The Blameless Aaron Rodgers

Fresh off a bye and home playoff game, Aaron Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers to just ten points and lost at home to the San Francisco 49ers. Rodgers was 20-29 for 225 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Of course plenty of blame was heaped on him as he didn't play very well, though there are those that point to the special teams and say it was good enough to win. While that is true, Rodgers continued his struggle in the post season for a quarterback that is in line for his fourth regular season MVP.

Rodgers is 11-10 in the postseason, 1-4 in NFC Championship games with one Super Bowl appearance and win. Some of those wins are against Kirk Cousins, a rookie Dak Prescott, Joe Webb, half of Caleb Hanie, but that legacy is cemented after yet another early exit. The record, the numbers, they show a trend of a QB whose play dips when the competition ramps up. However, that is not the story of Rodger's 2021-2022 season.

Keith Van Valkenburg of ESPN wrote the article, “The unfiltered year of Aaron Rodgers” talking about his year of 'just being himself' so to speak. Rodgers made plenty of waves throughout the year as he spoke his mind. In the piece there's a paraphrase of Rodgers saying “I don't think I'm always right, it's essential to listen to opposing views and be allowed to debate. We isolate ourselves in these echo chambers where we're only going to listen to things or read things or watch things that confirm our initial thoughts about things.” I completely agree with his sentiment, this age of politics and social media have created those echo chambers, but it's easy to say that when you want to be listened to. Do you follow through from the other side?

Of course these statements address the whole 'immunized' statement and following COVID positive test. Rodgers believed what he said, but that wasn't the issue. He claimed it was a witch hunt and that he's a different thinker, but decided not to come out clean while he was purposely misleading everyone while not following the rules. Then when questioned about it he doubled down that the media and 'cancel culture' were out to get him. It wasn't that he was being 'noble' in his mind while still hiding behind a clouded truth.

Rodgers said the motivation behind his unfiltered and outspoken year was addressing the false narratives people were creating about him. He doesn't care what people think, but wanted to halt narratives that were just not true. Again, Rodgers says the right thing, he's a public figure and subject to intrusion that many would find extremely difficult to deal with, but his actions don't follow his words. If you wanted to clear the air, to speak your truth, then why continue to mislead and lie?

When Rodgers was on the Manningcast he was asked about the books on his shelf and showed off “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. A quick search on the internet reveals it's a controversial book with Libertarian views, which is more than Rodgers knows about it. It was revealed he showed it off because it had the biggest spine and he had no idea how to even pronounce the author's first name. It was all a prank for his amusement to annoy people.

Rodgers received plenty of comments on Twitter from people either lauding him or criticizing him, which he claimed was predictable and trashy because 'Who cares? It's a book.' He's not wrong, but Rodgers knows that as he continues to play it up in these politically divisive times like he's actually stating something new. More importantly, Rodgers plays into it like he's making change when he's really just making himself laugh. There's a name for people who go onto the internet to antagonize others, trolls.

When Rodgers tried to deal with his own fallout from his 'immunized comment' he said a similar thing would happen, some would laud him and others would condemn him, but he didn't want to get political...except when he condemns the president about the pandemic. But he's 'not trying to be political.' Rodgers tries to say he's in the middle when he gives his generic answers, but when he expands there's really only one side he likes to regularly go after.

Rodgers new favorite buzz phrase is 'cancel culture.' Now, this is not about Rodgers' politics because he is right that things only move forward when we're willing to have actual conversations. However, Rodgers pretends he sits in the middle trying to advance some kind of social evolution while he 'gets attacked' ignoring that there are consequences to his words and actions. You can believe what you want, but that doesn't mean there won't be repercussions to what you say and do.

Rodgers made another regular appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, he has never been quieted despite any claims to the contrary, and said the only reason people tuned in to cheer against the Packers was because of his vaccination status. Now, there is definitely something to that but it also is an over simplification of how people actually feel about him and the way he handled the whole season. Again, Rodgers ignores that he has earned blame. People are out to 'cancel him' and attack him with no basis ever according to him.

Rodgers pouted through the off season, upset about some personnel decisions made by Packers' management and his possible replacement being drafted in the first round. Adam Schefter broke the story that Rodgers wanted to be traded during draft night, which he claimed no one wanted to be leaked and he chose to do it of his own accord. After all the speculation during the off season about Rodgers' future, hosting Jeopardy, considering retirement and then this story magically broke. I think it was intentional as the war between Rodgers and Packers' management bled onto TV for the court of public opinion.

