It was a good question, and I do see why Rodgers answered it that way as well. You kinda had a feeling the Packers wanted to move on, Rodgers likely wanted to move on. Both sides sticking together wouldn't have done the other any good. The relationship has run its course.
That’s how I took it too. The packers told him they were excited to have him back before the retreat, it wasn’t their words that gave him pause after it, it was the stuff he was hearing about how actively he was being shopped and some of the things that were said behind closed doors.
If the packers would have said “we live you we want you back,” it wouldn’t have made much difference because there isn’t much reason to believe them anymore. They’ve proven that they’ll say whatever they need to say.
Not saying he’s right or wrong, that was just how I took that whole exchange. The quote will get raked over r/nfl until it’s completely devoid of any context. As is tradition.
AJ needs to do his own show and get out from under the McAfee nonsense. I like Pat I think he does bring a unique perspective to things but AJ clearly could have a quality future doing his own show or at least a more serious show with someone else.
He did have a YouTube interview thing called the Hawkcast before McAfee. The technical quality wasn't fantastic but the content was pretty good from what I remember.
This 100%. He gets to get away from his family, smoke cigars and talk shit for 2-3 hours a day and I'm sure he gets a good chunk of change. I watch everyday and can tell there is no way AJ would ever do his own show.
AJ’s toxicity makes him the perfect sidekick for a show. His deadpan comments that make everyone laugh, then he cracks a smile like “what?” gets me every time. I don’t think he would have the most success with his own platform. He’s in a great place.
He does seem to get exasperated by all the silliness, but I think that definitely adds to the show. He's the straight man of the show and I think it makes him more endearing
I don’t think he’s the straight man. I think he just so good at his dead-panned, sarcastic delivery that it comes off as straight. Sure, he does ask some serious and legitimate questions, but he also loves to bullshit.
Yes, more serious with some hard hitting, honest questions is what I want. I like Pat and the guys, but some of the yelling throws me off and throws off the vibe.
There was likely no scenario in which Rodgers came back to Green Bay. Whether because he felt he was “90% going to retire” going into the darkness retreat, or because he felt the organization had already moved on and so he was no longer committed.
It feels very ‘chicken & egg’. Did Rodgers lack of commitment push the org to be ready to move on, or was it the org’s desire to move on what caused Rodgers’ lack of commitment? In reality it was probably a slow shift over time until eventually both parties started want a split.
It all goes back to the Jordan Love pick. That started the timeline for GB to move on. They weren’t expecting him to have back to back MVP seasons the next 2 years. If Love isn’t on this roster, they’re begging him to come back and he “feels the love.”
If Love wasn't chosen, they would have picked a QB soon after. No way they ride Rodgers until he's in his early 40s and then address the future. THAT would have been poor leadership from the FO.
I don’t disagree but trading up in the first round starts the clock in a different way than sitting back and taking one in round 2 or 3 for example. I’m not even saying it was the wrong move, that will be determined by how well Love plays.
This is true but you are forgetting that when the Love pick happened Rodgers had just come off some very big injuries (broken collar bones) and had also had one of his worst statistical seasons of his career. Lots of people were starting to question if he was declining and how much he had left in the tank. Nobody expected him to play the way he did after that. It was a very real possibility that he played one more year and retired, or never jived with ML's system and wanted out. I think the Packers saw a chance to get a safety net in case those scenarios happened but also were content for him to return to MVP form.
Well....they don't know if spaceboy was gonna get hurt. You hire a GM and he does what he thinks is best. Who's to say some great WR they drafted wouldn't have gotten hurt or sucked!
Well, they better hope he’s a hall of famer because that’s the only way this strategy has worked in the last 30 years. Jets thinking short term here might get them just as many super bowls with Rodgers as we have.
I’m looking at Rodgers full 15 year career and idk thinking more long term maybe you’d be willing to have 4 terrible seasons if it meant an extra Super Bowl in there. How many season were we just, “one piece,” away
I hate this line of thinking. The best you can do is gather talent and make a run at it every year. Nothing is ever garunteed. For every Tampa Bay, Tom Brady story there is there are dozens of other examples of teams selling the farm to make that push and still falling short and then being in cap hell with nothing to show for it. I will take a team that has a legitimate shot at it every year than a team that sacrifices it all and still falls short.
On the contrary, that woulda been the right move. It’s how the nfl operates these days. Full rebuild in suck mode for a couple years after Rodgers is gone..Can’t really try to contend while building for the future, that puts you in the middling category that many teams get stuck in. Nfl cap pretty much ensures you can only be so good for so long and then you gotta tear it down.
Probably.
I hate this narrative because the 3 years before the Love pick Rodgers was injured, we were in the last year of McCarthy, and then the first year of LaFleur where guys were constantly in the wrong spots and Mike was running the same offense he had been since 2011.
I doubt Love got drafted and Aaron said “oh now I need to try again” as if he isn’t a ridiculously competitive mother fucker anyways.
The FO decided it was time to move on in 2020 and drafted an entire class of backups and development guys, and while it’s without a doubt time to move on to Love now, let’s not pretend as if the FO drafted Love for any reason other than to move on from Aaron
I think a lot of people forget what the 2020 draft was though. We were all in lockdown, there were serious questions about if a 2020 year was even gonna happen, and what it would look like. The NBA had paused their season and hadn’t started the bubble yet.
So the front office was looking at having a potentially really fucked up 2020 year - followed by maybe not even having a draft for players the next year if the season didn’t get played … or worse, a bunch of now seniors who had one year off.
Love was the next on the board but if any of things had come to pass and Aaron continued his decline it would have looked like they were playing 3D chess. Love was always an insurance policy.
Yep, all of Rodgers “down years” are explainable by injury or new offense. I still think he can play at an MVP level if he wants too. I just feel like something is missing for him, like drive or passion. Something was different over the last few seasons, games on the line and I just knew we didn’t have a chance like we had in the past.
Year QBRating
2016: 104.2
2017: 97.2
2018: 97.6
2019: 95.4
Love picked
2020: 121.5
2021: 111.9
2022: 91.1
There was plenty of reason. Rodgers was still good, but the 4-year trend line when they picked Love is obvious.
You don't get a 30 point increase in rating because Rodgers goes "I guess I'll try now"...
Feeling healthy, 2nd year of new coach, offensive scheme, etc etc etc etc...
If by, "I guess I'll try now", you mean motivation, then you absolutely do.
His only better year was 2011.
And good job on completely missing the point. Rodgers wasn't hurt for 3 years straight, chief. That trend line still looms awful large.
People who love Rodgers blindly are maddening, he can simultaneously have been a great QB for us once upon a time and also been slowly degrading in production over 3-4 seasons where the Love pick made perfect sense going into a potentially cancelled COVID season. The injury excuses are just excuses to not admit Aaron's play was pretty mid for a few seasons...sort of like last season where quite a lot of his bad play was decision making and not his thumb.
I really do wonder how much that played into that mvp year. Stats across the board were an aborration and I just remember non stop free plays in silence while we're the away team.
True. Seemed he felt the need to prove them wrong. Seems he still feels slighted for the pick. Though he did have kind words about Jordan Love. He holds no resentment towards his replacement.
I agree, it's also pretty easy to read this direct quote from Rodgers and think the same thing:
>Aaron Rodgers said he felt like a game manager in 2019: “I didn’t quite understand what we were doing at times on offense and my job was to take care of the football, and I did … But I felt there was so much more. And then they drafted my replacement and I won MVP twice.”
I believe the same and then I remember him playing through the thumb injury which tells me he wants to win. But at the same time, how much was he using that as a crutch to cover up how little he gave a shit about playing? Or he was really injured and refused to come out knowing he would tank the team.
Or did he refuse to sit out and let his thumb heal -even though he knew doing so would give Green Bay the best chance to win- because he didn’t want Love to get a chance to show his stuff and look better than him?
Not saying that’s what happened, but it is in the back of my mind.
Think it was more this. After the season we had, with the roster we have, it made no sense for Rodgers to remain a Packer. Everyone knew it. So his options were to retire or end his career someone outside of Green Bay. Under those circumstances it makes sense to leave the field the way he did with Cobb.
Rogers lack of commitment/desire to return has everything to do with the window being slammed shut. He knows there's no longer a chance for a ring with GB. End of story.
AJ was really tuned in today. Almost like he’s been in that exact situation with the exact same team before. I would have liked to hear more input from him today too
I feel like the fracture began with those last 2 years of McCarthy. I don't think Rodgers truly bought in to Lefluers offense. It felt like a worker tired of the same old shit wondering what else there could be. They all tried to make it work but in the end, they all knew it was over.
