Here’s everything Aaron Rodgers said about the Packers during Kenny Mayne interview
By Josh Hill
Here’s everything Aaron Rodgers talked to Kenny Mayne about regarding the Packers and his future in Green Bay.
When news broke that Aaron Rodgers wanted to the Green Bay Packers to trade him, it sent shockwaves across the NFL.
But you didn’t have to be reading the tea leaves to recognize that the trade request was simply the culmination of an entire career’s worth of pent up angst towards a front office that Rodgers never felt supported him the way he felt it should have.
The list of Packers heartbreaks is long and painful, from the 2014 NFC Championship Game, to the last two seasons where Green Bay folded like a cheap table in back-to-back title games.
From not spending premier draft capital on offensive weapons to spending more on brats and beer cheese than free agents, Rodgers had reached his limit and wasn’t going to take it anymore.
Since his trade request, Rodgers hasn’t publicly commented on the matter in an official capacity. He mentioned the drama while attending the Kentucky Derby, but it wasn’t until Monday that he officially went on record with Kenny Mayne on SportsCenter that we heard Rodgers truly dig into the drama from his perspective.
Here’s everything Rodgers said about the Packers, the drama, and his future in Green Bay.
Aaron Rodgers on Jordan Love
“Look, it’s never been about a draft pick. It’s never been about picking Jordan. I love Jordan; he’s a great kid. [We’ve had] a lot of fun working together.”
Aaron Rodgers on how he feels about Packers locker room
”Love the coaching staff. Love my teammates. Love the fan base in Green Bay. It’s been an incredible 16 years.”
Aaron Rodgers on his future with Packers
”A lot of this was put in motion last year. The wrench was just kind of thrown into it when I won MVP and played the way I played last year. This is just kind of the spill out of all that.”
Aaron Rodgers on Packers front office culture
”It’s kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.”
”Green Bay has always been about the people, from Curly Lambeau being owner and founder, to the sixties with [Vince] Lombardi and Bart Starr and all those incredible names, to the nineties teams with Coach Holmgren and Favrie, and the Minster of Defense, to the run that we’ve been on. It’s about the people.”
It seems pretty obvious that the issue for Rodgers is the front office, and specifically the man running it.
Brian Gutekunst wasn’t mentioned by name, and that silence spoke volumes. Rodgers had comments laced with praise for every other specific factions of the franchise — including Jordan Love and the coaching staff — but nothing for Gutekunst. The closest he got to mentioning him was while berating the decay of Packers Culture in recent years.
The Rodgers interview didn’t give us the tea we thought it might, but it also didn’t do anything to indicate that wounds have healed and the drama is any closer to ending amicably.