Aaron Rodgers unloads criticism of Green Bay Packers front office | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

Aaron Rodgers unloads criticism of Green Bay Packers front office | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

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this is fascinating to me now I've only written one story about this so far at PFT because I'm trying to figure out how to deal with this do I just milk the cow all at once or do I turn this into five or six different items and Pete demolitis has done a nice job of breaking this down into a bunch of different quotes and each one has layers and levels let's start with this though and let me set the stage yeah go ahead Mike you said yeah the athletic Matt schneidman who covers the Packers for the athletic posted a very long article but not that long not your typical Ten Thousand Words and everybody in the business says Bravo even though none of them read it that's how the game goes everybody in the business Hall great great long article great great didn't read more than 50 words of it but just great to see this kind of Journalism 10 000 words I'll get around to reading it one of these days before I die unless I don't so um so anyway that was gratuitous but fun um the gist of the article one of the big takeaways was two years ago after Rogers wanted out and didn't get out he wanted Brian goodekunes the GM of the team to get fired well as soon as I saw we knew that we knew that Charles Robinson of Yahoo reported that two years ago isn't it weird I don't know what the statute of limitations is on something someone has already reported to allow people to act like it's new and that's not new that's not new and I would assume that the people that someone at the athletic that was involved in this and I'm not taking a shot here I'm just reacting to what they did either Schneiderman or his editor or his boss or her boss or whoever somebody had to have like where's the institutional recollection of the fact that two years ago this was reported it was reported why do you not just acknowledge that Charles Robinson reported this two years ago Ryan go to kunst was on the way out if Aaron Rodgers had his way and Rogers was quoted at length in the story when he was asked about wanting good accounts to be fired he referred schneidman to his agent and his agent didn't call Schneiderman back now if that ain't confirmation without confirmation I don't know what is Chris no I agree you know maybe maybe that maybe that's why he did put it in there Mike you know I mean maybe that is it but that's a so I can acknowledge what Charles did there can you can do both you can I agree you can acknowledge and there's a easy way to do it he's a way to do the right thing acknowledge that Charles Robinson reported it two years ago here's the rest of the story we asked Rogers about it yeah he referred us to his agent right and his agent goes to this yeah no I I I I agree there's that goes on a lot in the business right now it does you know a lot uh more than I would like and you know I I even see people say things that I go wait that's something I said two days ago on my podcast word for word and then I'm watching another Network and they're using a phrase that was exactly my phrase and I'm going damn either they talk like me or they just listen to what I said install it but nobody ever says anything it just seems to be kind of the world we're in right now wow I only thought your dad stole your stuff no no yeah only yeah my dad is my greatest my dad is my greatest police officer let's get back to Rogers there's plenty here to unpack all right sorry um so he goes on the record and there's a bunch of different stuff that he gets to um and and he talks about uh good accounts and the improved communication remember when Rogers showed up that year right before Camp they took all the Packers future bets off the board because somebody got freaked out at one of the sports books that he was going to retire and he said he was 50 50 and he shows up and he does like a half hour of airing his grievances at his introductory press conference for that training camp after that they started to throw bouquets his way they traded for Randall Cobb even though they wanted nothing to do with having Randall Cobb on the roster they gave in to the delicate genius they brought back Randall Cobb and there was this idea that there was improved communication with the front office and that Rogers and Brian goodekoons were getting along said Rogers quoted on the record to Matt schneidman it still wasn't anywhere near what I've already enjoyed here with the Jets in just a few short weeks so boom yeah and look I Joe Douglas there are no accidents there are no coincidences I see this entire effort by Rogers this willingness by him to go on the record and settle scores with the Packers and try to to win the final verdict that it's their fault not mine that I'm not there it's also a warning to his current team and I said this recently about Stefan Diggs and I think it's true of any player who becomes disgruntled with the team he's with in any way shape or form if you trade for him you are inheriting the possibility if not probability that he's going to be pissed off at you someday too maybe for a different reason maybe for the same reason but Joe Douglas is on notice and Robert Saul is now on notice you're not dealing with the same breed of cat that you've had around whatever team you've been part of this is Aaron Rodgers and he will fight