Rodgers wants out

[YoHoChecko]

ok so Schefter's take is:

Rodgers didn't leak it
The Packers didn't leak it
Sources aside from them are believable enough for me to announce it
Charles Robinson's source(s) corroborate it
I am the one who chose to publish it on draft day

Sounds like Rodgers' camp may not have leaked it that day, but reached out to Schefty and said "we're getting killed out there. You better take the blame or you're never getting info from me again"

(Agents are the primary sources for media insiders to get info, be it about contracts, negotiation status, etc... the symbiotic reliance on each other is strong)

[Pugger]

Don't laugh but I can't think of another reason why AR is behaving like this other than he feels threatened by Love.

I mention this earlier in the thread. It was an absolute core dynamic in the Favre "fiasco" that fans were totally oblivious to. The FO knew, the coaches knew, Brett knew. Aaron could play.

This whole thing is full of contradictions from Aaron, but chief among them is why is Aaron afraid of the team moving on to someone that can't play. Fans and blathering talking heads may say "well he's the heir because they drafted him in the first" but #26 overall is certainly not "we're moving on from our HOF starter" level commitment. Nobody in the organization has any motivation to play Love if he can't play. Noone. Putting a guy on the field that can't play looks even worse for Gute than cutting bait once you've seen enough behind the scenes. #26 is not organization destroying value lost like a top 5 pick, its just an annoying pothole.

It can't be stated and restated enough that GB clearly needed a good backup QB given the previous few years and what a flop the backup situ was. you back up vets with rookies and rookies with vets. If GB would have traded down a couple spots and taken him #33 overall instead of trading up to #26, this whole "respect" narrative would be a whole lot of nothing, GB took a strong prospect to develop as a backup QB. That''s how absurd this situation is, 7 draft slots and the entirety of the narrative around Love evaporates completely. Everyone everywhere rates #26 on the same quality tier as #33.

If Rodgers has nothing to fear about Love then why all this drama?? It doesn't make any sense.

[BF004]

Im not judging, guessing or anything till i see more than ‘sources’.

All could have saved yourselves 53 pages of guessing, bickering and taking fictional sides if you followed me on page 4.

[YoHoChecko]

Look I agree that Rodgers is being a jerk and I SEE the irony in demanding a trade because you think they might trade you later.

But remember that Rodgers’ while public press reaction after the Love pick has been talking about how he’s realizing he doesn’t control his destiny anymore. That he has lost control of that decision.

Rodgers told us then what he wants. He wants the ability to control his situation. If he thinks the Packers intend to trade him before the end of his contract, he wants to leave on his own terms, not on theirs.

There’s decently credible reporting that the Packers have resisted giving up that flexibility beyond a certain point. And Rodgers wants that assurance beyond that point. It sounds like they were at least a year apart in their desires.

And so if they won’t give him the assurances he wants, he wants out now. On his terms.

I’m not saying the rest makes sense. I’m not saying he’s handling it well. I’m not denying that he seems to be throwing a tantrum without a clear path out that his desire to hurt or embarrass the team is not abhorrent.

I’m just saying the resolution he seeks is about trust and control, and while those are vague and it’s difficult to place them into tangible steps and agree upon levels, that much seems clear to me.

Rodgers wants more control over team decisions that affect him and over his own career’s end. And he doesn’t trust the team to give that to him, to honor it, or to act upon his input and interests. For good reason. The team doesn’t and shouldn’t give him as much control as he wants.

Enter John Kuhn:

He's conflicted because this man loves to play the game of football, this man loves to be a Green Bay Packer and this man truly sees careers. He's watched friends leave, he watched Brett Favre's career toward the end. He's watched all these things play out in front of his eyes; he's taken notes throughout his career. He's seen some situations that didn't feel were done or finished the way that they could or should have.

