Jeff Saturday joined Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe on First Take wearing a festive holiday sweater on Tuesday but the conversation turned somewhat serious as Aaron Rodgers, for yet another day, became a main topic. Rodgers's second season with the New York Jets has produced four wins and countless distractions, though your mileage may vary on how much the quarterback is responsible for that and how much is on the media for leveraging his unique approach to being a star for clicks.
ESPN personalities and Rodgers have been going back and forth in recent weeks in what may be an endless cycle as he's on the network every Tuesday and letting someone have the last word is tough and not good for content.
Sharpe has seemed to crack the case on Rodgers not enjoying having others critique him and asked a somewhat rhetorical question.
"If a former player can't critique current players and you don't want journalists to critique current players, so who gets to critique you?" Sharpe asked.
Shannon Sharpe to Aaron Rodgers:
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 24, 2024
"If a former player can't critique current players and you don't want journalists to critique current players, so who gets to critique you?" pic.twitter.com/7T5MsyUIlg
Checkmate. One is either a former NFL player or they never played in the NFL. There's no third camp there.
Perhaps the real answer here, though not to Sharpe's specific question, is that no one enjoys being criticized. Even the players who publicly say that they don't mind it and that it's part of the job probably don't actually enjoy the critiques. Rodgers is not so different or revolutionary in wanting to push back against his critics, he just has a microphone, status and willingness to return serve.
Complicating things is that having Rodgers offer a rebuttal is incentive for those offering their opinions on him. And that can push a person to be a little less fair.
Anyway, we're probably not going to solve this one. Truth is, everyone is currently allowed to criticize Rodgers. No one should really expect him to like it, and be prepared to defend their position.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shannon Sharpe Wants to Know Who Is Allowed to Critique Aaron Rodgers.