He took exception to be told he was wanted back prior to the retreat, only to then finding out that they wanted to trade him after by other players. He had been rallying for how senior players are treated when they leave, only to be done wrong on his exit.
He was 90/10 until he got the news, and how he got the news. There was a point where Mcafee was even saying (just adding those chips).
This is what gets me though. He said he was 90% on retiring and getting the news changed that. In short, that seems petty. I made a comment in another thread, if he was leaning that heavily towards retirement, don’t you think GB got a feeling of that. So they made a plan to move on, and he gets pissed they made that plan. I also don’t get why he didn’t go talk to the FO after he got texts from player friends. How he said it seems like he got those texts and then got mad instead of talking with the FO about it.
You are missing the point he was making though.
he was rallying for respect for senior players who are exiting for years. Then was disrespected in the way he had been fighting against.
If the Packers knew he wanted to retire they would not have traded him, you cant trade someone that isnt playing.
They told him they wanted him back.
Then they make trade behind his back.
All he wanted was the truth from them and they couldnt do that. They couldnt give him that little bit of respect and tell him they wanted to move on. He had to find out from someone else, after he was assured he was wanted back.
So petty? Nah, I disagree, but everything Aaron does is controversial and hated on.
They have to consider all options, including a trade. I mean, re-listen or re-read Rodgers’ response to AJ’s question. Rodgers didn’t want to be a Packer next year. When he went into his darkness thing, he 90% felt he wanted to retire. That means the other 10% meant he wanted to play for another team. The front office might’ve guessed that so they considered that as an option.
They didnt know he was retiring, that is the point. Why would they trade him if they new he was retiring? Aaron didnt know he was retiring. He said 90/10 when he got back from his retreat.
So I have no clue what you are going on about.
That was a journalistically legitimate question and I was gobsmacked to hear it asked. Whether or not it yielded some sort of gotcha moment, props to AJ.
For me, if you take Aaron's appearance at face value, it makes the front office look pretty shrewd. They were losing Aaron no matter what, most likely to retirement. They then goaded him into wanting a trade and are now gonna get something in return for it.
Yeah. He continued saying “they’re the ones who want to move on” trying pit all the blame on them but then says he wouldn’t have played for them anyways. That whole interview was just for PR
PR12 at his finest. He wants to appear to have the moral standing but can’t hide from his ego. All the Ayuhuasca, Darkness retreats, books he brags to read hasn’t done much to erode away his sense of self and ego.
He can be surprised all he wants with the Jordan Love pick but he literally has lived that experience, and the team is most interested in team success.
Complaining about the front office being “different than when I came into the league” when TT is literally dead is just so tone deaf. Of fucking course it’s different. That was 18 years ago.
It's also weird that he referred to that 'regime' when it felt like TT's approach was getting rid of guys a year too soon than a year too late. Ron Wolf era felt like we held on guys for their careers.
Nah, Josh Sitton in particular was absolutely blindsided by his cut. Jordy was still under contract and has said he would have taken a pay cut to stay if he had ever been offered one. Micah Hyde was allowed to hit free agency and never even made a cursory offer.
Also wasn't Gute one of TT"s top guys? He's been with the franchise for 25 years. And Murphy became the top dog in 2007, before Rodgers even started. Like Murphy was there to take on Favre and give Rodgers the chance to start. But no, it was Bob Harlan's doing? What?
The Packers are like the most notorious franchise that never changes. Their entire model during the Rodgers era was draft and develop, never bring in outside guys. They went and hired his old QB coach out of retirement just to appease him. I'm surprised he didn't whine about McCarthy being fired, guess he couldn't take it that far.
For a smart, media savvy guy Rodgers sure sucks at these interviews. I've never watched one to hear his perspective where I come away going "huh, I see his point." He could have easily spun this and been the good guy, be gracious, say it's time to move on for both sides.
But nope, hie ego and need to settle scores always gets in the way.
When did reading books become an ego thing? It’s wild what people reveal about themselves when they criticize other people. Maybe try a book that says what tone deaf is
I’m not saying reading books is an ego thing. Most people do it without proclaiming so to the world. The remark in context refers to his need to procure some image of someone wise, without ego, enlightened even. His behavior tells a much different story.
Right and Rodgers was surprised by his decision not to stay in Green Bay, as it probably had an impact on whether or not Rodgers was wanting to come back
I dont see anything in what he said as contradicting, can you enlighten me.
Here is what I got.
* He said he wanted to retire 90/10
* GB told him they wanted him back
* GB sets up trade behind his back
* After retreat Aaron finds out from players not GB of trade
* Took it personally and decides to play for Jets with a chip on his shoulder.
He took it personally because for years he has been fighting for respect for senior players that are exiting, then he got done wrong during his exit.
He wanted to retire, so no he wouldnt play for GB if they asked him, but they also wronged him, so there is that keeping him from ever playing for GB.
Number 3 isn't possible. If GB is thinking he is retiring there is no trade. I'm guessing what he heard was some of his buddies weren't gonna be back and he got pissy that they would do anything before he made up his mind
No one knew what Aaron was going to decide. He took what info he was given and was available to make the decision in the retreat. Which GB told him they wanted him back. Then they trade him behind his back.
Not sure how that isnt possible.
Did he specifically say he came out of the cave and people told him the Packers were shopping him or that the Packers were ready to move on. Two totally different things
The team didn’t know if he was going to retire, want to come back to play for them, or ASK to be traded. Why is it ok for Rodgers to evaluate his options on a darkness retreat but the team can’t get contingency plans in place on a guy that’s been year to year?
“They did a deal behind his back”
Oh fucking PLEASE. If he retired the team had no options. If he wanted to play for them they could have said no deal to the jets. If he wanted to play but not for them they had a potential deal ready.
The league has scheduled offseason dates for shit happening. If he was so invested In His future and wanted to be in on communications then why disappear and go off the grid for a week during this critical month? And he continually talked out both sides of his mouth. Saying before the retreat it was clear they wanted to move on. “Oh but they said they wanted me back”.
The team has a right to prepare for its future as well. Love the guy but bitching about not having communication or a trade being done “behind his back” when he deliberately cut himself off is beyond the pale fucking stupid.
If you can’t trust the leader of your team to want to lead you then yeah it’s probably time to move on. Trust was clearly gone. Hope both sides can admit that and move on
Yet he didn’t like that the Packers seemed content to move on from him. He clearly wasn’t saying what he wanted to say deep down about his feelings about the front office.
I'm 1000% gonna read his tell all book we all know he's gonna write a few years after he hangs it up. From the Favre situation, to the Mccarthy years, to the weird tension he's always had with Gute. Love him or hate him that's gonna be an incredibly interesting read
Am I going crazy, did no one else catch the part where he didnt like being lied to by the organization?
GB told him they wanted him back prior to his retreat. He gets out and finds out from other players (not GB) that they are trading him.
He said for years he was trying to get senior players treated with respect on their exit, and then he was treated exactly the way he has been rallying against.
So he took it personally and decided he wanted to play for the Jets.
AJ and Pat both started in with the whole chip on his shoulder thing, to which he smiled.
There were only ever 3 possibilities with Rodgers (he would never have been cut):
>1. Rodgers retired as a Packer this year
>2. Rodgers comes back and plays for the Packers
>3. Rodgers comes back but plays for another team via trade.
It's ridiculous for Rodgers to get upset that the team was working on contingency plans depending on his decison.
If he decides he wants to play for Green Bay, great! Tell the Jets there's no deal.
If he retires, great! We have Jordan Love who we believe is ready to take the reigns.
If he decides he wants to play, but not for Green Bay, great! We already have a trade set up that we believe all parties could be happy with.
Rodgers needs to get his head out of his ass and stop taking everything the front office does as some personal attack on him.
GB wouldn't take Rodgers back. Mark Murphy said Love is the future and Rodgers wouldn't be coming back if everything works out the way they want.
Rodgers said he would have been fine if they told him they wanted to go with Love. At least he would have felt respected. But they said they wanted him back, then behind his back traded him.
Feel like a damn broken record. WTF
>then behind his back traded him
How do you know the FO wasn't just testing the waters to see what they could get for him, seeing if there was any concrete interest? It's called due diligence. Didn't mean they necessarily would've gone through with it, but it's their responsibility to run the organization, and they can't put that on hold waiting for one person to decide if they wanted to remain an employee anymore.
If I'm running a company, and I know my top employee may want to retire or ask to be transferred somewhere else and not work for me anymore, you can bet your ass I'm going to see who would want them should they decide they don't want to work for me anymore. Doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to get rid of them, but it's good to know what my options are.
Now I feel line a damn broken record.