you and he will find a way to win and even after the battle's over he's going to come back and he's going to point at the corpse and he's going to say I won yeah well this is I mean he he's become more like that the last few years he has and then of course we're talking like we just talked about a minute ago we're talking about a legend of Legends you know where most people would tell you man Aaron Rodgers the greatest quarterback they've ever seen in their life is that kind of guy right and he's yeah he's willing to use his power a little bit now you know for the thing for the Jetson good here it just doesn't seem like it's going to be the longest marriage ever it's a you know one or two year thing and things are all happy now and we'll see where it goes but like Aaron Rodgers still has every right to be bitter at Green Bay every right and he is bitter it got personal he got personal on them and yeah I don't love that he you know some of the things he did but man when it still comes down to it I'm supporting more Aaron Rodgers than I am the Green Bay Packers no there's no doubt you know we can just go down the list and you know we've done this before but you know lack of support throughout his career is annoying yeah I mean forget the you know the first round receivers or lack of free agents ever being on the football team you know never having you know like the thing I sent you the other day or said to you Brady had more top 10 defenses after he turned 42 then Aaron Rodgers has had in his whole career right I mean so they never made moves to help him and then they draft a quarterback and slap him in the face there and kind of disrespect them that way as he's in the middle of a very team-friendly contract and then you know the thing that I think is interesting about the story and maybe we can unpack is you know of course some of the things he said in the OTA stuff but really Jordan loved the start of the end then the final I think like oh wait now it really is the start of the end is what they did to Devonte Adams that's another part that I found interesting as well and and that's where it kind of all started to go crazy it seems like I want to get to Devonte Adams yeah but but look Aaron Rodgers can't be the first starting quarterback in the NFL who was unhappy with the way his final days went Joe Montana sure surely wasn't Tom Brady wasn't happy in New England his last year there are probably more than I'm not capable of thinking of sure wasn't happy that played out publicly though because they pushed him out and then he tried to come back I need to be careful with my hands because they're although I it's good it's good don't don't say I have small hands so anyway they told me to stay on target anyway it's hard to stay on target when I'm doing this um so my point is this Rogers is willing to get down in the mud and roll around and I also think he is determined to be proven right and I think some of this stuff may be revisionist history that's what leads to the Devonte Adams because here's what he said yeah here's what he said about atoms they offered him less money than Christian Kirk and Adams is going are you serious right now I'm the best receiver in the league and you're going to offer me less than Christian Kirk with all due respect he's not on devonte's level I'm sure that the team will say that's just the business negotiation it's like yeah you're also sending a message to that guy and a lot of times you can stick with guys and make them a little sour on things that goes back to the first offer they made and I don't think the Packers had the foresight obviously didn't have the foresight that's fine Sam sounds good but it doesn't mess with what happened what happened was Devonte Adams wanted to go he wanted to leave he wanted to go play with Derek Carr and we found out in the comments that Devonte Adams gave to the ringer a few weeks ago he wanted to prove to the world that he can be a great receiver without Aaron Rodgers this was preordained Adams wanted to leave all the rest of this is just detail and remember that didn't Adams himself say it wasn't about the money it's not about the money I wanted to go so you know Rogers is determined to be proven right for his dislike of the Packers to the point where like the rest of us right will twist reality yeah to fit with our view to convince others to sign off on the way we see things yeah it's not not all the details are being filled in it's a convenient you know Truth for Aaron Rodgers and he's not wrong in what he's saying and I'm sure you know there's truth there and maybe that's what started the he said he took less money all right he took less money to go to the Raiders I know but maybe all I'm saying is maybe that started the thought in Devonte Adams but like you said there was way more to it Devonte Adams talked about he you know wanted to be close to his family he's from California his grandmother had never been there the Derek Carr thing the get away from Aaron Rodgers thing I think he even alluded to last week in that article as well is just that he didn't he didn't and maybe I'm wrong but I don't and I'll paraphrase or say this he didn't want to be a part of the Aaron Rodgers Shenanigans am I going to get stuck there with a long-term contract and then he's going to be gone with the jet that's an angry stuck there you know but Jordan love and figuring out the offense I think there's a million reasons there you know that offer and all that yeah certainly uh maybe started things but it isn't the