Aaron Rodgers says words-talking heads take words out of context-everyone overreacts-rinse repeat.
This is how it’s gone for the last few years in Green Bay and as Rodgers appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday the cycle continued.
Amongst Rodgers’ headline catching quotes were “I think I can win MVP again in the right situation” and “I think no player wants to be part of any type of rebuild.” Are you kidding me? This is hot take porn for the blue checkmarks.
Never mind the necessary context of the full conversation. For that matter never mind the remarks that followed the quote. Grab the quote and run. “Rodger is intent to win an MVP and is ready to move on from Green Bay.” “Doesn’t look like Aaron Rodgers want to stick in Green Bay.” “The Packers better listen to what Aaron Rodgers is saying.”
Neither of these original quotes are anything new to anyone who follows this team. Rodgers has always been open and transparent with his feelings. People would know that if they spent more time following him than the minute long clips from the McAfee show they use to lead their morning shouting sports shows.
Even if we hadn’t heard it before why would anyone be surprised by this? One of the greatest quarterbacks of all time still thinks he’s great and doesn’t want to be part of a rebuild in one of the last seasons of his career? What insanely surprising information. The double standard here is outrageous. This is nothing that any great quarterback put in the same situation wouldn’t have said.
But this is the trend that has plagued the Packers off-season for years. The national media reads into everything he does regardless of any context. They even went so far as to react to a Miles Teller tweet because she’s friends with his girlfriend and they were on vacation together. Insanity.
We all lived through the Covid situation. Everyone had their outraged take but how many of those people actually went and watched Rodgers full interview with Joe Rogan? How many of them truly understood the context of his personal medical situation and what he was dealing with? How many of them were willing to admit how thoughtful he was about the people who chose to get vaccinated? Aaron Rodgers never gets context. There’s too much money to be made on him.
Maybe he retires or maybe he comes back. If he comes back maybe it’s in Green Bay and maybe it’s elsewhere. As followers of the team we will all surely have feelings about those possibilities but it’s time to stop this ridiculous cycle. Aaron Rodgers rarely catches you by surprise. He’s thoughtful and transparent. Anyone in his shoes would likely react the same way as they assess their future and all that goes with that in such a high profile situation. His teammates love him and although his play dropped off a little bit this past season the fanbase will always appreciate what he’s done. Stop taking snippets and making them something they are not. The articles are boring and the discussion is unimportant. I know it won’t happen but for the next few months, let’s focus on context.
Here’s the actual full comments if you’d like the context.