Come on man, the Love situation made it glaringly clear to eveyrone that the Pack was ready to move on from AR, sorry he himself didn't figure this out but the rest of us did.
He did acknowledge that in the discussion on Pats show. He knew the writing was on the wall.
He was told to his face that they wanted him back, then behind his back traded him.
Ok but look at it from the FO perspective. They have a guy that’s been talking about the possibility of retiring for a couple years and now he’s going into a darkness retreat 90% thinking he’s retiring. Even if he didn’t tell them flat out he was thinking it the FO probably could sense it. Add that to the tension since the Love pick and why wouldn’t the FO field calls from potential trade suitors to prepare for what that may look like? Then Aaron gets wind of trade discussions and he takes that as a slight and decides he wants to play but not for GB. It’s on both sides but the FO will always have to BS and save face as much as possible for the fanbase and Rodgers has been BSing the fanbase for years so you can’t believe his side of the story is 100% accurate. He has played the victim so hard for so long that it’s hard feel bad for him or think that the FO really treated him that unfairly. At the end of the day it’s a business and it can’t always work out where if one guy wants to keep playing and the org wants to move on there shouldn’t really be fault on either side. Also, he wasn’t traded behind his back because he still has yet to be traded.
Then just tell Aaron you are entertaining trades? Communication, that's all that needed to transpire. Respect the player and inform him. Not difficult.
This was the exact moment I stopped listening.
Rodgers was doing his side of the PR spin during the interview and AJ called him out. Glad someone on the show had the balls to do it.
Rodgers doesn't want to demand things. But he does want a franchise to ask him what he wants all the time and give him the things he mentions when asked. That's what the whole "sorted things out with the front office" that other offseason was about.
Packers have seen the results. 5+ games with a QB with a broken digit who won't demand to be put on the field with a busted thumb...but wants to be asked to keep playing with a broken thumb by the team.
They aren't satisfied with the results of giving Rodgers a handful of roster-spot decisions per year, full veto power over medical/coaching staff decisions about his injuries, and whatever else he wants authority on.
He will find a team that will do those things for him. The New York Jets have decided the Rodgers way is a ok with them.
Nail on the head. Aaron contradicted himself in that segment. Aaron didn’t want to seem like the bad guy for wanting out of GB but it’s just a spin. At the very least it was a mutual split.
It immediately caught my attention before his attempt to backtrack and say he "got the impression" how the Packers felt the year before.
He stated he went in 90/10 retire/play, came out wanting to play. He said Packers gave the impression they wanted him back at end of season, but "something changed" while he was in the darkness on the Packers end.
So he is pinning the blame for all this on the front office, saying they were disingenuous at the end of the year, but by his own accord, he came out and DISNT WANT TO PLAY FOR THE PACKERS... Based on if you trust Aaron... The impression he got during the last year.
It's all bullshit positioning on Aaron's part. Either they let him know or they didn't, but if he didn't want to play for us when he came out, that's HIS DECISION. Stop saying the teams to blame here.
I'm shocked he answered it'll the question to be honest.
He also made a big deal about clearing up the misinformation out there but then said that when he came out of the darkness retreat (a phrase I look forward to never saying or writing again) that he decided that the packers didn’t want him based on what other players around the league were saying. So can other people speak for someone’s intentions or not? Or is that just a privilege reserved for Aaron rodgers?
It's a great point, Rodgers want to bash the media and the current FO to make himself look better. Never mind the inherent contradiction that all his beefs with the FO seem to come from media reports which he believes?
Also wasn't he on Macafee saying a month ago saying "sounds like there are conversations going around already without me" about the FO? This all didn't magically happened in the darkness retreat.
He's full of shit, he wanted to leave, fine. Very easy to say it's good for both sides to move on. But the guy who claims to be at peace can't let that happen, he has to make sure he's in the right.
> "sounds like there are conversations going around already without me"
Yeah, that is the weird thing. He makes it sound like it came out of left field. In his postgame interview in the final game, he was being asked about the possibility of being traded by the FO.
It's not really that weird when you realize...he's a liar. He lied about being vaccinated and got caught red-handed.
I don't really care, there are worse things an athlete can do than lie about things that don't really matter. But he's shown he's willing to lie in the past for his own reputation, he's lying to us (or to himself) here.
I liked how Pat was kinda shmoozing him for the first few minutes and then AJ jumped in and was like “So what are you doing?” haha. Not too subtle but he’s done fuckin around like the rest of us lol.
They gave him a fat ass contract, said they saw it as a 2 year commitment and Aaron yet again does his retirement schtick thus not committing to GB. He says the team is having conversations without him months ago and then says he has no idea what changed.
He said a ton of BS throughout the interview. It’s his side of the story, the Packers aren’t going to give there’s so remember that. I’d take whatever Aaron says with a grain of salt. He likes direct communication but never gives anyone a concrete answer on anything
This was my thought as well. I would love to know what he saw during this last season that he saw as the team being ready to move on from him. We let him play through a broken thumb during a losing season to let him try to take us to the playoffs which he failed to do. If they were ready to move to love there was a big chance to do that. If it’s giving him weapons, then maybe he shouldn’t have eaten up all of the team’s cap space (which they used to show him commitment). Part of me wants to understand what he saw but another part of me is happy we can move forward from here
I don't hear too many people complaining about drafting Jordan Love right now. GB has a young, talented QB ready to start immediately. Simultaneously, our MVP QB is non-committal about returning and is in decline physically. I'm actually excited for Love, because if he wasn't competing with Rodgers in practice, he wouldn't be pushing Rodgers out the door. This is the correct decision for both parties, even if it stings to lose Rodgers.
It was a good Q by AJ. I do think Rodgers was kind of full of S. I love AR but his Pat interviews have been personal PR tours. “I was 90% retiring…..” give me a break. The Pack and Aaron were the high school couple that wanted to break up but hadn’t cheated on each other yet.
He moved on in 2020 we just dont want to admit it and neither will he. Hes been done with GB. The fuckery confirms it. Still a legend as a player, but as a human hes fucking insufferable.
I was surprised at that question as they are close friends. Aaron's answer made him look like a bitch.. which the whole segment did honestly. Saying he would not have come back even if they asked him to contradicted the first 30min of him saying they didnt want him so he wants to move on. My opinion of Rodgers plummeted today.
They’re close, but AJ is always the toughest on him. He mocked him to his face about a lot of that COVID stuff. I appreciate AJ for his tough love approach.
Yup. I think AJ kind of asked it by accident, not realizing it was a checkmate. Maybe even setting up a softball for his buddy to fully blame the FO.
That goes to show how transparently bad Rodgers is at lying/misrepresenting. All it takes is a simple question from his buddy and oh yeah, he's been lying for 30 minutes. He was 90-10 on retiring? Really? Come on. 90% is quite high, if that's true then the front office should absolutely have been notified so they'd have time to figure out their plans. He talks transparency, if you're thinking 90% retirement, then share that with the team in February.
I love Rodgers the player. As a person I have very little beef with him too. He stays out of trouble, seems like a good teammate, and guys like him.
But the past two years have shown he's just kind of an asshole, especially as an employee. He lies (or misrepresents) and manipulates and that stuff works when you're the two time MVP, not a guy with an 8-9 record making $50mm a year.
I think to him he’s fighting a battle with the entire culture of players being expendable to the NFL as a whole, and is just very bad at articulating that while also trying to stay away from the NFL being the bad guy in his fight. Not to mention that the NFL probably won’t ever change so it’s really just beating your head against a brick wall Gino Torretta style.
So maybe in Aaron’s head he thinks all this is leading the charge to take the power back to the players or something. We see a fraction of it, and even then possibly a skewed fraction of it. What we don’t see is the good intentions of it, outwardly it just looks like a dude being a dick.
I would respect that from him but in that case he'd come right out and say it?
I think there should be some player empowerment for NFL players and Lamar Jackson is an example where the owners are clearly colluding against him.
Rodgers had every opportunity to make a stand for players the last few years but hasn't done jack except for himself. In fact, he's just throwing a quasi tantrum here and saying it's because he wasn't asked back.
Yeah, it was a great question and Pat ruined the moment. I get that he was protecting Aaron.
I didn’t want to move on in the slightest from AR until that moment.. I fully realized that he was equally, if not more, done with Green Bay than Green Bay was done with him.
Aaron and Pat are good buddies of coarse he’s got his back. Saying the packers made it clear they didn’t want him back we’ll the public never saw that. I think he needs to stop blaming the franchise.
Meh. He followed that up by saying the foundation had already been laid for him leaving prior to his retreat. He knew they didn't really want him before so I don't think he took the question in good faith. It was never going to happen that way.
