INDIANAPOLIS — Sorry, Aaron Rodgers, but the famous shrimp cocktail sauce at St. Elmo’s Steak House still draws the biggest crowd in town.
Anyone who expected that Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was going to spend his week at the NFL combine swatting away a line of GMs wanting to discuss a trade for Rodgers or whisper don’t-forget-about-me reminders in his ear would’ve been shocked Tuesday to hear that hasn’t been the case.
“Not at all,” Gutekunst said. “Not a single person.”
With the start of NFL free agency set for March 16, the Packers still don’t know if Rodgers intends to be their starting quarterback for the 15th straight season, ask for a trade or retire. Consider that date an unofficial deadline for the reigning MVP to decide on his future.
Brian Gutekunst Getty Images“There’s a lot of decisions that have to be made before that,” Gutekunst said. “So that would be helpful. But I would think we know something before that.”
Rodgers’ cryptic social media messages about gratitude last week were followed by the Packers’ curious decision to leave him out of a social media graphic of players when announcing one of their “home” games is moving to London.
Much ado about nothing? Maybe, but not something Gutekunst and Rodgers have discussed on either end.
Rodgers’ status is directly tied to the Packers’ other big decision: whether to franchise tag receiver Davante Adams, who will be one of the most coveted free agents in the league if available. Would the Packers see Adams as central to Jordan Love’s development in place of Rodgers or a luxury not needed in a rebuild?
“We’re planning for a lot of different scenarios,” Gutekunst said, “but certainly once we get the situation with Aaron figured out, then everything can follow.”
One day after Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray’s agent Erik Burkhardt released a statement that amounted to a demand to sign Murray to an extension or move on, GM Steve Keim and head coach Kliff Kingsbury responded.
“I thought it was an agent doing his job,” Keim said. “As long as I’ve been doing this, you have to understand people have different ways of approaching things. And I respect that. You can’t get caught up in taking things personal.”
Keim said he has no reason to believe that Murray would refuse to play in 2022 without an extension. He “absolutely” intends to exercise the option on Murray’s contract for 2023 by this May’s deadline, which would provide a safety net.
Murray is scheduled to make $5.4 million in 2022 but wants to follow the line of recent quarterbacks like Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen who signed extensions when first eligible headed into their fourth season.
Kyler Murray Ronald Martinez/Getty ImagesKingsbury said he and Murray talk “consistently” and “are in a great place” but haven’t spoken since Burkhardt’s missive. Murray expressed opinions on what he would like to see the Cardinals do in terms of personnel.
“All of our long-term goals here is to have Kyler be our quarterback. He understands that,” Kinsgbury said. “We had a great talk right after the season with him. He talked about his concerns, we talked about what we wanted and so we’re going to work through those things.”
The Texans are operating this offseason like Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson is not part of their equation, after Watson sat out all last season following his trade demand and the 22 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. The market for Watson is hard to define until there is clarity on his eligibility to play and potential criminal charges, which lawyers recently said should be known by April 1.
“We’re day-to-day in terms of handling that,” GM Nick Caserio said. “Once the information becomes more relevant or prevalent, then we’ll handle it accordingly. My philosophy from the beginning has always been to do the right thing by the organization, and we’re going to continue to do that here moving forward.”
Caserio also explained his seemingly out-of-nowhere decision to promote Lovie Smith to head coach after interviewing Brian Flores, who is suing the NFL for racism in hiring practices.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Brian. I think he’s one of the better coaches in our league,” Caserio said. “He just felt that Lovie made the most sense for our team and situation at the time.”
Texans owner Cal McNair, who previously apologized for using a racist slur, “put it on my shoulders to make the decision I felt was best” and was “supportive and open,” Caserio said.
Nick Caserio Michael Hickey/Getty ImagesWith reports swirling that Wentz could be traded or cut before he is due a $6.2 million bonus on March 19, the Colts sounded very noncommittal on the quarterback for whom they traded a first-round pick last year.
“I stuck my neck out for him,” said head coach Frank Reich, Wentz’s former offensive coordinator with the Eagles. “I was a big part of that decision to get him here. And so I believe he’s going to continue to have a lot of success at quarterback. That might be here. It might not be here. That decision has yet to be determined.”
The Colts are reeling from a season-ending two straight losses that cost them a playoff spot.
“We didn’t finish the season the way we should have, all of us,” Reich said. “If we finished the season the way we’re supposed to, probably not having this discussion.”




