Shanahan and that organization fits that bill? I do. It’s the same offense he’s running that he’s about to win MVP with, with Matt LaFleur. They absolutely will spend money and be aggressive, and Kyle probably, with Aaron Rodgers, could be the scariest thing some of us have ever seen, in a lot of people’s opinions.
“So, yeah, if I’m Aaron Rodgers and I decide I don’t want to play for the Packers, I want to go play for a killer whose owner wants to spend around me. It seems like the Niners should be on that list.”
You can listen to the entire conversation with Silver below.
The San Francisco 49ers could go in several directions with the quarterback position this offseason. Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch could stick with Jimmy Garoppolo, which they have indicated they would. But that was before the friction between Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans developed. It was before Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions agreed to part ways. It was before Aaron Rodgers sounded like he was questioning his future with the Green Bay Packers.
Could the 49ers contemplate moving on from the
It’s the offseason. So why not speculate on what it might take for the San Francisco 49ers to land disgruntled Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson? One suggestion by former NFL player Ross Tucker, during an interview on 95.7 The Game, was a little too wild for a 49ers wide receiver’s liking.
Tucker mentioned the 49ers’ young pass-rushing star after being asked if anyone is untouchable in creating a tempting enough package to acquire Watson.
“I would say Nick Bosa, but if you can get Deshaun Watson, I think even Bosa is touchable,” Tucker said. “I’m sure they don’t want to do it, and I’m sure they’d even rather give up picks, but as great as Nick is, if you get a chance to get a top-five quarterback in the NFL, you have to do it.
“So I would say
The defensive backfield could look a lot different for the San Francisco 49ers next season. With nearly 40 of its players scheduled to become free agents, the team has some difficult choices to make this offseason. That may include replacing cornerbacks Richard Sherman or Jason Verrett — or both.
They aren’t the only cornerbacks scheduled to become free agents. K’Waun Williams, Ahkello Witherspoon, Dontae Johnson, and Jamar Taylor are all staled to test the open market. Emmanuel Moseley and Ken Webster are scheduled to be exclusive-rights free agents.
Should there be some key missing pieces to the defensive backfield puzzle next season, Pro Football Focus identified a temporary replacement piece while taking a look at