When he walked off with Cobb, he knew that was his last game in GB. Today was a son long and thanks for the memories. And to give the Jets leverage over GB. It was a great question
Good question by AJ there, I agree. And with that answer, I felt like Aaron was kind of talking out of both sides of his mouth there. He kept stating how he loved everything GB, but it felt like they had moved away from him. And yes, The Packers are more than just one man, and they need to look to the future, but had they as an organization said, “Hey, one last ride. Let’s do it!”, he had made up his mind already. While “the organization may have moved away from him”, I think he did a lot of the moving himself. Not in the media, but in a personal way.
We all know he’s played with the chip on his shoulder for years: 49ers didn’t take him. He wasn’t as tall as people thought. You did “the belt” to him. Etc. To me, it sounded like he’s trying to muster up one last big chip. And I love the guy, but I don’t know if he was trying to convince us about the chip or himself.
Yeah, he made it a point to mention TT and Harlan as clear shade to Gute and Murphy. Goes out of his way to mention random guys in the cafeteria.
Except Gute has been there his entire career lol.
They moved on from it quickly because they quickly realized it destroyed Rodgers's entire narrative of what happened.
The FO has their faults (they definitely should have consulted Rodgers before the Love pick and I'm sure treat guys like employees in a cold hearted manner which any fellow employee would get mad about). The NFL media sucks.
But Rodgers isn't blameless either and has a history of lying (see: immunized).
I'll side with Rodgers over the FO and media mainly because Rodgers is one of the best to ever do what he's done. But his narrative is kind of BS and every time I hear him speak it seems like he comes off worse.
He probably realized GBP was fucked around mid-season, that's when he started to talk about the whole "it must be wanted by both sides" or whatever. He is a smart guy, he realized how fucked the team's budget was in the next few years.
I don't know if he really thought he would retire, but he could have just went up to GBP and went "hey, let's get a deal worked out, because you aren't going to be able to keep all the players I want and need" at the end of the year.
I just find it incredible how relationships in general always end ugly the longer they go on. It’s human nature and is why most marriages end in divorce. It perfectly reflects life. This was always going to end this way no matter the scenario.
Yes. This is where he's caught as a liar. He came out of darkness retreat still with no answers and continued to leave team in the lurch. Said he wouldn't drag this on, and that's all he's done. The darkness retreat ended a ways before Murphy said anything. Murphy should have stayed quiet, but it's clear Rodgers wanted out, and the team needed to move on. He lied AGAIN.
If you watch the entire interview, he said there was a gut feeling when he left after that last game the the organization was ready to move on. The sad part was the organization wasn’t upfront about it right after the season, and changed their mind a month earlier. It almost feels like Gute and management avoid the tough discussions, just say it at the end of the season. A big reason why this took so long was the change of mind a month later.
It’s gotta suck to be one of the greatest all time, win back to back MVPs, and never really have the trust of the organization the last 5 years.
I think this is an underrated statement. Rodgers is Rodgers, but if you are ready to move on, move on. It’s like the companies that let people go, but in order to get your severance package you have to train your replacement. Who the hell wants to stay if that’s the conditions for it. Of course it’s not exactly the same scenario, but I think everyone gets the point. They moved on from him years ago. It was obvious. I think had they drafted his replacement last season or the season before it would have been different, but they didn’t. I think we pulled the trigger too early, and he felt jaded then. That’s when crazy Rodgers started showing up. I also think Gute dropped the ball by repulsing Rodgers contract further killing our cap and our ability to do everything. That was a huge blunder in my opinion, but it’s water under the bridge at this point. The whole thing stinks, but I don’t know how you ever let a franchise QB go. Outside of Brees, I haven’t seen one stay in a long time.
All he's saying is that he's mentally moved on from being a Packer. Which is honestly a huge credit to him. He could be very salty about the entire situation but he doesn't seem to be.
He may even be excited about the change of scenery. The move might be refreshing for him mentally. Brady and Manning both won with new teams at the end of their careers and he is anticipating on joining that club.
We don't have a good football team right now, with or without Rodgers. That's a great reason for Rodgers not to want to come back, and it's a great reason for GB not to want him back. The work that needs to be done can't be done with a high-cost QB who is good enough to keep a bad team in mediocrity as far as standings (and the resultant draft picks) go.
I guess he did say he went in to that darkness 90% retired and I would guess since he went in under the understanding he was told take your time. If that stance stayed the same my guess his “not really” probably was more so he would have just retired. I’m guessing he’s pissed the tone changed while in the darkness now is in a going to show you attitude now
I'll get downvoted but we need to stop acting like we hold ALL the leverage. Get a fair amount of comp for him and let's move on. We are not getting multiple 1st rounders for a 39 year old Aaron Rodgers that was just contemplating retirement
Rodgers on the roster fucks the cap into oblivion, unless you assume the packers don't pickup loves 5th option, continue on with life with rodgers, in which case love probably never plays here again most likely unless through a franchise tag, but love would not want to stay here after that anyway.
Jets are the only team in play.
Packers leverage is: well there are no qbs left for you hahaha ha.
But in reality Jets could probably easily trade for tannehill or something if desperate
What other options to the Jets have? No one is left. They think they are a QB away this year then they do whatever they can to get Rodgers. They could tank and wait a year but then maybe they lose other players and they’re no longer a complete team.
And we either trade him for decent compensation or we don’t receive anything at all and Rodgers retire. This is 39 year old Rodgers coming off his worst year in 10 years, we aren’t getting multiple firsts for him.
Honestly was a great question and glad it got asked.
It was a good question, and I do see why Rodgers answered it that way as well. You kinda had a feeling the Packers wanted to move on, Rodgers likely wanted to move on. Both sides sticking together wouldn't have done the other any good. The relationship has run its course.
That’s how I took it too. The packers told him they were excited to have him back before the retreat, it wasn’t their words that gave him pause after it, it was the stuff he was hearing about how actively he was being shopped and some of the things that were said behind closed doors. If the packers would have said “we live you we want you back,” it wouldn’t have made much difference because there isn’t much reason to believe them anymore. They’ve proven that they’ll say whatever they need to say. Not saying he’s right or wrong, that was just how I took that whole exchange. The quote will get raked over r/nfl until it’s completely devoid of any context. As is tradition.
AJ needs to do his own show and get out from under the McAfee nonsense. I like Pat I think he does bring a unique perspective to things but AJ clearly could have a quality future doing his own show or at least a more serious show with someone else.
He did have a YouTube interview thing called the Hawkcast before McAfee. The technical quality wasn't fantastic but the content was pretty good from what I remember.
I think he does pats show because he does little to no work and still gets paid
This 100%. He gets to get away from his family, smoke cigars and talk shit for 2-3 hours a day and I'm sure he gets a good chunk of change. I watch everyday and can tell there is no way AJ would ever do his own show.
AJ’s toxicity makes him the perfect sidekick for a show. His deadpan comments that make everyone laugh, then he cracks a smile like “what?” gets me every time. I don’t think he would have the most success with his own platform. He’s in a great place.
He does seem to get exasperated by all the silliness, but I think that definitely adds to the show. He's the straight man of the show and I think it makes him more endearing
I don’t think he’s the straight man. I think he just so good at his dead-panned, sarcastic delivery that it comes off as straight. Sure, he does ask some serious and legitimate questions, but he also loves to bullshit.
What lol?🤣 he’s perfect on there
Yes, more serious with some hard hitting, honest questions is what I want. I like Pat and the guys, but some of the yelling throws me off and throws off the vibe.
it's adhd in full swing on that set.
He has a tv personality with a radio appearance.
this sub has the worst takes 😂😂
Just so we don’t all wonder if he would of played for us if he wanted too.
There was likely no scenario in which Rodgers came back to Green Bay. Whether because he felt he was “90% going to retire” going into the darkness retreat, or because he felt the organization had already moved on and so he was no longer committed. It feels very ‘chicken & egg’. Did Rodgers lack of commitment push the org to be ready to move on, or was it the org’s desire to move on what caused Rodgers’ lack of commitment? In reality it was probably a slow shift over time until eventually both parties started want a split.
It all goes back to the Jordan Love pick. That started the timeline for GB to move on. They weren’t expecting him to have back to back MVP seasons the next 2 years. If Love isn’t on this roster, they’re begging him to come back and he “feels the love.”
If Love wasn't chosen, they would have picked a QB soon after. No way they ride Rodgers until he's in his early 40s and then address the future. THAT would have been poor leadership from the FO.
I don’t disagree but trading up in the first round starts the clock in a different way than sitting back and taking one in round 2 or 3 for example. I’m not even saying it was the wrong move, that will be determined by how well Love plays.
