The relationship between Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers front office has no doubt been a rocky one over the last two seasons.
Before eventually being traded to the New York Jets this week, both Rodgers and the Packers hinted at a breakdown in communication, but the veteran signal-caller doubled down on this side of things during his introductory press conference with the media on Wednesday.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers attends an introductory press conference at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on April 26, 2023, in Florham Park, New Jersey. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Rodgers said during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” last month that after emerging from his darkness retreat, he noticed a shift in the Packers about their plans for the future.
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“I was interested in where [the Packers] would be at mentally, and everything that I was told in the week that I was in Green Bay was, ‘Take as long as you want, and we want you to retire a Packer. You want to come back and play, obviously, the door is wide open.’ So, that was the information I was going on. Now, when I came out of the darkness, something changed. I’m not exactly sure what that was, but something changed,” he said.
“It was clear to me at that point that, although the Packers were going to say the right thing publicly, they were ready to move on.”
But general manager Brian Gutekunst seemed to suggest that they weren’t able to get a hold of Rodgers to have that conversation.
Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
“Those never transpired,” Gutekunst said. “So, there came a time where we had to make some decisions, so we went through his representatives to try to talk to him [about] where we were going with our team. And at that point, they informed us that he would like to be traded to the Jets.”
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Rodgers has long expressed that there is no bitterness regarding the situation, and he even mentioned Gutekunst and CEO Mark Murphy in his farewell message, but on Wednesday, he clarified the situation further.
“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 got to FaceTime me. So, the only response to the communications thing is – there’s records in your phone about who called you, when, FaceTime, and there wasn’t any specific FaceTimes from those numbers that I was looking at.”
He continued, “Obviously, that’s somehow the direction they wanted to go, as far as the story they couldn’t get a hold of me, which led for this to be the case. My point was, if there was a change that wanted to be made, why wasn’t it told to me earlier in the offseason? Now, obviously, my future was undecided at that time. I didn’t know if I wanted to keep playing. I wanted to go into my darkness retreat and sit with it and contemplate, but when I came out, it was evident that it was retire or move on to a new team.”
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers waves to fans as he leaves the field following an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams in Green Bay, Wis. Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
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Despite this, Rodgers spoke highly of the organization as he was welcomed as the latest member of the Jets on Wednesday.
While his plans for next season are set, he declined to talk about his future beyond that.
“Right now, I’m just going to focus on the season,” he said before leaving room for hope.
“The reason I take care of myself is to allow myself to continue playing into my 40s. I had always dreamt about being a starter at 40 – I’ll turn 40 in December of this year. But I’m going to be here for the foreseeable future.”
