Aaron Rodgers drops a bombshell: NFL teams deliberately cut veterans to dodge guaranteed contract payouts

Aaron Rodgers is not holding back anymore. On the "Not Just Football" podcast this week, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback called out one of the NFL's most quietly damaging practices -- teams releasing veteran players right before the season opens, only to re-sign them afterward, all to avoid triggering guaranteed contract money. Rodgers did not frame this as a complaint. He framed it as a structural flaw that the league has been glossing over for years while experienced players silently pay the price.Why do NFL teams cut veteran players before the season starts?The answer, according to Aaron Rodgers, is money -- and a very specific rule that most fans never think about.Under the current collective bargaining agreement, a player's contract becomes fully guaranteed if he is on the 53-man roster on the first day of the regular season. That one clause has quietly reshaped how franchises handle their older players. Teams know the window. So they cut veterans before that date hits, wait for the roster dust to settle, then bring those same players back once the financial obligation resets."The older players have been less and less respected as the years have gone on," Rodgers said. "The NFL is not a meritocracy, not purely a meritocracy. And there are weird things around the contracts where veteran contracts, if you're on the 53 the first day of the season, your contract's guaranteed. So, a lot of teams now will cut veteran players and then bring them back, you know, after the first day of the league year begins, which I think is a really weird part of it."It is, frankly, a loophole hiding in plain sight. And what makes it worse is that the players most affected by it are precisely those who have given years of service to the league. They get released, sit in uncertainty for days, and then get a call asking them to return under terms the team now controls more tightly. That is not how a league that talks endlessly about player welfare should operate.The practice squad has improved -- Rodgers acknowledged that -- and older players can now hold spots there in ways that were not possible when he entered the league. But that is a minor concession against a much broader structural problem.Do NFL teams prioritize draft picks over better veteran players?This was the second edge to Rodgers' argument, and arguably the sharper one.He pointed out that franchises frequently protect roster spots for draft picks who have not earned them, simply because of the round in which they were selected. A third-round pick sits on the 53-man roster while a more deserving veteran on the practice squad gets the call to actually play on game day."Obviously, draft picks are valued more than others in certain places," Rodgers said. "So, there are certain guys on the team that didn't actually earn it; their draft spot earned it. … So, you're basically saying, 'This guy's only on the roster because he's on a rookie contract, or we don't want to lose him because we drafted him in the fill-in-the-blank round. But this guy who's on the P-squad is a better player. That's why he's going to play in the game this week, even though he's on the P-squad.' That's always been backwards to me."Rookies picked in the first round earn a fifth-year team option. The investment is real. But the problem Rodgers is identifying is not financial logic -- it is the way financial logic overrides football logic. Teams end up rostering players they do not fully trust while sidelining players who could genuinely contribute. It is inefficient, and veterans absorb the cost of that inefficiency every single season.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.