He's just trying to take his earned destiny within his own hands. To that effect, I actually admire him because not many players in the NFL have that opportunity. I sure as heck didn't. I played until everybody told me 'you can't play anymore,' and it's a humbling feeling. Aaron Rodgers has an opportunity to take a little bit of that power.

It's just power; it's control. It's wanting to control your own destiny in an industry in which that... just doesn't happen.

[paco]

The hoodie to the rescue.

[YoHoChecko]

The Rodgers surrogates out doing damage control is really good news.

Kuhn says it's fixable and that he's talked to Rodgers this week. James Jones says they talk all the time and it's fixable. Hawk earlier saying 0% he retires.

The commonly-predicted "he's not talking so he can walk it back later if this doesn't go well" plan seems to be moving into action.

[Acrobat]

The Rodgers surrogates out doing damage control is really good news.

Kuhn says it's fixable and that he's talked to Rodgers this week. James Jones says they talk all the time and it's fixable. Hawk earlier saying 0% he retires.

The commonly-predicted "he's not talking so he can walk it back later if this doesn't go well" plan seems to be moving into action.

Yep by the day I'm becoming more and more convinced that the sides will work it out. The compensation isn't good enough for GB and I think they're willing to let him sit because the PR already looks really bad for him.

I said this in the solutions thread, but if I had a crystal ball and knew that Rodgers had another 4-5 MVP level years in him, then it's a no brainer. Trade Jordan love for a 2nd round pick and be done with it. That might be all it takes for Rodgers to say "ok we're cool". Tack on another year of his contract and then just say "Yeah we made a mistake drafting his replacement that early. We weren't sure how many years he had left or wanted to play and the 2020 year brought clarity to the situation."

Problem solved.

[BF004]

i bet 12 has orchestrated this entire thing including getting his agent to tell SF to send a junk offer for him. The shoe that dropped with Schefter was the next well planned development too most likely.

My guess is there is in no way orchestrated by consummate professionals like Aaron, Gute, Lafleur and Murphy.

Guessing someone who is working some angle for themselves or their clients (which might include any of the 4 above).

Also me from page 5.

Just next time everyone take a few breaths and chill a bit.

[Crazylegs Starks]

Semi off topic:

Terry Bradshaw's comments about Rodgers made me think of Bart Starr. Different era I know, but Lombardi tried to replace Starr like 3 times!

[paco]

In this video is the clip of what Schefter said exactly. What a schmuck.


and his McAfee's follow-up.

[go pak go]

Lotta damage control happening right now from Aaron's buddies.

[Acrobat]

In this video is the clip of what Schefter said exactly. What a schmuck.


and his McAfee's follow-up.

So essentially, this whole thing might be overblown. Good god. The pure shock that Dan Patrick had at all of this was pretty amazing.

[paco]

So essentially, this whole thing might be overblown. Good god. The pure shock that Dan Patrick had at all of this was pretty amazing.

Its certainly not completely overblown as the Packers have made statements and haven't denied everything. Not all the talk out there is false. But hopefully, it is less of a big deal that its been made to look. Time will tell. This doesn't have to get resolved any time soon, and I suspect it will take a bit yet.

[go pak go]

So essentially, this whole thing might be overblown. Good god. The pure shock that Dan Patrick had at all of this was pretty amazing.

Its certainly not completely overblown as the Packers have made statements and haven't denied everything. Not all the talk out there is false. But hopefully, it is less of a big deal that its been made to look. Time will tell. This doesn't have to get resolved any time soon, and I suspect it will take a bit yet.

I remember the body language in MLF's face.

It didn't look overblown to me.

[YoHoChecko]

So essentially, this whole thing might be overblown. Good god. The pure shock that Dan Patrick had at all of this was pretty amazing.

Its certainly not completely overblown as the Packers have made statements and haven't denied everything. Not all the talk out there is false. But hopefully, it is less of a big deal that its been made to look. Time will tell. This doesn't have to get resolved any time soon, and I suspect it will take a bit yet.