only reason Devonte Adams left is is the point I think right but the one that makes Rogers yeah looks good the one that bolsters his acts that he's still grinding regarding the Packers is the front office blew it it had nothing to do with anything but the front office pissing down their leg in the aftermath of the Christian Kirk deal and that's why Devonte left it had nothing to do with me had nothing to do with Devonte wanting to play for someone else or establish himself without me as his quarterback it was all about how the front office screwed things up and look I'm sorry if Aaron Rodgers didn't like what we're saying this but if you're going to put these quotes out there our job is to interpret them and explain them and I'm not taking this stuff at face value I'm not because he's trying to win he's trying to be proven right he's trying to make the Packers look bad that's his motivation and it becomes more and more obvious with everything he says that leads us to what happened in Green Bay after Devonte Adams left and look one of the things and I got to give Peter King credit because after Adam's left and Rogers stayed away from the off-season program with these new receivers Romeo Dobbs Christian Watson Sammy Watkins was signed as a veteran I said Rogers needs to be there for the OTAs and Peter's opinion was what happens in May has no bearing on what happens during the season and then he saw what happened last year with the Chiefs and the Packers it's a great juxtaposition Chiefs Patrick Holmes is there for everything he brings the guys down to Dallas he takes notes and communicates him back to the team as Andy Reid told you in the interview that you did before the Jaguars playoff game with what these guys do well what they don't do well he was all in on getting comfortable with the new receivers and getting new receivers comfortable with him after he lost Tyreek Hill who was traded to the Dolphins so there's a lot of similarities here great receiver gone great quarterback Left Behind what does he do Mahomes goes all in and Rogers Rogers acting out his Petty discontent with the front office cuts off his nose despite his face and doesn't show up and now he's defending himself for not showing up for the OTAs without mentioning the extent to which his involvement would have made those young receivers more comfortable from the get-go that doesn't come up because that doesn't fit his narrative the Packers are bad and I'm good so here's what he says about the team's frustration for him not being there at OTAs last year when I'm all in I'm all in and you want to ride with off-season workouts I want MVP without doing off-season workouts like was my commitment to any less then I'd say not at all the way that I come to work not just physically in good shape but mentally refreshed is the best thing for me to have the season I wanted to have during those in Green Bay I just think that's a cop-out written to try and find something to disparage me about that honestly when you know what off season workouts are really about it's completely ridiculous you are wrong Aaron Rodgers you are wrong you are wrong it's not about you see that's his problem it's all about me it's all about me am I physically refreshed am I mentally prepared am I ready to go can I win the MVP me me me me without a single thought his brain's not even wired Chris to understand how his absence affects others who need to get comfortable in the offense and comfortable with him he's been around so long that these guys who are coming into the NFL were in grade school when he won the Super Bowl they are freaked out by Aaron Rodgers look at how the Jets players reacted to him this star struck they said the word we are Starstruck around Aaron Rodgers that's why he needed to be there he refuses to acknowledge it he refuses to entertain the idea and his position is anyone who would say it is just trying to disparage him my God he should run for office well it's um yeah I mean you know to piggyback off of what you said you know one of the things I I wrote down you know as I was writing my notes before the show and the Rogers part is just I wrote you know me instead of we in the in the quotes just because that's that's exactly to what you're alluding to and what it sounds like yes I I know I know and and yes I know he's you know all in on himself and working and being the best he can be but that's still and that's great and I'm certainly not taken away from that you know I do have respect for the fact that Aaron Rodgers he takes care of his body and works out and he looks the way he looks and still got muscle and can run the way he can it ain't all just god-given ability he does work at it but at the same time you know it goes against all the fundamental things we talk about football it's the ultimate team sport it's the ultimate about being there and yes you might be at your best but that doesn't mean we're at our best we are at our best if you were there with us bringing us along hot poker oh wait it's the quarterback oh it's Aaron Rodgers I gotta be perfect I better get in the Playbook a little bit before I get to meetings today so I'll make sure I'm on it's all of that that adds to the football team that's why you for the most part of his career saw Brady there and I think Belichick and company wanting him there more times than not you know it's why Brady was there before the Bucks won the Super Bowl and like you're talking about with Mahomes right now and Joe burrow it's about building more than something