Let me see if I understand what you're stating. Wait until it is certain that Rodgers is retiring in a year or two, then draft his replacement. Where, of course, he'll be sitting there for the taking when the Packers get their first pick. I never realized it was that simple and easy. Thanks.
The players fought long and hard in the courts and in union negotiations to make it very hard under any circumstances.
To this point, you've failed to recognize the significance of the
free agency aspect of this planning process. You simply cannot stash players with any meaningful market value for indefinite periods.
A smooth transition away from a departing franchise QB has been rarely accomplished in the
true free agent era beginning in 1992. Favre-to-Rodgers, Manning-to-Luck, and that's it. In the latter case Indy had to tank their way into the #1 pick combined with the good fortune of having the best ready-for-prime-time QB prospect in a decade falling in their laps. Even then, Indy agonized over the Luck pick.
There's another angle to this process that we've not already beaten into the ground. A QB-centric team that has playoff aspirations has room for one and only one developmental QB at a time. As we saw in 2013 prior to Flynn's return, failing to have a backup who can come in and provide at least a decent chance of beating mediocre teams is imprudent.
This Packer team, as it has been and is currently constituted, needs a guy like Flynn, who's proven he can play up to a 0.500 record against 0.500 teams at minimal cap cost to keep the team in playoff contention if the "franchise" misses a few games.
