Aaron Rodgers’ new NFL home is roughly 1,000 miles away from the state of Wisconsin. He is a New York Jet, and the Green Bay Packers are on to the Jordan Love era. And yet, they seemingly still can’t stop talking about each other.
When I say “they,” I mean Rodgers.
In a new extended interview with The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman, Rodgers discussed what happened on his way out of Green Bay and gave more of his side of the story in one of the more high-profile breakups in NFL history.
One of the more intriguing tidbits concerned the communication between Rodgers and Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst. In the lead-up to his trade to New York, Gutekunst asserted that he couldn’t get in touch with Rodgers as much as he wanted. Rodgers would later explain he had poor cell phone service, an excuse that seemed silly even then.
Now, Rodgers is adding more detail, saying he didn’t “ghost” the Packers. He just didn’t want to talk to them as much as they wanted to talk to him.
More from The Athletic:
“Did Brian [Gutekunst] text me more than I texted him? Yeah, but did I ghost him? No,” Rodgers said. “I texted him back. There was back-and-forths that we had and so this is the story you wanna go with? You’re gonna stand on this hill of austerity and say that arguably in the conversation of the best player in your franchise history, you’re gonna say I couldn’t get a hold of him and that’s why we had to move on?”
Ultimately, if I understand this correctly, Rodgers seems to think Gutekunst and the Packers just didn’t want to publicly admit they were moving on from the four-time MVP.
More Rodgers via The Athletic:
“Like, c’mon, man. Just tell the truth. You wanted to move on. You didn’t like the fact that we didn’t communicate all the time. Like, listen, I talk to the people that I like.”
I’m unsure what to make of this latest Rodgers vs. Packers development. But, to me, his stories aren’t adding up. So, was it the poor cell phone service? Was that they were calling too much? Was it that he wanted to stay in Green Bay despite so much indicating otherwise?
We’ll likely never know the full details behind this breakup. But something feels off here, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most of that confusion was coming from Rodgers.
