Donald Driver talks about Aaron Rodgers and his leadership qualities
By Mike Dyce
Greg Jennings has been taking shots at his former team the Green Bay Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers ever since joining the Minnesota Vikings this offseason. For the most part Jennings comments have been disregarded giving Rodgers the benefit of the doubt, but former Packers wide receiver Donald Driver seemed to support Jennings.
“We’ve always said that the quarterback is the one that needs to take the pressure off everyone else,” Driver said, via ESPN.com. “If a guy runs the wrong route, it’s easy for the quarterback to say, ‘Hey, I told him to run that route’ than for the guy to be like, ‘Well, I ran the wrong route.’
“Sometimes you ask Aaron to take the pressure off the guys so we won’t look bad, but he didn’t want to do that. He felt like if you did something bad, you do it. But I think that’s the difference. You want that leadership, and I think sometimes you may not feel like you got it. You have to earn that respect at the end of the day, and I think that’s what Greg was probably referring to.”
Rodgers has publicy stated that the negative comments directed towards him haven’t made an impact.
“People taking shots at me who aren’t relevant to this team and to this locker room doesn’t mean a whole lot to me,” Rodgers said, via the MMQB.com. “Those comments do wash over with me without a reaction, because they don’t matter.”
Donald tried to reiterate that he is friends with Rodgers.
“I saw when he first got drafted, he came in with a chip on his shoulder, saying that he should have been the first pick in that draft, that it shouldn’t have been Alex Smith,” Driver relayed. “But that’s the way the guy is and I think the thing is, I’ve always told Aaron this, ‘Don’t forget where you come from because the people are the ones who put you on that pedestal. You didn’t put yourself there.’ And I think that’s what he’s learning now.
“I’m not saying Aaron is a bad guy. I think he’s a great guy. I’m friends with Aaron and we have a great relationship. But outside of that, he’s going to play the game the way he’s always played it.”