about rather than just me and I'm at my best it's more than that and I think that's where maybe he is missing the point or dropping the ball a little bit there you know I would say to him hey when the only time you won the Super Bowl were you there for OTAs that off season I I'm pretty sure he was in 2010 so that's where you know again is it essential is it is it like you gotta have it I mean no but or do you can you go to bed feeling that you put your absolute best foot forward and did all the things you should exactly do as the leader of the franchise that's where you got to ask yourself and that's where I would go you know I don't know if I believe that if you're not there for fully for for OTAs well look it all comes down to how you define success and one of the things has become very clear over the years when it comes to Aaron Rodgers is he defines success more by individual accomplishments than by team accomplishments you know he's got that stats-based argument as to why he's the best quarterback of all time and he's so worried about touchdowns and interceptions because he wants to have that ridiculous crazy ratio where he throws so many more touchdown passes than he throws interceptions like that's some plausible indicator of greatness greatness is championships that's what the unwashed masses like you and I believe and sometimes I just wonder Chris is this guy too smart for his own good does he get so lost in his thoughts and in his brain and there's so many rooms inside of his synapses and neurons that he just becomes His Own Worst Enemy by overthinking everything look at Patrick Mahomes does Patrick Mahomes seem to be overthinking anything in his life he's living his life yeah that's a horrible impersonation no Pete says it's bad I think it's good because cause there's a looseness to Patrick Mahomes he doesn't get bogged down by the BS no maybe it's a function of age maybe it's because Rogers is seen more Rogers is Jaded Roger's been screwed around by the front office maybe there is some degree of responsibility the team has for creating Rogers in his current form but you don't hear these younger quarterbacks talking about all this stuff and how they need and and I look I'm a big believer I'm a big believer in balancing out your life and having appropriate mental health but maybe when you're young you just don't need it maybe when you're older maybe that's just one of the one of the additional drawbacks of being a quarterback who's pushing 40. it's not just your body that needs extra work it's your mind that needs extra work and maybe your mind is working on overdrive and you're cluttering up the very simple linear approach to the guy like Patrick Mahomes takes what do we need to do in football games what do we no I don't care about being MVP I don't care about throwing for 5 000 yards I don't care about anything I care about winning enough games to position ourselves to compete for a chance to get to the Super Bowl and win it what do we need to do that's the goal we got to mountain to climb as a team what do we need to do today to help ourselves get farther up the mountain what do we need to do tomorrow to get farther up the mountain and look maybe after he's climbed a mountain or tried and failed to climb the mountain or successfully done it six seven eight nine 10 11 12 13 times his thoughts will go elsewhere but for now he's in a pretty compelling Zone where he's not carrying those bags that Aaron Rodgers is carrying he doesn't have that baggage he just goes no and yeah there's a simple beauty in that there is there is there's there there's a guy that you just go hey you just loving playing the game and working at it and doing all that you know now hey the start of his career has been pretty Rosy and awesome and it's two Super Bowls and three Super Bowl appearances and damn you know it so that's all going in the right direction Rogers I'm sure was not as jaded early on but I think it's like kind of what you said I think it's disrespect by you know the team the disrespect total at the end there you know the fact that maybe in his eyes people don't recognize how good he is you know like I've told you you know I'm not speaking at a turn here but like Josh Allen Joe burrow their favorite quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers that's who their favorite quarterback was growing up they were whoa Aaron Rodgers always Aaron Rodgers he's that kind of guy so people in the sport know it right we heard Jason Garrett go he's going down as one of the three greatest of all time you know he's maybe had the greatest effect on his team in the history of the sport we've heard coaches say stuff like that but I don't think the public realizes that and I think that's where he's jaded too right I think he's a little bit of a like the troubled kid or you know who's like wait you know I'm the man I'm the star that guy can't do any of the things I can do but everybody thinks he's the great one and I think the Brady thing yeah plays into that for sure you know he knows I know people and people in the business know Brady tells people if Aaron Rodgers was in New England he'd throw for 6 000 yards a year he used to tell people that coaches in the NFL people who announce games so but the public doesn't know that and I think but that the way last season ended and everything that's where he's fighting these demons all the time at least that would be my read from you know ten thousand feet above and that's what makes this year a significant one because if it