Aaron Rodgers blames players for giving Goodell too much power

Aaron Rodgers believes that the NFLPA is responsible for handing over the keys to Roger Goodell during the 2011 CBA negotiation.

With Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews implicated in the Al Jazeera report concerning PED use in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers felt the need to speak out for his teammates. Recently, Roger Goodell dropped the hammer by requesting interviews with Peppers, Matthews, and James Harrison. Should they decline, he’ll suspend them for 10 games.

This comes only a month after the Deflategate saga dragged on for months on end before Tom Brady finally brought it to a close by accepting his four-game suspension. The players are rightfully upset over Goodell acting as judge, jury, and executioner, with one anonymous NFL starter even going so far as to say this:

But while Rodgers defended his teammates on the Jim Rome Show, he also offered a different perspective. He recalled the 2011 NFL lockout and said that all of this could’ve been prevented:

"We had the opportunity in the CBA to make some legitimate changes to that. I think there was probably too much pressure to come to a deal when we had all the power on our side.That was something we should have had negotiated into the CBA because there shouldn’t be somebody who is the judge, jury and executioner, as they say."

Of course, what he is referring to is the work stoppage that occurred in 2011, when owners and players couldn’t come to an agreement on the CBA. Even though the players didn’t agree on the new terms, DeMaurice Smith signed the agreement and essentially handed over the keys to Goodell. That shouldn’t excuse him for the harsh punishments that he’s handed out, but the players didn’t do enough to prevent this from happening.

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When talking about Matthews and Peppers, this is what he said:

"I think it’s pretty typical of how things have been going with them lately. It sets a bad precedent, I think, that any wild accusation — accredited [or not], legitimate or illegitimate — they’re going to try and bully these guys into testifying.Now these guys, first of all, we stand behind them 100 percent, our guys. I think that it just looks bad for the league, especially after Peyton [Manning] got cleared and there’s been some holes shot [in] it. But I’m confident that those guys have nothing to hide and they’ll work something out."

All told, Rodgers does make some valid points on both matters. When investigations like this happen, the first impulse is to blame Goodell. But players needn’t forget that they were the ones responsible for putting Goodell in this position in the first place. That being said, this matter is better for everyone if it can be resolved amicably by both sides.