Matt Flynn’s contract with the Green Bay Packers ends after this season. Credit: Tom Lynn

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Green Bay - Matt Flynn will be a member of the Green Bay Packers for the next two months.

After that, the backup quarterback will be either on his way to another team via trade or through free agency. Either way he'll be a rich man.

The Packers, however, may not benefit as much from his loss as some people might think. Those expecting the Packers to be able to trade him for high draft picks should heed a warning.

A trade is not a certainty.

Here's the situation:

Flynn, who set a club record for passing yards (480) and touchdowns (six) in the Packers' 45-41 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday, is an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Once the free agency period begins, he is eligible to sign with any team in the league with no compensation paid to the Packers, other than a "compensatory" draft choice from the NFL for losing a free agent. That pick would come in the 2013 draft and the highest it would be is at the end of the third round.

The one opportunity for the Packers to gain more from Flynn's loss is if the Packers slap a franchise tag on him. The franchise tag requires any team that signs Flynn to pay the Packers two first-round draft choices if the Packers choose not to match the offer.

In exchange for being tagged, Flynn would receive a one-year deal worth the average of the last five franchise tag numbers at his position. Last year, the franchise number for quarterbacks was around $14 million, and it's likely to be higher this year.

So once the Packers tag Flynn, that $14 million counts against their salary cap. Flynn would automatically become the highest-paid player on the team in terms of annual salary.

NFL teams are prohibited from trading franchise players. In fact, the rules say you may not franchise a player with the intent to sign him to a contract and then trade him. However, this rule has been broken before and the NFL tends to look the other way.

General manager Ted Thompson wants to get something for Flynn rather than just let him walk in free agency. But if he knows Flynn is going to sign the franchise offer, he not only has to have the salary cap room to take on a $14 million salary, but he must know that someone will trade for Flynn before he does it.

He and negotiator Russ Ball will have to work with Flynn's agent behind the scenes to find a trading partner and then negotiate a deal suitable to Flynn. If that happens, the Packers would sign Flynn to that deal and then trade him.

One prominent agent who has represented a franchise player said that he thinks the Packers could get a first-round pick at the minimum for Flynn and maybe first- and third-round picks. He said the desire for a franchise quarterback is so great that teams would be willing to pay a lot to obtain a polished product like Flynn.

If a deal were worked out between Flynn and the new team, it would have to be structured in such a way that it would not count against the Packers' salary cap because when Flynn signs it he's still a member of the Packers. The money Flynn would normally get through a signing bonus would be structured through guaranteed base salaries and roster bonuses.

But what happens if the Packers franchise Flynn, he signs the contract and the Packers can't work out a deal with another team? The franchise offer is guaranteed so once Flynn signs it, they are on the hook for $14 million.

That's the risky part for Thompson. If he has to carry $23 million in cap money designated for two quarterbacks, it would destroy his salary structure. He wouldn't be able to re-sign other players whose contracts expire the following year.

The other risk is that Thompson would have no protection against losing tight end Jermichael Finley. You get only one franchise or transition tag - the transition tag only allows you to match an offer - so Finley would be free to negotiate with anybody in the league.

The Packers would have to either meet his demands or let him go with no compensation.

Stay tuned.