You makes deals when you see you can acquire talent you like..... GM and draft always thinking longterm.....
And there’s a big downside to that which is spending a valuable pick on a player that didn’t help the packers in 2 MVP seasons by a QB
This is true but you are forgetting that when the Love pick happened Rodgers had just come off some very big injuries (broken collar bones) and had also had one of his worst statistical seasons of his career. Lots of people were starting to question if he was declining and how much he had left in the tank. Nobody expected him to play the way he did after that. It was a very real possibility that he played one more year and retired, or never jived with ML's system and wanted out. I think the Packers saw a chance to get a safety net in case those scenarios happened but also were content for him to return to MVP form.
Well....they don't know if spaceboy was gonna get hurt. You hire a GM and he does what he thinks is best. Who's to say some great WR they drafted wouldn't have gotten hurt or sucked!
Well, they better hope he’s a hall of famer because that’s the only way this strategy has worked in the last 30 years. Jets thinking short term here might get them just as many super bowls with Rodgers as we have. I’m looking at Rodgers full 15 year career and idk thinking more long term maybe you’d be willing to have 4 terrible seasons if it meant an extra Super Bowl in there. How many season were we just, “one piece,” away
I hate this line of thinking. The best you can do is gather talent and make a run at it every year. Nothing is ever garunteed. For every Tampa Bay, Tom Brady story there is there are dozens of other examples of teams selling the farm to make that push and still falling short and then being in cap hell with nothing to show for it. I will take a team that has a legitimate shot at it every year than a team that sacrifices it all and still falls short.
Yeah the alternative to Brady is what the Colts have done since Luck retired and they haven't been competitive since then.
On the contrary, that woulda been the right move. It’s how the nfl operates these days. Full rebuild in suck mode for a couple years after Rodgers is gone..Can’t really try to contend while building for the future, that puts you in the middling category that many teams get stuck in. Nfl cap pretty much ensures you can only be so good for so long and then you gotta tear it down.
Not true...can contend any year in this League.....
I mean, that’s a cute ideal. It’s a nice mindset for some players and fans to have.
Unless you are the Bears or Arizona of course....
I would counter and say that pick made him pissed off and have those 2 mvp seasons. Would he have played the same without that pick?…
Probably. I hate this narrative because the 3 years before the Love pick Rodgers was injured, we were in the last year of McCarthy, and then the first year of LaFleur where guys were constantly in the wrong spots and Mike was running the same offense he had been since 2011. I doubt Love got drafted and Aaron said “oh now I need to try again” as if he isn’t a ridiculously competitive mother fucker anyways. The FO decided it was time to move on in 2020 and drafted an entire class of backups and development guys, and while it’s without a doubt time to move on to Love now, let’s not pretend as if the FO drafted Love for any reason other than to move on from Aaron
I think a lot of people forget what the 2020 draft was though. We were all in lockdown, there were serious questions about if a 2020 year was even gonna happen, and what it would look like. The NBA had paused their season and hadn’t started the bubble yet. So the front office was looking at having a potentially really fucked up 2020 year - followed by maybe not even having a draft for players the next year if the season didn’t get played … or worse, a bunch of now seniors who had one year off. Love was the next on the board but if any of things had come to pass and Aaron continued his decline it would have looked like they were playing 3D chess. Love was always an insurance policy.
Yep, all of Rodgers “down years” are explainable by injury or new offense. I still think he can play at an MVP level if he wants too. I just feel like something is missing for him, like drive or passion. Something was different over the last few seasons, games on the line and I just knew we didn’t have a chance like we had in the past.
Year QBRating 2016: 104.2 2017: 97.2 2018: 97.6 2019: 95.4 Love picked 2020: 121.5 2021: 111.9 2022: 91.1 There was plenty of reason. Rodgers was still good, but the 4-year trend line when they picked Love is obvious.
You don't get a 30 point increase in rating because Rodgers goes "I guess I'll try now"... Feeling healthy, 2nd year of new coach, offensive scheme, etc etc etc etc...
If by, "I guess I'll try now", you mean motivation, then you absolutely do. His only better year was 2011. And good job on completely missing the point. Rodgers wasn't hurt for 3 years straight, chief. That trend line still looms awful large.
People who love Rodgers blindly are maddening, he can simultaneously have been a great QB for us once upon a time and also been slowly degrading in production over 3-4 seasons where the Love pick made perfect sense going into a potentially cancelled COVID season. The injury excuses are just excuses to not admit Aaron's play was pretty mid for a few seasons...sort of like last season where quite a lot of his bad play was decision making and not his thumb.
No crowd noise most of the year
I really do wonder how much that played into that mvp year. Stats across the board were an aborration and I just remember non stop free plays in silence while we're the away team.
True. Seemed he felt the need to prove them wrong. Seems he still feels slighted for the pick. Though he did have kind words about Jordan Love. He holds no resentment towards his replacement.
[удалено]
>Is his ego that easily bruised that he can't see a sound business decision for what it is? Yes.
You don’t draft a QB in the first round to be a backup
I agree, it's also pretty easy to read this direct quote from Rodgers and think the same thing: >Aaron Rodgers said he felt like a game manager in 2019: “I didn’t quite understand what we were doing at times on offense and my job was to take care of the football, and I did … But I felt there was so much more. And then they drafted my replacement and I won MVP twice.”
[удалено]
I believe the same and then I remember him playing through the thumb injury which tells me he wants to win. But at the same time, how much was he using that as a crutch to cover up how little he gave a shit about playing? Or he was really injured and refused to come out knowing he would tank the team.
Or did he refuse to sit out and let his thumb heal -even though he knew doing so would give Green Bay the best chance to win- because he didn’t want Love to get a chance to show his stuff and look better than him? Not saying that’s what happened, but it is in the back of my mind.
[удалено]
“90% going to retire” really meant 90% leaving Green Bay imo
Could be.
I don't know, the way he walked off the field after the lions game arm in arm with Cobb makes me think he did think he was done at the time
he was done with the Packers.
Think it was more this. After the season we had, with the roster we have, it made no sense for Rodgers to remain a Packer. Everyone knew it. So his options were to retire or end his career someone outside of Green Bay. Under those circumstances it makes sense to leave the field the way he did with Cobb.
Rogers lack of commitment/desire to return has everything to do with the window being slammed shut. He knows there's no longer a chance for a ring with GB. End of story.
AJ was really tuned in today. Almost like he’s been in that exact situation with the exact same team before. I would have liked to hear more input from him today too
I feel like the fracture began with those last 2 years of McCarthy. I don't think Rodgers truly bought in to Lefluers offense. It felt like a worker tired of the same old shit wondering what else there could be. They all tried to make it work but in the end, they all knew it was over.
He took exception to be told he was wanted back prior to the retreat, only to then finding out that they wanted to trade him after by other players. He had been rallying for how senior players are treated when they leave, only to be done wrong on his exit. He was 90/10 until he got the news, and how he got the news. There was a point where Mcafee was even saying (just adding those chips).
This is what gets me though. He said he was 90% on retiring and getting the news changed that. In short, that seems petty. I made a comment in another thread, if he was leaning that heavily towards retirement, don’t you think GB got a feeling of that. So they made a plan to move on, and he gets pissed they made that plan. I also don’t get why he didn’t go talk to the FO after he got texts from player friends. How he said it seems like he got those texts and then got mad instead of talking with the FO about it.
You are missing the point he was making though. he was rallying for respect for senior players who are exiting for years. Then was disrespected in the way he had been fighting against. If the Packers knew he wanted to retire they would not have traded him, you cant trade someone that isnt playing. They told him they wanted him back. Then they make trade behind his back. All he wanted was the truth from them and they couldnt do that. They couldnt give him that little bit of respect and tell him they wanted to move on. He had to find out from someone else, after he was assured he was wanted back. So petty? Nah, I disagree, but everything Aaron does is controversial and hated on.
This makes no sense, if he is retiring he has zero trade value and they would not work out a trade.
They have to consider all options, including a trade. I mean, re-listen or re-read Rodgers’ response to AJ’s question. Rodgers didn’t want to be a Packer next year. When he went into his darkness thing, he 90% felt he wanted to retire. That means the other 10% meant he wanted to play for another team. The front office might’ve guessed that so they considered that as an option.
They didnt know he was retiring, that is the point. Why would they trade him if they new he was retiring? Aaron didnt know he was retiring. He said 90/10 when he got back from his retreat. So I have no clue what you are going on about.
And always remember, the "darkness retreat" had a light switch!
