Ahead of the NFL draft, the San Francisco 49ers traded up for the No. 3 pick, which was used to select quarterback Trey Lance. But despite that massive trade, the Niners entered the draft with a possible move for Aaron Rodgers in mind.
Before last week’s draft, reports surfaced that the Niners had called the Packers to inquire about Rodgers. It reportedly got to the point that Rodgers — a Bay Area native — expected the trade to go through. When it didn’t happen, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted a report about Rodgers’ unhappiness with Green Bay and potential unwillingness to play for the Packers again.
Well, if you believe Kyle Shanahan, the Rodgers discussions didn’t go very far at all.
Did @49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan really call the #Packers to see if @AaronRodgers12 really was available?#NFL #NFLDraft #49ers pic.twitter.com/g6jr9YPTz2
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) May 3, 2021
In an interview with the Rich Eisen Show, Shanahan confirmed that he did indeed reach out to the Packers about Rodgers. He also explained why he explored the possibility of trading for the veteran quarterback after already trading up to No. 3 to obviously take a quarterback.
Shanahan claimed he was just doing his due diligence — just to be sure. He said:
“The exact truth is I don’t want to wake up the next day on Friday and see Aaron Rodgers — one of the best quarterbacks in this league — traded without doing any due diligence on it. So, I just called Matt (LaFleur) and asked him if there was anything to it. And Matt told me I’d be wasting my time if we had (John) Lynch call. And so Lynch did not call anyone the next day.”
And despite that draft-day report, Rodgers did not get traded. So, there’s that too.
