INDIANAPOLIS — Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst doesn’t know when Aaron Rodgers will decide whether to play next year — and, if so, where — but he believes it will be before the start of the league year on March 16.
“There are a lot of decisions that have to be made before that,” he said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “So that would be helpful. But I would think we’ll know something before that.”
The Bears and the football world are waiting to see whether Rodgers retires or requests a trade. Asked whether other GMs have called about Rodgers, Gutekunst said “not a single person.”
Rodgers was dissatisfied with Gutekunst last season but softened his tone in the last month. In between, the Packers earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, only to lose at home to the 49ers in the second round. Rodgers won his second consecutive MVP award.
“I think he’s got a very tough process that he goes through to get himself ready to play every season,” Gutekunst said. “It’s a big commitment. And he’s done that for a long time — and it certainly shows with the results. I think he feels he needs to do that to play at the level he plays at. So I know that weighs on him, but I think he’s going through that now.”
The Packers are prepared to offer Rodgers a new contract. He is entering the last year of his deal.