Aaron Rodgers may be seeking partial credit for Matt Ryan's recent contract bonanza, at least in the eyes of Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
As a guest for this week's The Business Of Sports podcast, Dimitroff shared a few details of his brief wintertime conversation with Rodgers, the longtime Packers quarterback and two-time NFL MVP.
"I saw Aaron, interestingly enough, at the Super Bowl in the airport," Dimitroff recalled on the podcast. "He just said to me, 'We don't know each other that well, but just get this deal done with Matt first, so I can get on with my life.'"
At the time of Rodgers' apparent half-joke/half-truthful statement, Ryan would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2018 season. However, the Falcons took care of that potential worry in short order, signing Ryan to the biggest contract extension in league history—in terms of guaranteed money ($100 million) and total payout (annual average of $30 million over five seasons).
On the flip side, Rodgers won't hit free agency until after next season; but the odds of the 2005 first-rounder reaching that point with Packers management are prohibitively long.
With the notable exception of Kirk Cousins—who inked a fully guaranteed contract of three years, $84 million with the Vikings in March—most elite-level quarterbacks under the age of 35 rarely get to experience unfettered free agency.
The reasoning: Teams possess a full understanding of the quarterbacking market; and executives/owners are typically happy to dole out market-setting contracts for this position.
For example, six different quarterbacks have owned the mantle of the NFL's Highest-Paid Passer, (average annual value) in the last 12 months—Andrew Luck, Derek Carr, Matthew Stafford, Jimmy Garoppolo, Kirk Cousins, Matt Ryan; and it's a foregone conclusion that Rodgers' extension number will eclipse Ryan's freshly minted contract.
According to Spotrac, a Web site that monitors NFL salaries in great detail, Rodgers currently ranks 10th in quarterback salaries, citing annual average value ($22 million). For what it's worth, of the nine QBs ranked atop the list, only Ryan has captured 'NFL MVP' honors (2016); and only Drew Brees boasts a Super Bowl victory as a starter.