goes sideways this year if it doesn't work the public that currently isn't sold isn't going to become anymore true whereas if they have a great season and he plays really well right out of the gates with the Jets then maybe some folks will say we were wrong all along he was a lot better it was the Packers fault in not putting enough around him and allowing his greatness to manifest itself in more Super Bowl appearances and Super Bowl victories he also spoke to the athletic about his 2022 season in Green Bay a disappointing final year I feel good about the way I showed up for my guys every single week and it's convenient now to look at that but it wasn't a conversation when Russ ball and Matt leflore and Brian goodacres to Mark Murphy would thank me for my speeches after games the way I fought played and different things you can rewrite history all you want but like I said I still got the receipts look he's the one that is doing more of the rewriting of History than the Packers here I believe based upon these quotes we've already looked at this is a pretty strong exercise in revisionist history by Aaron Rodgers all in the name of making himself look good making the Packers look bad and putting the Jets on notice tread lightly around me or you're going to be the subject of the story I do with the athletic two years from now when I'm no longer a member of the team yeah I I mean you know again it's it's uh hopefully not a warning sign to the Jets or anything like that hopefully this is a new beginning but you know the thing I just I look at is more of like just you know why do this now why you know why have guys like you and me talking about it why now you're gonna have maybe people asking you again in the National media when you get when you get the the media gets around you after a Jets practice here at some point again that that's where I just go what what is what is the good it's doing and I think you're probably right he's probably trying more to communicate to the Packers fan base to make sure that he looks like the good one that's the only logical thing I can come to there um you know but yeah it was a disappointing 22 20 22 season and it did start out pretty good but you know the the fact of the matter is the team didn't play it up to its potential he didn't play up to his potential you know he didn't make the rookie receivers feel comfortable or gel with them and I think we can all connect a DOT into not being there in the OTAs I don't think that's unfair to unquest to question that and then his play itself was just not Aaron Rodgers caliber it was the worst year of his career and you know me I'm the biggest Aaron Rodgers fan there is there's nobody that loves Aaron Rodgers more I think he's the greatest I've ever seen when he was on top of his game but last year was not it and it became conservative and not trying to like you talked about the TD interception ratio and sometimes feeling like I don't know if he's you know really trying to win the game or if he's just trying not to lose the game and that's you know no not going to get it done in the NFL and that's kind of just the feeling I got a little bit watching Aaron Rodgers last year I'd love to have an alternate universe where the one difference just one was Rogers being gone from the off season program last year with the Packers the reality and the alternate universe being all in doing what Mahomes did with the young receivers and then I'd like to spin it to the first offensive snap the Packers had last year at U.S Bank Stadium after the Vikings have a methodical drive down the field they score a touchdown they go up Seven nothing on First and Ten from the Packers 25 Christian Watson blows by Patrick Peterson wide ass open balding his hands and he drops it in that alternate universe where Rogers has been working with those guys and working with those guys and bringing them to California or wherever and the Reps and the Reps and the Reps and surely at some point Watson makes a drop and Rogers says the right thing to make him not sweat it and not overthink it not worry about what happens when the lights are on does he catch that ball because I think if I really do believe if he catches that ball and they win that game I think if he catches that ball they do win that game and how does it differently impact the way the season unfolds and I know there's too many moments and too many issues and too many wrinkles that factor into the stew that is a football season but I just I'd love to know if he'd been all in does Watson catch that ball and then if he does catch that ball and they win that game how does the rest of the season play out if Watson is playing the way that he was November and December in September and October yeah I I hear you man you know I'll do that I I I'm I'm Howie Rosman I don't I don't work in the world if not conspiracy I know but it's just fun to think about it okay Howie Howie taught me some slack Howie okay uh and now look here's something else one thing I've learned doing this for 22 years sometimes not all the time sometimes you got to know when to just let something go sometimes you just gotta know when to stop talking about it and the one thing that Aaron Rodgers needs to stop talking about or more accurately and needed to stop talking about before he talked to the athletic about it this whole thing of who ghosted who and who called who and it sounds childish it sounds ridiculous but he got into that again this whole idea just to set the stage just to set the stage he's