Rams GM won't say if team tried to trade for Aaron Rodgers

Rams GM Les Snead won’t say if team tried to trade for Aaron Rodgers

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers scrambles during a playoff game against the Rams in January.

Staff Writer

April 30, 2021 4:30 AM PT

Sixteen years after he was the talk of the 2005 NFL draft because of his slide to the No. 24 pick, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers once again was a hot topic on the first day of the draft.

ESPN, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Rodgers, the reigning NFL most valuable player, wants out of Green Bay. San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch confirmed to reporters that his team contacted the Packers about Rodgers on Wednesday. The report also said that the Rams had contacted the Packers about Rodgers in January.

The Times’ Sam Farmer reported in January that the Rams considered making a run at Rodgers, but Green Bay was adamant it wasn’t trading him. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst denied the report.

On Jan. 30, two weeks after the Packers defeated the Rams in a divisional-round playoff game, the Rams traded quarterback Jared Goff two first-round draft picks to the Detroit Lions for quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Rams general manager Les Snead, speaking to Los Angeles reporters after Thursday’s first round — in which the Rams did not have a pick — would not confirm that the Rams had made overtures to the Packers regarding Rodgers.

“I think that was kind of a little bit rumor-ish back when that … was going on,” Snead said. “We were never serious contenders. Early in the process there, when Matt became available, we kind of jumped into those sweepstakes and attacked that.”

But did the Rams call the Packers to ascertain whether Rodgers was available?

“I’m not going to confirm that, but I don’t think he was ever available,” Snead said. “I guess he is [Thursday].”