So is this going to be just one long, tiresome narrative that will be talked about until Aaron Rodgers shows up in his Green Bay Packers uniform for training camp next season? Some of the national media and, hell, even local media are going to exhausting lengths to try and conjure up words and ideas that result in Rodgers leaving Green Bay.
And they don’t appear to be shutting up any time soon.
This stemmed from Rodgers’s comments in his press conference after that game that shall not be named concluded on Sunday where he said, “A lot of guys’ futures they’re uncertain. Myself included.”
Everyone had a field day with it.
Rodgers went on to clarify on the Pat McAfee show yesterday:
“I don’t think there’s any reason I wouldn’t be back.”
That’s not grabby enough for some, though. The latest eye-roller came from Jason La Canfora :
He claims coaches and executives around the league are convinced “a bitter divorce is pending” between Rodgers and the Packers.
Hey buddy, what do you think other coaches are going to say? Isn’t it in their best interest to anonymously attempt to stir the pot between the league MVP and his squad that just had the No. 1 seed in the NFC? Like what do you think they are going to say?
Everything is set up so perfectly for Rodgers and Green Bay. They’re going to be dominant as long he stays put. No rival coaches or executives will say that when they know that they can milk this dragging narrative out.
Also, there’s always this thought that when you hear “coaches and executives,” that it’s all 31 other coaches saying this. In reality, it’s probably one, maybe two.
We aren’t stupid. The Packers drafted Jordan Love in the first round. You don’t take a quarterback in Round 1 unless you plan to be the eventual franchise quarterback. But this notion that the Packers are just going to dump Rodgers to the curb after this past season is laughable. And the idea that Rodgers will demand a trade and ask to be sent elsewhere, I don’t buy it going into next year. There is a chess match yet to be played between Rodgers and the Packers’ front office, but that time has not arrived yet.
Personally, I found this part of La Canfora’s piece most interesting.
“I got a text from a number that I did not recognize… I proceeded to lay out — in fairly blunt terms — why that team would not be very logical based on a litany of factors…Turns out it was an NFL head coach.”
Man, what a roller coaster ride. Who in their right mind gets a text from a random number and would proceed to go into a full-blown diatribe about why they believe Rodgers is going to the San Francisco 49ers? Isn’t the correct response, 100% of the time, “Hey, sorry, I don’t have this number. Who’s this?”
Not for Jason La Canfora.
What a thrill it must’ve been after this very real conversation was had, and it concluded with, “Hey, Jason. By the way, this is ______, head coach of the _______.” What a joy ride.
Unfortunately, if you’re a Packers fan, these stories won’t go away. When the league MVP mentions that there are very few, if any, certainties in the NFL, people will run with it in a million different directions. When the Packers self-inflict some of these happenings by drafting a quarterback in the first round last year, some of the finger-pointing does have to go back in their direction.
Do what you will as far as letting these stories take up zero or a ton of real estate in your mind as they continue to be unleashed by a litany of people. Rodgers has said himself: He doesn’t think there’s any reason he won’t be back. Team president Mark Murphy said Rodgers would be back in 2021 and that the Packers “aren’t idiots” when it comes to Rodgers and bringing him back.
Deep breaths, everyone. It would be shocking if No. 12 wasn’t in green and gold next year. He knows it, Matt LaFleur knows it, the Packers know it.