Eventually we got the very open and blunt Aaron Rodgers press conference as he continued to try and win the court of public opinion. There was definitely some insight into things but it was mostly his complaints which he said he didn't make during the off season because he 'didn't want to get into a pissing match with the organization.' while putting the organization on blast. He said the leaks didn't come from him, though they seemed to benefit him way more than the Green Bay Packers so color me skeptical.

It was refreshingly honest and he was mostly lauded for it, but let's not forget the context in terms of the whole off season. After another disappointing playoff loss, at home as the top NFC seed, and reports of the problems he was the cause of while Mike McCarthy was the coach, Rodgers found himself front and center for a lot of criticism. I think that was the genesis of his attitude and free spoken nature this season. You can understand the frustration and understand a change, but ultimately what he sees as being a free speaker is someone being a troll who continues to fail to actually see the context of what he says and does.

Of course after this press conference the Packers quickly acquired Randall Cobb to appease Rodgers. Management quickly made it clear it was for him and not because it was best for the franchise. Cobb was an aging receiver with a bad contact and seems to be a likely cut candidate. This is front and center this off season because Rodgers said he didn't want to be part of a rebuild. Now, besides being the obvious statement, it was Rodgers trying to put the onus back on management. Coach LaFleur took issue with these statements and stated the obvious, they want Rodgers back and want to compete.

Going into 2022 the Packers are 40 million over the cap, but that is also with the shrunk cap after the COVID year. It's likely the cap will bounce back which will help, but let's also not forget Rodgers' contract in this cap situation. He has a 46 million dollar cap hit for 2022 and has regularly been one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league. Now, I would never tell anyone not to make their money because all of us want to make as much as possible, but you don't get to talk out of both sides of your mouth. If you want help then you can sacrifice some money so your team can operate within the constraints of the salary cap to give you the aid to compete, like the defense they built to hold the 49ers without an offensive touchdown.

Davante Adams is a free agent, but is waiting for Rodgers' decision. Allen Lazard is a restricted free agent, who had one catch in the football game as Rodgers ignored every receiver not named Davante Adams. Robert Tonyan is a free agent, coming off an ACL tear that might limit his price tag. De'Vondre Campbell, the All-Pro linebacker, is a free agent after getting a try it deal. There are a few other pieces and role players where decisions will have to be made, but with the cap bouncing back and restructuring there are solutions there...if Rodgers will play ball.

Aaron Rodgers said he'd make his decision before free agency, trying to maintain leverage, but that contributes to the issue as the team would likely go a different route if he's not coming back. Will he take an extension to help those cap issues to keep the players he wants, or is he still going to pout about the franchise and leave them hanging contributing to the issue that he will say are a factor for him wanting to bail on Green Bay? But that's not how Aaron Rodgers works, he's blameless in his eyes and everyone else has the problem.

Now, Nathaniel Hackett, the Green Bay OC, is heading to Denver to be the coach. Rodgers had nothing but glowing things to say about him, and of course Hackett is now coaching a team rumored to be in on Rodgers. This will of course fuel more rumors of Rodgers potentially leaving while he 'waits to make his decision.' It's want Rodgers wants, to be begged to stay and to take the focus off the fact that Green Bay continues to put good teams around him but he falls short when the chips are pushed to the center of the table.

Despite what Aaron Rodgers claims, though not completely incorrect, people can not like him because of the way he handles himself and not for his beliefs. Does he care about his legacy or the narrative of his struggles in the postseason? Maybe, maybe not, but those are part of being a professional athlete and he seems to be at least cognizant of it with his tactics of deflection and passing the blame.

Aaron Rodgers is a person with his own beliefs and justification for being the way he is. He can be someone who isn't personable and wants his privacy, but that all goes out the window when you put your opinions out there in the realm of professional sports and try and troll the media. He can claim to be having fun at their expense but it erodes the argument that he doesn't care what people think and wants to change narratives when he makes an enemy of the media and the internet.

Remember Aaron, we're supposed to be able to have open conversations from both sides. It's hard to do that when you attack those with different views, you're just doing the same thing you're complaining about. Yet, apparently, he's right and the rest are just cancel culture.