I love Aaron Rodgers the player. As a member of a multi generational, 30 year season ticket holding Green Bay family I adore him…on the field.
Rodgers stepped into the shadow of, at the time, the most likable athlete in NFL history. Brett Favre personified football. Wisconsin was obsessed with him. Rodgers, the former juco kid from California, had to step into his place while Favre still wanted to play. Against those unimaginable expectations, Rodgers overachieved. He brought Green Bay a Super Bowl and cruised through endless accolades en route to being one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of this game. Aaron Rodgers is now and forever a King of football royalty in Green Bay.
Aaron the person is a different story. The relentless pettiness that Rodgers shrouds in his Zen like approach can be exhausting. He constantly tells you he doesn’t care what anyone thinks while displaying behavior that depicts the exact opposite. He’s clearly obsessed with his own narrative. He has the vibe of the smartest annoying guy at a bar. Sure, he can talk his way around a subject, but it’s insufferable to watch him do it.
Colin Cowherd, who’s not exactly my favorite person either, said it best when he recently discussed Rodgers priorities.
“Aaron Rodgers at this point in his career is committed to having leverage and power and winning the chess match more than he is winning playoff games. How do I know? Because he’s smart and he’s talented and he’s made decisions which hinder one and help the other.” Cowherd said. “Let’s be honest. In Green Bay he wasn’t winning playoff games at the end, but he had power. It got him a huge contract and then eventually got him out of town. But you will get in your life what matters to you, and Aaron has made multiple choices that the money and the leverage and the final say is the most important thing.“
All of this is what made Wednesday so funny. When Rodgers was made available for the first time publicly since the trade, the Athletics excellent beat reporter John Schneidman had a question.
This of course is referring to Brian Gutekunst, who made it a point to let everyone know that he tried his best to reach Rogers after Rogers went on the McAfee show and made it seem like no one had gotten a hold of him.
What followed with Rodgers was something you’d find in a scene in a comedy. The sort of scene where a clueless character was so obviously backpedaling their way through the truth.
“I don’t know if I really need to get into the specifics. I will say, people that know me, I’m fortunate to live in a beautiful house, the only downside is I have very limited cell service, so if you want to get a hold of me, I have to see your face, you have to FaceTime me,” Rodgers said. “The only response to the communication thing is, there’s records in your phone about who called you, when, FaceTime, and there wasn’t any specific FaceTimes for many of those numbers that I was looking at.”
Perfect Rodgers. Both telling you that it’s not a big deal and he’s moved past it, while also clearly not moving past it and trying to convince you that he was right. It’s like watching a teenager tell their parents why they didn’t call when breaking curfew.
Nuance is quickly leaving our society. Things are becoming more black and white by the day. People will tell you you either have to love or hate Aaron Rodgers. Whether it’s the vaccine, off-season comments, missed OTA’s, or Pat McAfee appearances you can’t just take those things for what they are. You have to lump them in to how you feel about him. I disagree.
It was amazing to watch Aaron Rodgers play football, but that’s all I was ever there to do. Same way with Brett Favre. Do I think Favre is scum of the earth for the welfare scandal? Absolutely. Did I also enjoy the ride with him as our quarterback? Also absolutely. His behavior impacts how I feel about his future involvement with the organization, but it doesn’t shape the way I look at how he and his teammates played the game. The memories they gave.
With Rodgers it’s the same. What an incredible ride. I loved him on our team. I’ll be one of the few rooting for him as a player in New York. But I’ll sure have a lot more fun watching Aaron the person from a far.
