Aaron Rodgers has been through it before. So, too, has Davante Adams. Time after time the Green Bay Packers All-Pro duo see their team linked with a big name player, whether its in free agency or a potential trade, only to see that player inevitably end up somewhere else.

So, there the Packers were — again — Wednesday morning, mentioned as a possibly landing spot for New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore. The team was planning to release him after being unable to trade the All-Pro. One report said Gilmore wanted to be in Green Bay and another said the feeling around the league was he would sign with the Packers when released.

A fanbase that has been the perpetual bridesmaid in nearly every situation like this was once again getting their hopes up that their favorite team, which is basically in a must-win mode this season, could add the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year to the lineup.

So what is the team’s quarterback thinking when reports like that surface?

“I temper my expectations most of the time,” Rodgers said with a grin. “It’s usually a wait and see. I don’t get too excited about those things until they happen.”

Adams has been through so many of these that he knew Gilmore wasn’t coming. That didn’t stop him from replying to a post on Instagram from Gilmore with “call me.”

“I only commented that to stir some shit up, just to just to be funny,” Adams said. “It’d be great to have him. He’s a great player, one of the best in the league still, for sure. It wasn’t a joke, like, I didn’t want him here. Definitely would want him here but definitely did not expect us to pick him up.”

And the Packers didn’t pick him up. Before New England could release him, the Carolina Panthers swooped in and offered a 2023 sixth-round pick for Gilmore, which the Patriots accepted. It left him as just the latest big name to be tied to the franchise — JJ Watt, Randy Moss, Marshawn Lynch, Tony Gonzalez, Khalil Mack — only to end up in the history book as an almost-Packer.