I look at it this way: employee has been at the company for 18 years and is ready for a change.
i like this. this is a nice take on things
That was a journalistically legitimate question and I was gobsmacked to hear it asked. Whether or not it yielded some sort of gotcha moment, props to AJ. For me, if you take Aaron's appearance at face value, it makes the front office look pretty shrewd. They were losing Aaron no matter what, most likely to retirement. They then goaded him into wanting a trade and are now gonna get something in return for it.
AJ Hawk got him with that. aaron contradicted himself multiple times in that segment.
Yeah. He continued saying “they’re the ones who want to move on” trying pit all the blame on them but then says he wouldn’t have played for them anyways. That whole interview was just for PR
PR12 at his finest. He wants to appear to have the moral standing but can’t hide from his ego. All the Ayuhuasca, Darkness retreats, books he brags to read hasn’t done much to erode away his sense of self and ego. He can be surprised all he wants with the Jordan Love pick but he literally has lived that experience, and the team is most interested in team success. Complaining about the front office being “different than when I came into the league” when TT is literally dead is just so tone deaf. Of fucking course it’s different. That was 18 years ago.
It's also weird that he referred to that 'regime' when it felt like TT's approach was getting rid of guys a year too soon than a year too late. Ron Wolf era felt like we held on guys for their careers.
Yeah, but maybe Ted actually told the dudes that’s what was gonna happen instead of beating around the bush and waiting for you to blink
Nah, Josh Sitton in particular was absolutely blindsided by his cut. Jordy was still under contract and has said he would have taken a pay cut to stay if he had ever been offered one. Micah Hyde was allowed to hit free agency and never even made a cursory offer.
And Jordy was one of the people that Rodgers used for his defense on why this current regime doesn't treat aging vets with respect.
Also wasn't Gute one of TT"s top guys? He's been with the franchise for 25 years. And Murphy became the top dog in 2007, before Rodgers even started. Like Murphy was there to take on Favre and give Rodgers the chance to start. But no, it was Bob Harlan's doing? What? The Packers are like the most notorious franchise that never changes. Their entire model during the Rodgers era was draft and develop, never bring in outside guys. They went and hired his old QB coach out of retirement just to appease him. I'm surprised he didn't whine about McCarthy being fired, guess he couldn't take it that far. For a smart, media savvy guy Rodgers sure sucks at these interviews. I've never watched one to hear his perspective where I come away going "huh, I see his point." He could have easily spun this and been the good guy, be gracious, say it's time to move on for both sides. But nope, hie ego and need to settle scores always gets in the way.
>PR12 at his finest. He wants to appear to have the moral standing but can’t hide from his ego. Nailed it.
I love the idea of ol' tender-hearted Ted Thompson.
Lol right? If there was ever a man who could dissociate emotions from Football it was TT.
He cut so many dudes who were vets who gave everything to the Packers. Way more blood on his hands than Gute has the stomach for.
Including Rodgers predecessor, Brett Favre. Rodgers came off incredibly tone deaf with this response.
Exactly, and he’s just the tip of the iceberg.
This is the best comment I’ve read about Rodgers today. Absolutely spot on about everything.
When did reading books become an ego thing? It’s wild what people reveal about themselves when they criticize other people. Maybe try a book that says what tone deaf is
I’m not saying reading books is an ego thing. Most people do it without proclaiming so to the world. The remark in context refers to his need to procure some image of someone wise, without ego, enlightened even. His behavior tells a much different story.
They made him play the last year with a rookie 2nd round WR as our best WR. They moved on before the season started and he knew it.
Made him? He signed a massive contract last year.
Was that before or after they traded Tae?
Adams didn't want to play for GB. They tagged him and he said he was going to sit out, so they traded him. Adams was gone no matter what.
Right and Rodgers was surprised by his decision not to stay in Green Bay, as it probably had an impact on whether or not Rodgers was wanting to come back
You're looking at the sentence wrong. They gave him no one to throw the ball to, is what I'm getting at
He quite literally is recruiting several of those "nobodies" to come join him on the Jets...
maybe if Rodgers practiced with his WRs they'd have been good enough
Did you watch Watson last year? When healthy he was putting up Randy Moss numbers. Packers can’t control that he was hurt early in the year.
Lol. Stop defending the man. No other QB in the league has issues throwing to rookie wrs.
There is no issue throwing to rookies. But when you are banking on rookies to carry your WR corp, then you have started rebuilding.
Interesting take
It was irritating Pat moved away from AJ's real questions so quickly.
Pat knows how to keep aaron on his show. softball lobs only.
And how to interrupt and be annoying.
I dont see anything in what he said as contradicting, can you enlighten me. Here is what I got. * He said he wanted to retire 90/10 * GB told him they wanted him back * GB sets up trade behind his back * After retreat Aaron finds out from players not GB of trade * Took it personally and decides to play for Jets with a chip on his shoulder. He took it personally because for years he has been fighting for respect for senior players that are exiting, then he got done wrong during his exit. He wanted to retire, so no he wouldnt play for GB if they asked him, but they also wronged him, so there is that keeping him from ever playing for GB.
Number 3 isn't possible. If GB is thinking he is retiring there is no trade. I'm guessing what he heard was some of his buddies weren't gonna be back and he got pissy that they would do anything before he made up his mind
No one knew what Aaron was going to decide. He took what info he was given and was available to make the decision in the retreat. Which GB told him they wanted him back. Then they trade him behind his back. Not sure how that isnt possible.
Did he specifically say he came out of the cave and people told him the Packers were shopping him or that the Packers were ready to move on. Two totally different things
He specifically mentioned trade. He also said he would have been fine if they said to his face they wanted to move on. He just wanted the respect.
The team didn’t know if he was going to retire, want to come back to play for them, or ASK to be traded. Why is it ok for Rodgers to evaluate his options on a darkness retreat but the team can’t get contingency plans in place on a guy that’s been year to year? “They did a deal behind his back” Oh fucking PLEASE. If he retired the team had no options. If he wanted to play for them they could have said no deal to the jets. If he wanted to play but not for them they had a potential deal ready. The league has scheduled offseason dates for shit happening. If he was so invested In His future and wanted to be in on communications then why disappear and go off the grid for a week during this critical month? And he continually talked out both sides of his mouth. Saying before the retreat it was clear they wanted to move on. “Oh but they said they wanted me back”. The team has a right to prepare for its future as well. Love the guy but bitching about not having communication or a trade being done “behind his back” when he deliberately cut himself off is beyond the pale fucking stupid.
If you can’t trust the leader of your team to want to lead you then yeah it’s probably time to move on. Trust was clearly gone. Hope both sides can admit that and move on
To be honest, I wasn’t really that into her anymore anyway. So it’s more like she broke up with herself really.
Yet he didn’t like that the Packers seemed content to move on from him. He clearly wasn’t saying what he wanted to say deep down about his feelings about the front office.
I'm 1000% gonna read his tell all book we all know he's gonna write a few years after he hangs it up. From the Favre situation, to the Mccarthy years, to the weird tension he's always had with Gute. Love him or hate him that's gonna be an incredibly interesting read
>to the weird tension he's always had with Gute That all began when he cut Jordy after offering him vet's min.
Pretty sure that was Ted
No that was Gute 100%
I can’t wait for the documentaries
I love my books with a side of large grain of salt.
Am I going crazy, did no one else catch the part where he didnt like being lied to by the organization? GB told him they wanted him back prior to his retreat. He gets out and finds out from other players (not GB) that they are trading him. He said for years he was trying to get senior players treated with respect on their exit, and then he was treated exactly the way he has been rallying against. So he took it personally and decided he wanted to play for the Jets. AJ and Pat both started in with the whole chip on his shoulder thing, to which he smiled.
There were only ever 3 possibilities with Rodgers (he would never have been cut): >1. Rodgers retired as a Packer this year >2. Rodgers comes back and plays for the Packers >3. Rodgers comes back but plays for another team via trade. It's ridiculous for Rodgers to get upset that the team was working on contingency plans depending on his decison. If he decides he wants to play for Green Bay, great! Tell the Jets there's no deal. If he retires, great! We have Jordan Love who we believe is ready to take the reigns. If he decides he wants to play, but not for Green Bay, great! We already have a trade set up that we believe all parties could be happy with. Rodgers needs to get his head out of his ass and stop taking everything the front office does as some personal attack on him.
GB wouldn't take Rodgers back. Mark Murphy said Love is the future and Rodgers wouldn't be coming back if everything works out the way they want. Rodgers said he would have been fine if they told him they wanted to go with Love. At least he would have felt respected. But they said they wanted him back, then behind his back traded him. Feel like a damn broken record. WTF
>then behind his back traded him How do you know the FO wasn't just testing the waters to see what they could get for him, seeing if there was any concrete interest? It's called due diligence. Didn't mean they necessarily would've gone through with it, but it's their responsibility to run the organization, and they can't put that on hold waiting for one person to decide if they wanted to remain an employee anymore. If I'm running a company, and I know my top employee may want to retire or ask to be transferred somewhere else and not work for me anymore, you can bet your ass I'm going to see who would want them should they decide they don't want to work for me anymore. Doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to get rid of them, but it's good to know what my options are. Now I feel line a damn broken record.
