There has been talk about the Buffalo Bills trading Marshawn Lynch since he finished last season second on the depth chart behind Fred Jackson.
Rumblings got louder throughout the offseason, when the Bills used the ninth draft choice on C.J. Spiller and Lynch declined to show up for most workouts.
Turns out, this week's opponents need a running back. The Green Bay Packers lost Ryan Grant for the year with an ankle injury, and their quarterback happens to be a huge Lynch fan.
Aaron Rodgers and Packers linebacker Desmond Bishop played with Lynch at the University of California. When Rodgers was asked Wednesday what his response would be if Green Bay's front office solicited his opinion about Lynch, the quarterback replied "Bring him on."
Rodgers isn't bothered by Lynch's track record of bad behavior. The NFL suspended Lynch for the first three games last year for multiple problems with the law.
"He's a great player," Rodgers said. "And any character issues the team might see, I think in a situation like that, and I think you've seen that with other players across the league, when you give a guy a change of scenery and a guy like that who feels he might have something to prove, and surround him with two guys, Bishop and myself who played with him, I think that can only help him feel comfortable and see a lot of production."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Greg A. Bedard blogged Rodgers' comments and added any trade would be "a long shot" and that "even a third-round pick would likely be too rich for [Packers general manager] Ted Thompson."
Earlier on Wednesday, I wrote about how the New England Patriots' decision to trade their former first-round back, Laurence Maroney, might impact the market for a potential Lynch trade.
Bills coach Chan Gailey on Wednesday reiterated his preference to keep Lynch.
"Opinions vary of whether it's too many" running backs in Buffalo's backfield, Gailey said. "In preseason, we didn't have too many. I know Green Bay wishes they had one more.
"Everybody's got opinions on what's right. We feel that having the three that we have right now is a very good situation for us. We've got to continue to get better with each one of them and see how their roles play out as the year goes on. This is a situation in the NFL where you can't have too many good running backs."