But Can He Lead?

[pbmax]

Rodgers gets his veteran O line some toys.

http://packerswire.usatoday.com/2017/05/24/aaron-rodgers-bought-packers-linemen-personalized-atvs-for-christmas/

[Harlan Huckleby]

Rodgers gets his veteran O line some toys.

His vet o-lineman are on the Bears, Lions and Browns.

[texaspackerbacker]

Jahri Evans will be an upgrade from Lang - mark my words. Sitton faded badly, and in hindsight, letting him go was a good move.

I hope those things have good roll bars. We don't need no stinking off-road vehicle injuries.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Jahri Evans will be an upgrade from Lang - believe me.

FIFY

I'm not really arguing whether the cutting of those vets was a good or bad move in the current system. I'm just grinding an old axe - the fantasy that there really is a "team". Well, there is a team every year enjoying a one-year stand. The hard cap sucks, there are better ways to balance interests - keeping teams together, preventing dominance by deep-pocketed franchizes, and still allowing a degree of free agency. The fan interest (maintaining some continuity of players) is completely ignored with the current system.

[pbmax]

FIFY

I'm not really arguing whether the cutting of those vets was a good or bad move in the current system. I'm just grinding an old axe - the fantasy that there really is a "team". Well, there is a team every year enjoying a one-year stand. The hard cap sucks, there are better ways to balance interests - keeping teams together, preventing dominance by deep-pocketed franchizes, and still allowing a degree of free agency. The fan interest (maintaining some continuity of players) is completely ignored with the current system.

Part of what he is doing here is helping to keep it a team.

And while older guys move on more frequently, Bulaga is getting close to the 10 year benchmark in the League. Bach in on his second contract (though he wasn't in those pics). They aren't that young. Even Barclay is in second contract territory. In a League of where the average tenure is 3-4 years, I think the team concept holds true.

[Harlan Huckleby]

In a League of where the average tenure is 3-4 years, I think the team concept holds true.

The average NFL career is only 2.66 years, so the typical stay with one team is less than that:

https://www.si.com/nfl/2016/03/01/nfl-careers-shortened-two-years-data-analysis

I don't need stats to tell me that the turnover in NFL is constant and absurd. All those articles last fall about Jared Cook. Starters may last for a contract period. I can't even keep up with the names of the players on the defensive front seven. It's a revolving door. How many running backs have been in and out the past 5 years?

It takes 3-4 seasons to develop an attachment to a player.

The Packer "team" each year is like a fantasy football team chosen by TT. That's an exaggeration, but the constant turnover to younger, cheaper guys is like an endless mill.

[Harlan Huckleby]

pbmax, you are an EXTREME NFL fan. All power and glory to you for it. I follow less closely. Maybe if I were deeper into it, I would know all the players around the league better, the turnover would not be so bothersome. For the more casual fan who just wants to primarily develop an attachment to a team, the turnovers sucks major ass. I can't make myself care about a new crop of offensive linemen every year - they're all just fat guys to me now. <sniff>

[Harlan Huckleby]

House is back on the team. So there's that.

[Fritz]

Can the seats in those things really hold a 290 lb guy? Or is Rodgers going to have to pay to have the seats taken out and new, larger ones put in?

What if one of the guys carps about that Polaris model being a cheap-ass edition, and why the hell didn't a guy making 23 mill a year buy the decked-out version?

And how many of the guys on the offensive line get one? Linsley, Bulaga, Bahktieri, Taylor, sure, but does Evans get one? If Kyle Murphy gets one, does Lucas Patrick? And what about that Geoff Grey, that Canadian guy who just signed? Or does he just get a mini-bike?

Man, this leadership thing. It's hard.

[Patler]

What about Ripkowski and other RBs who also protected his butt?
He is trying to buy his friends.

The WRs should start dropping everything that takes an effort to catch.

[pbmax]

From the article, source unknown:

It appears Bryan Bulaga, Lane Taylor, Corey Linsley and Don Barclay all received their new toys on Wednesday. David Bakhtiari, T.J. Lang, Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy could be next, although Lang’s ATV might need to get a blue shade of paint.

Either way, Rodgers paid a pretty penny for the gifts.

According to the Polaris website, the 2017 General retails between $16,000-$20,000, based on model. Eight of them would run well over $100,000.

[Patler]

From the article, source unknown:

How much of a discount do you think he got for the inevitable free advertising that would and did come from his purchases?

[Harlan Huckleby]

Elite pro athletes can earn $100,000 for a tweet.

The Polaris deal got a story in USA Today. Plus invaluable mentions by internet icon pbmax.

I wouldn't be surprised if Rodgers paid full price because a free present is a little tacky, and the money is insignificant to him.
Or it could easily be completely free. More investigative work is needed - follow the money.

[pbmax]

How much of a discount do you think he got for the inevitable free advertising that would and did come from his purchases?

No idea. But I doubt they were looking for coverage on the packers wire blog on the USAToday website. So it might not be anywhere close to Harlan's number, unless Rodgers actually covered it on social media.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I just googled "Rodgers Polaris" and the story is on TMZ, Fox TV stations, CBS Sports, ESPN..., hundreds of hits from past week, many with pictures of the Polaris ATV. What's that worth?

I saw somewhere that athletes with huge twitter followings can get paid over $100K for a mere twitter mention. That leads me to think that a story that gets picked up by lots of outlets must be worth millions.