Aaron Rodgers is already cozying up to Jordan Love’s biggest opponent

Former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers left Green Bay this offseason, but he’s still finding ways to slither his way back in the quarterback room and leave a lasting impression.

Can the Green Bay Packers escape the large and looming shadow of Aaron Rodgers this season? That’s a question that can only be answered come September.

Rodgers has since started a new chapter of his career on the New York Jets, and the Packers appear content to begin their own refreshing era with Jordan Love at the helm.

Rodgers and Love have an intertwined history as mentor and mentee for the last three years, and the veteran has repeatedly expressed his hopes for Love to grow into a reliable starter in 2023. Unlike Brett Favre, Rodgers welcomed Love to Green Bay when Love was drafted in 2020 — new reports reveal Rodgers did so begrudgingly and that drafting Love came as a shock, but he still was more friendly than Favre was back in the day.

This offseason, Rodgers has cut off most of his ties with the Packers organization but recently made a move that spices up Green Bay’s quarterback room.

He sent Sean Clifford, the Penn State quarterback the Packers drafted in April, a housewarming gift that included a framed No. 12 jersey. Rodgers wrote on the jersey: “Welcome to GB! Enjoy that great city & my locker!”

Talk about a good sport. Maybe he’s being too good of a sport?

Aaron Rodgers welcomes rookie Sean Clifford to Green Bay

The Packers have made it clear that Jordan Love will be QB1 this upcoming season. Picking up Clifford in the fifth round a few months ago doesn’t change that fact, it just gives Green Bay an emergency contingency plan in case of injury.

Yet Rodgers had no need to send Clifford that very nice gift, having left the franchise by the time Clifford was drafted. He acknowledged that Clifford was getting his old locker, and he probably just wanted to extend a gesture of good faith in the young buck’s future career in Green Bay; however, his move could be analyzed and re-analyzed by fans as a very soft, subtle poke at Jordan Love.

Rodgers jabs him ever so slightly, saying, “Hey, just so you know, you’ve got some competition. Best of luck.”

The four-time league MVP really has no skin in the game when it comes to the Packers’ future signal-caller. He left on partially fractured terms with Green Bay’s front office, and while he appreciates the city he’s lived in for the last 17 years, he’s displayed nothing but enthusiasm about joining the Jets in New York and seriously competing for a ring in 2023.

So whoever gets passed the torch in Green Bay, good for them. Rodgers is sitting back, heating up some popcorn, and thanking the heavens that he got out of the Packers franchise with his dignity intact.