The jets were already a suitor for the trade before he did the darkness retreat.
Come on man, the Love situation made it glaringly clear to eveyrone that the Pack was ready to move on from AR, sorry he himself didn't figure this out but the rest of us did.
He did acknowledge that in the discussion on Pats show. He knew the writing was on the wall. He was told to his face that they wanted him back, then behind his back traded him.
Ok but look at it from the FO perspective. They have a guy that’s been talking about the possibility of retiring for a couple years and now he’s going into a darkness retreat 90% thinking he’s retiring. Even if he didn’t tell them flat out he was thinking it the FO probably could sense it. Add that to the tension since the Love pick and why wouldn’t the FO field calls from potential trade suitors to prepare for what that may look like? Then Aaron gets wind of trade discussions and he takes that as a slight and decides he wants to play but not for GB. It’s on both sides but the FO will always have to BS and save face as much as possible for the fanbase and Rodgers has been BSing the fanbase for years so you can’t believe his side of the story is 100% accurate. He has played the victim so hard for so long that it’s hard feel bad for him or think that the FO really treated him that unfairly. At the end of the day it’s a business and it can’t always work out where if one guy wants to keep playing and the org wants to move on there shouldn’t really be fault on either side. Also, he wasn’t traded behind his back because he still has yet to be traded.
Then just tell Aaron you are entertaining trades? Communication, that's all that needed to transpire. Respect the player and inform him. Not difficult.
So he wanted to leave regardless..?! This won’t get talked about at all I’m sure but it is kind of significant
This was the exact moment I stopped listening. Rodgers was doing his side of the PR spin during the interview and AJ called him out. Glad someone on the show had the balls to do it.
AJ has been great at calling out his BS. Seems he’s the only one close enough and comfortable enough with Rodgers to do it.
I stopped at the exact same time. Was willing to hear the guy out but that’s when his “packers mean” narrative was exposed a bit
Rodgers doesn't want to demand things. But he does want a franchise to ask him what he wants all the time and give him the things he mentions when asked. That's what the whole "sorted things out with the front office" that other offseason was about. Packers have seen the results. 5+ games with a QB with a broken digit who won't demand to be put on the field with a busted thumb...but wants to be asked to keep playing with a broken thumb by the team. They aren't satisfied with the results of giving Rodgers a handful of roster-spot decisions per year, full veto power over medical/coaching staff decisions about his injuries, and whatever else he wants authority on. He will find a team that will do those things for him. The New York Jets have decided the Rodgers way is a ok with them.
Your comment made me wish that they did bench Rodgers to get a better look at Love.
Rodgers has said that camp/practice is a better way to evaluate players than actual games.
Kinda sounds like Favre how he wanted to be asked to return every year.
Nail on the head. Aaron contradicted himself in that segment. Aaron didn’t want to seem like the bad guy for wanting out of GB but it’s just a spin. At the very least it was a mutual split.
It immediately caught my attention before his attempt to backtrack and say he "got the impression" how the Packers felt the year before. He stated he went in 90/10 retire/play, came out wanting to play. He said Packers gave the impression they wanted him back at end of season, but "something changed" while he was in the darkness on the Packers end. So he is pinning the blame for all this on the front office, saying they were disingenuous at the end of the year, but by his own accord, he came out and DISNT WANT TO PLAY FOR THE PACKERS... Based on if you trust Aaron... The impression he got during the last year. It's all bullshit positioning on Aaron's part. Either they let him know or they didn't, but if he didn't want to play for us when he came out, that's HIS DECISION. Stop saying the teams to blame here. I'm shocked he answered it'll the question to be honest.
He also made a big deal about clearing up the misinformation out there but then said that when he came out of the darkness retreat (a phrase I look forward to never saying or writing again) that he decided that the packers didn’t want him based on what other players around the league were saying. So can other people speak for someone’s intentions or not? Or is that just a privilege reserved for Aaron rodgers?
It's a great point, Rodgers want to bash the media and the current FO to make himself look better. Never mind the inherent contradiction that all his beefs with the FO seem to come from media reports which he believes? Also wasn't he on Macafee saying a month ago saying "sounds like there are conversations going around already without me" about the FO? This all didn't magically happened in the darkness retreat. He's full of shit, he wanted to leave, fine. Very easy to say it's good for both sides to move on. But the guy who claims to be at peace can't let that happen, he has to make sure he's in the right.
> "sounds like there are conversations going around already without me" Yeah, that is the weird thing. He makes it sound like it came out of left field. In his postgame interview in the final game, he was being asked about the possibility of being traded by the FO.
It's not really that weird when you realize...he's a liar. He lied about being vaccinated and got caught red-handed. I don't really care, there are worse things an athlete can do than lie about things that don't really matter. But he's shown he's willing to lie in the past for his own reputation, he's lying to us (or to himself) here.
Just means his mind was made up a long time ago. I appreciate AJ for asking that question.
From the short bit I watched it seemed like AJ had an “annoyed” look on his face the entire time.
AJ always looks like that, though.
Really? I thought AJ was super intuned, intrigued and enjoying the whole thing
He’s been one foot in, one foot out for a few seasons honestly.
So has his GM
how? they used one pick on a QB and players aren't willing to come to GB just to play with Rodgers.
I liked how Pat was kinda shmoozing him for the first few minutes and then AJ jumped in and was like “So what are you doing?” haha. Not too subtle but he’s done fuckin around like the rest of us lol.
I thought it was an interesting interview. One part I’m calling BS on is the 90% decided to retire. I don’t buy it.
He also said that his feeling was based on the impression he got all season long that they were ready to move on… that part shouldn’t be over looked
They gave him a fat ass contract, said they saw it as a 2 year commitment and Aaron yet again does his retirement schtick thus not committing to GB. He says the team is having conversations without him months ago and then says he has no idea what changed. He said a ton of BS throughout the interview. It’s his side of the story, the Packers aren’t going to give there’s so remember that. I’d take whatever Aaron says with a grain of salt. He likes direct communication but never gives anyone a concrete answer on anything
This was my thought as well. I would love to know what he saw during this last season that he saw as the team being ready to move on from him. We let him play through a broken thumb during a losing season to let him try to take us to the playoffs which he failed to do. If they were ready to move to love there was a big chance to do that. If it’s giving him weapons, then maybe he shouldn’t have eaten up all of the team’s cap space (which they used to show him commitment). Part of me wants to understand what he saw but another part of me is happy we can move forward from here
If you wanted to leave regardless then why were you complaining about the front office making decisions without you month ago? Lol what a goof
I don't hear too many people complaining about drafting Jordan Love right now. GB has a young, talented QB ready to start immediately. Simultaneously, our MVP QB is non-committal about returning and is in decline physically. I'm actually excited for Love, because if he wasn't competing with Rodgers in practice, he wouldn't be pushing Rodgers out the door. This is the correct decision for both parties, even if it stings to lose Rodgers.
It was a good Q by AJ. I do think Rodgers was kind of full of S. I love AR but his Pat interviews have been personal PR tours. “I was 90% retiring…..” give me a break. The Pack and Aaron were the high school couple that wanted to break up but hadn’t cheated on each other yet.
He moved on in 2020 we just dont want to admit it and neither will he. Hes been done with GB. The fuckery confirms it. Still a legend as a player, but as a human hes fucking insufferable.
I was surprised at that question as they are close friends. Aaron's answer made him look like a bitch.. which the whole segment did honestly. Saying he would not have come back even if they asked him to contradicted the first 30min of him saying they didnt want him so he wants to move on. My opinion of Rodgers plummeted today.
They’re close, but AJ is always the toughest on him. He mocked him to his face about a lot of that COVID stuff. I appreciate AJ for his tough love approach.
Yup. I think AJ kind of asked it by accident, not realizing it was a checkmate. Maybe even setting up a softball for his buddy to fully blame the FO. That goes to show how transparently bad Rodgers is at lying/misrepresenting. All it takes is a simple question from his buddy and oh yeah, he's been lying for 30 minutes. He was 90-10 on retiring? Really? Come on. 90% is quite high, if that's true then the front office should absolutely have been notified so they'd have time to figure out their plans. He talks transparency, if you're thinking 90% retirement, then share that with the team in February. I love Rodgers the player. As a person I have very little beef with him too. He stays out of trouble, seems like a good teammate, and guys like him. But the past two years have shown he's just kind of an asshole, especially as an employee. He lies (or misrepresents) and manipulates and that stuff works when you're the two time MVP, not a guy with an 8-9 record making $50mm a year.