there's this question of the Packers like he said he said I didn't hear anything from him then all of a sudden they're trying to trade gudacun said I'm trying to call the guy I've been trying I tried to call the guy the whole offseason to have a conversation about the future he never calls me back at some point we have to make our decisions about the future of the team and then Roger's response is well I have bad cell service at my house glossing over all the different ways that you can get in touch with the guy this is 2023 we have we have advanced technological capabilities to get in touch with people we are no longer pulling two cans tight with a string in between there are ways to get in touch with people but Rogers is still on this kick and he said I have zero or one bar at the house so you call me sometimes it goes through most of the time it drops and doesn't go through everybody who knows me when I'm out west they know that's how to get a hold of me so you can say whatever you want about that but that's the effing truth did Brian text me more than I texted him yeah but did I ghost him no I texted him back there was back and forth that we had and so this is the story you want to go with you're going to stand on this hill of austerity what the is that and say that arguably in the conversation the best player in your franchise history you're just gonna say I couldn't get a hold of him and that's why we had to move on like come on man just tell the truth you wanted to move on you didn't like the fact that we didn't communicate all the time listen I talk to the people that I like um wow well he got honest there at the end that was it that was it you know you know so so that tells us that tells us that tells us look he wasn't responding to the general manager of the team the way the general manager of the team needed to respond so they can Implement their plans and make their decisions he wasn't responding because he doesn't like him I talk to the people that I like he wasn't responding to him and at some point they did have to move on the problem is Rogers tried to craft this narrative that I'm just minding my own business and I find out that they're looking to trade me and I didn't do anything they they told remember remember when he was on with Pat McAfee March 17th they told me when I left attend the season doors opened we want you here we love you we want you here and then I go about my business I go into my dark closet and I come out and I find out they're trying to trade me and Hawk AJ Hawk asked him well wait when did you first feel that things were wrong and he said during the season I think Hawk kind of gently said but you said it was fine at the end of the season I may not be getting that 100 accurate I'm not trying to engage in revisionist history here but I just remember being very impressed that they they gently pushed him on this point where he's crafting this narrative that they go from loving me and wanting me there to looking to trade me well no that really wasn't the case look when you left at the end of the year you knew something wasn't right you knew something was a mess and it was either them or it was you it was a combination yeah so that's where this all came from he tried to set up a contrived narrative that made him look good and them look bad gudacons called him on it and now power in this stupid Tit for Tat over who ghosted who who tried to call who and at the end of the day just threw his hands up in the air and said I only talk to the people that I like making it clear that he wasn't getting in touch with good accounts the way that that maybe he needed to to have the kind of conversation they should have had before everybody moved on yeah you know it's it sounds like both are kind of you know trying to save face I mean you really dig and dig into it it's kind of BS on both sides there for sure yeah you know again my two cents would be that he got the sense that they would want to move on and he he then wanted to move on himself once he realized he wanted to play football they wanted to move on but they didn't want to make it sound disrespectful so they kind of played oh you know we didn't the communication wasn't quite the right way I mean which is also BS I mean Rick Rogers points real he's the best player in the history of the franchise if they really needed to get a hold of him like you take the freaking plane and you go out there and talk to him like they did the year before I know right so they don't have an excuse that like that's a bad excuse on there they're both neither one past the smell test in my opinion and again it's just two people or two sides there I think that are yeah trying to save face and not look bad in the the Packer you know fan base world you know what it reminds me of to finish this segment where it started with our Lego discussion and the Seinfeld set there's an episode where George's girlfriend wants to break up with him and she says we need to talk and he doesn't ever want to talk George avoids George avoids the conversation as long as he can believe it or not George isn't at home please leave a message at the tone I must be out or I pick up the phone where could I be believe it or not I'm not home what a way to end the segment let's take a break I think we're gonna cancel US during the break hi it's Mike Florio thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro football 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2023-06-05 05:08

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