Aaron Rodgers got down and dirty about his final years as a Packer, revealing some jaw-dropping anecdotes about his relationship with Brian Gutekunst and Jordan Love.
The marriage of Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay was a beautiful one — until it wasn't. Rodgers spent 18 years in the Packers organization, the last three of which were embroiled in more drama and controversy than previously thought.
The new Jets quarterback decided now was a good time as any to drop the hammer on his time with the Green Bay Packers, the only home he's ever known, and he spilled the tea not to long-time buddy Pat McAfee, but The Athletic instead. Rodgers telling his story to an established source? That's a first.
In Rodgers' tell-all interview, he discusses everything from his relationship with Jordan Love to his fractured dynamic with general manager Brian Gutekunst. Oh, and he makes some angry accusations along the way.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from Rodgers' vitriol-laced dialogue:
3. Aaron Rodgers' relationship with Jordan Love was not as amicable as it appeared
Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre were not friends from the get-go. That much was well-known.
Rodgers' relationship with Jordan Love appeared friendly on the outside, but there was more hiding beneath the surface.
Was Rodgers content to mentor Love? Sure. Was Rodgers happy about Packers picking Love in the first place? Not so much.
When the Packers drafted Jordan Love in the first round in 2020, Rodgers was taken aback. Immediately after Green Bay's decision, Rodgers poured himself a glass of tequila and "waited for somebody to call me."
Green Bay knew Rodgers wouldn't be happy with the pick and did it anyway, and that selection was in some ways "the tipping point in the nearly two-decade-long marriage between Rodgers and the Packers." Rodgers told The Athletic that after the Packers drafted Love, he figured he'd only have one or two more years left with the franchise.
Everything Rodgers has said about his relationship with Love seemed to suggest the veteran didn't mind his mentorship role, and Love himself has also doubled down on his praise of Rodgers being a model teammate.
But the original fact of the matter is that Rodgers was slapped in the face by the Packers' 2020 draft decisions, and he may have never recovered.
2. Aaron Rodgers blamed Packers GM Brian Gutekunst for poor communication
So after the Love selection, Rodgers and the Packers' connection was starting to strain. What didn't help was that Green Bay told Rodgers it was general manager Brian Gutekunst's idea to draft Love.
Prior to the 2021 season, Rodgers reportedly aired his grievances and "wanted to see changes to the organization's communication and culture." The communication between him and Gutekunst improved, but still was far from ideal.
Fast forward to to the end of the 2022 season, when Rodgers was weighing his future. He and Gutekunst had agreed to meet in person in California, yet they never connected — a classic case of crossed wires.
After more of the same tangled communication, Rodgers went on his darkness retreat and issued the Packers his request to be traded to the Jets.
Here's what Rodgers said about his broken conversations with Gutekunst this past offseason:
"Did Brian text me more than I texted him? Yeah, but did I ghost him? No."
"I texted him back. There was back-and-forths that we had and so this is the story you wanna go with? You're gonna stand on this hill of austerity and say that arguably in the conversation of the best player in your franchise history, you're gonna say I couldn't get a hold of him and that's why we had to move on? Like, c'mon man. Just tell the truth, you wanted to move on. You didn't like the fact that we didn't communicate all the time. Like, listen, I talk to the people that I like."
Awkward…
1. Aaron Rodgers wanted Packers GM Brian Gutekunst fired
Now for the most damning revelation of the interview: Aaron Rodgers wanted to fire Brian Gutekunst at one point in the 2021 offseason. The Athletic got this information from an anonymous source. Here's the rundown:
Early in the 2021 offseason, Rodgers' agent called Packers president Mark Murphy with one request: Fire Gutekunst, or trade Rodgers.
Murphy ended up doing nothing.
The Athletic then asked Rodgers about this alleged demand, and Rodgers deferred to his agent.
Following that bombshell request in 2021, Gutekunst appeared to extend an olive branch by acquiring wide receiver Randall Cobb, one of Rodgers' good friends.
The damage may have been done at that point, and the seeds of retirement or joining another NFL team may have started to take root in Rodgers' mind.
Since joining the Jets, Rodgers has had nothing but glowing things to say about New York's front office. He hasn't given two decades of his life to the Jets like he did in Green Bay, and no doubt some internal issues may crop up in their own time, but his candid interview speaks volumes about the reason he left.
Rodgers was snubbed, slighted, ignored, and just didn't feel valued by the Packers in his twilight years in Green Bay.
Of course, that's all his side of the story, so believe what you will.
