The Aaron Rodgers to San Francisco 49ers talk is starting early. Maybe nearly a year early.
First, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explored the idea of the future Hall of Famer joining his hometown team and the organization that passed him up in 2005 for Alex Smith. Now, ESPN's First Take is joining the discussion.
Rodgers' days in Green Bay may be numbered after the team selected Jordan Love in the first round of April's draft. After enduring over a month of discussion earlier this offseason surrounding Tom Brady potentially replacing Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco, it seems like fans might have to put up with talk about the next possible Garoppolo replacement.
That's what analyst Domonique Foxworth, along with ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith and Tim Hasselbeck, discussed during Monday's episode of ESPN's First Take. Molly Qerim asked where they would like to see the Packers quarterback finish his career if not in Green Bay.
Smith is so fond of Rodgers that he said the quarterback could start anywhere except with the Kansas City Chiefs, home of reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, or teams that have their quarterbacks of the future, like the Baltimore Ravens with Lamar Jackson.
That list apparently doesn't include the 49ers.
"I know San Francisco has Jimmy Garoppolo, but that's a situation where I think Aaron Rodgers, given his history in California and the Bay Area, San Francisco could use Aaron Rodgers," Foxworth said. "He's not missing those spots, those passes that Garoppolo missed. I think Aaron Rodgers in San Francisco, that's a match made in heaven."
Smith clearly agreed.
"Let me go a step further," a passionate Smith began. "If Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback in the Super Bowl instead of Jimmy Garoppolo, the San Francisco 49ers are the champions right now. They're the champions right now. With those weapons, with Aaron Rodgers? They're the champions."
As the Niners Faithful knows, Garoppolo and 49ers ran over Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game to the tune of 285 combined rushing yards on the way to a lopsided 37-20 win and a Super Bowl berth. Garoppolo, however, had just 77 yards passing on eight attempts in the game as Shanahan relied on the run game to punch the team's ticket to Florida.