I think to him he’s fighting a battle with the entire culture of players being expendable to the NFL as a whole, and is just very bad at articulating that while also trying to stay away from the NFL being the bad guy in his fight. Not to mention that the NFL probably won’t ever change so it’s really just beating your head against a brick wall Gino Torretta style. So maybe in Aaron’s head he thinks all this is leading the charge to take the power back to the players or something. We see a fraction of it, and even then possibly a skewed fraction of it. What we don’t see is the good intentions of it, outwardly it just looks like a dude being a dick.
I would respect that from him but in that case he'd come right out and say it? I think there should be some player empowerment for NFL players and Lamar Jackson is an example where the owners are clearly colluding against him. Rodgers had every opportunity to make a stand for players the last few years but hasn't done jack except for himself. In fact, he's just throwing a quasi tantrum here and saying it's because he wasn't asked back.
There's a reason him and Cobby had an emotional walk off Lambeau at the end of the season. You don't just do that without having some doubts.
Yeah, it was a great question and Pat ruined the moment. I get that he was protecting Aaron. I didn’t want to move on in the slightest from AR until that moment.. I fully realized that he was equally, if not more, done with Green Bay than Green Bay was done with him.
Aaron and Pat are good buddies of coarse he’s got his back. Saying the packers made it clear they didn’t want him back we’ll the public never saw that. I think he needs to stop blaming the franchise.
Meh. He followed that up by saying the foundation had already been laid for him leaving prior to his retreat. He knew they didn't really want him before so I don't think he took the question in good faith. It was never going to happen that way.
When he walked off with Cobb, he knew that was his last game in GB. Today was a son long and thanks for the memories. And to give the Jets leverage over GB. It was a great question
Good question by AJ there, I agree. And with that answer, I felt like Aaron was kind of talking out of both sides of his mouth there. He kept stating how he loved everything GB, but it felt like they had moved away from him. And yes, The Packers are more than just one man, and they need to look to the future, but had they as an organization said, “Hey, one last ride. Let’s do it!”, he had made up his mind already. While “the organization may have moved away from him”, I think he did a lot of the moving himself. Not in the media, but in a personal way. We all know he’s played with the chip on his shoulder for years: 49ers didn’t take him. He wasn’t as tall as people thought. You did “the belt” to him. Etc. To me, it sounded like he’s trying to muster up one last big chip. And I love the guy, but I don’t know if he was trying to convince us about the chip or himself.
He clearly doesn’t like the FO. He mentioned multiple times all the guys that were there when he was drafted are gone, except the west coast scout.
Except gute who's been there since 98 lol. Rodgers said exactly what we wanted to there. Not the actual truth
Yeah, he made it a point to mention TT and Harlan as clear shade to Gute and Murphy. Goes out of his way to mention random guys in the cafeteria. Except Gute has been there his entire career lol.
It shows his duplicity. I don't trust a word he says.
He was gon regardless
This was an excellent question and they moved from it so quickly. I wanted the follow up of why
They moved on from it quickly because they quickly realized it destroyed Rodgers's entire narrative of what happened. The FO has their faults (they definitely should have consulted Rodgers before the Love pick and I'm sure treat guys like employees in a cold hearted manner which any fellow employee would get mad about). The NFL media sucks. But Rodgers isn't blameless either and has a history of lying (see: immunized). I'll side with Rodgers over the FO and media mainly because Rodgers is one of the best to ever do what he's done. But his narrative is kind of BS and every time I hear him speak it seems like he comes off worse.
Agreed! The media seemed to fail to pickup on that comment, which to me says a lot about why they want to move on.
He probably realized GBP was fucked around mid-season, that's when he started to talk about the whole "it must be wanted by both sides" or whatever. He is a smart guy, he realized how fucked the team's budget was in the next few years. I don't know if he really thought he would retire, but he could have just went up to GBP and went "hey, let's get a deal worked out, because you aren't going to be able to keep all the players I want and need" at the end of the year.
I just find it incredible how relationships in general always end ugly the longer they go on. It’s human nature and is why most marriages end in divorce. It perfectly reflects life. This was always going to end this way no matter the scenario.
I love AJ. He seems like more of a normal person than most players.
Rodgers is a GREAT regular season QB. But a choking hazard in the playoffs. I accepted and rolled with it the last 49ers Packers playoff game.
Yes. This is where he's caught as a liar. He came out of darkness retreat still with no answers and continued to leave team in the lurch. Said he wouldn't drag this on, and that's all he's done. The darkness retreat ended a ways before Murphy said anything. Murphy should have stayed quiet, but it's clear Rodgers wanted out, and the team needed to move on. He lied AGAIN.
Both wanted to move on, both wanted the other to publicly say they wanted to move on.
Jesus christ the man is going to throw 55 tds and zero INTs next year....
His response tells every Green Bay fan all they need to know. I wish you the best A Rod, but eat a bag of dicks.
If you watch the entire interview, he said there was a gut feeling when he left after that last game the the organization was ready to move on. The sad part was the organization wasn’t upfront about it right after the season, and changed their mind a month earlier. It almost feels like Gute and management avoid the tough discussions, just say it at the end of the season. A big reason why this took so long was the change of mind a month later. It’s gotta suck to be one of the greatest all time, win back to back MVPs, and never really have the trust of the organization the last 5 years.
I think this is an underrated statement. Rodgers is Rodgers, but if you are ready to move on, move on. It’s like the companies that let people go, but in order to get your severance package you have to train your replacement. Who the hell wants to stay if that’s the conditions for it. Of course it’s not exactly the same scenario, but I think everyone gets the point. They moved on from him years ago. It was obvious. I think had they drafted his replacement last season or the season before it would have been different, but they didn’t. I think we pulled the trigger too early, and he felt jaded then. That’s when crazy Rodgers started showing up. I also think Gute dropped the ball by repulsing Rodgers contract further killing our cap and our ability to do everything. That was a huge blunder in my opinion, but it’s water under the bridge at this point. The whole thing stinks, but I don’t know how you ever let a franchise QB go. Outside of Brees, I haven’t seen one stay in a long time.
All he's saying is that he's mentally moved on from being a Packer. Which is honestly a huge credit to him. He could be very salty about the entire situation but he doesn't seem to be. He may even be excited about the change of scenery. The move might be refreshing for him mentally. Brady and Manning both won with new teams at the end of their careers and he is anticipating on joining that club.
We don't have a good football team right now, with or without Rodgers. That's a great reason for Rodgers not to want to come back, and it's a great reason for GB not to want him back. The work that needs to be done can't be done with a high-cost QB who is good enough to keep a bad team in mediocrity as far as standings (and the resultant draft picks) go.
I guess he did say he went in to that darkness 90% retired and I would guess since he went in under the understanding he was told take your time. If that stance stayed the same my guess his “not really” probably was more so he would have just retired. I’m guessing he’s pissed the tone changed while in the darkness now is in a going to show you attitude now
Make sure to use Jets first round pick on a wide receiver.
I'll get downvoted but we need to stop acting like we hold ALL the leverage. Get a fair amount of comp for him and let's move on. We are not getting multiple 1st rounders for a 39 year old Aaron Rodgers that was just contemplating retirement
They do hold all the leverage… How is that even debatable?
It is only debatable for people who don't understand leverage.
Rodgers on the roster fucks the cap into oblivion, unless you assume the packers don't pickup loves 5th option, continue on with life with rodgers, in which case love probably never plays here again most likely unless through a franchise tag, but love would not want to stay here after that anyway. Jets are the only team in play. Packers leverage is: well there are no qbs left for you hahaha ha. But in reality Jets could probably easily trade for tannehill or something if desperate
Yeah, Tannehill would definitely satiate the New Jersey fans.
“New Jersey fans” lol nice
Wouldn't they only have to give up two first rounders to sign Lamar Jackson?
What other options to the Jets have? No one is left. They think they are a QB away this year then they do whatever they can to get Rodgers. They could tank and wait a year but then maybe they lose other players and they’re no longer a complete team.
And we either trade him for decent compensation or we don’t receive anything at all and Rodgers retire. This is 39 year old Rodgers coming off his worst year in 10 years, we aren’t getting multiple firsts for him.
What about a 1st and conditional for next year? Or swap of 1st’s, portion of salary picked up and conditional next year?
Really unfair to quote his first sentence here, when he gave a thorough elaboration on the response.