I remember the body language in MLF's face.

It didn't look overblown to me.

Right, let's not spike the football yet.

It's been confirmed that the team has been making visits out there to convince him.

Rodgers, himself, has said almost nothing but what he DID say was "I didn't want this to get out," not "this isn't true."

Gutey and MLF and Mark Murphy have all admitted they don't know how this will end and they have all talked to him.

James Jones and John Kuhn and Brett Favre said they've talked to him and one said "my gut says he's done" one said "Rodgers is conflicted" and one said "I think there's a solution."

This isn't over, and it's not overblown. But the TIMING of it, and the speculation that it was a strategic bomb planted by one side or the other to embarrass the other is now called into question. Personally, that Shefter, who is on television every day discussing this very topic, waited until now to "clarify" the timing and sourcing strikes me more as a backpedal than a "this wasn't ever a particularly big deal"

It 100% makes me suuuper angry at Shefter for how he went about breaking the story and the week that has followed. But it doesn't absolve Rodgers for actually staying away (remember the voluntary offseason program is occurring virtually right now without him), nor for still not speaking publicly about any of it. If he just said "look, right now I'm still not sure what my future holds, but no one is trying to get anyone fired and I've been on contact with the team and we're still trying to see if there's a solution" that alone would have, at least, slowed this down while not refuting anything or abandoning any leverage.

I think there is no denying that the public reaction to this story and the continued leaks of some of Rodgers' alleged behaviors and statements have forced a damage control effort to be enacted. There's no way Kuhn and Jones and Shefter all come out with statements downplaying the events and expressing hopes on THE SAME DAY by accident. And it's been a week. And no one else has made those statements.

This is still real; it's still live; and like I said at the very beginning and have mostly stuck to (even though I played with trades I would accept or welcome) the team has absolutely no need to or desire to trade Rogders this offseason. The most logical time, even if he's unhappy or holding out, isn't until after next year's draft order is set. And the leverage all favors the team. So none of this is particularly surprising, but it also doesn't mean that, had the public reaction and media environment and even the team reaction gone differently, we wouldn't see this continue to escalate.

There's a world in which Gutey gets in front of the media and says "Aaron Rodgers is under contract for three more years with the Green Bay Packers and the only leverage he has is to make you all ask me annoying questions. If he wants to play football, it will be for the Green Bay Packers and if he doesn't want to honor his contract, it's next man up and we'll at least save a ton of money and cap space."

If that was the team stance, Rodgers and Gutey would remain in a cycle of ego escalation.

[NCF]

This isn't over, and it's not overblown. But the TIMING of it, and the speculation that it was a strategic bomb planted by one side or the other to embarrass the other is now called into question. Personally, that Shefter, who is on television every day discussing this very topic, waited until now to "clarify" the timing and sourcing strikes me more as a backpedal than a "this wasn't ever a particularly big deal"

It 100% makes me suuuper angry at Shefter for how he went about breaking the story and the week that has followed.

I don't have any idea on the motive, but, again, this sounds like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. The man's own $%@# tweet mentions "sources on Thursday". So, fine, accumulation, but there was something that gave the green light that day.

[Waldo]

I remember the body language in MLF's face.

It didn't look overblown to me.

Yeah, seriously. Its like his dog died, he was having a rough go of it.

[Captain_Ben]

Im not judging, guessing or anything till i see more than ‘sources’.

All could have saved yourselves 53 pages of guessing, bickering and taking fictional sides if you followed me on page 4.

Where's the fun in that?

[Pckfn23]

This isn't over, and it's not overblown. But the TIMING of it, and the speculation that it was a strategic bomb planted by one side or the other to embarrass the other is now called into question. Personally, that Shefter, who is on television every day discussing this very topic, waited until now to "clarify" the timing and sourcing strikes me more as a backpedal than a "this wasn't ever a particularly big deal"

It 100% makes me suuuper angry at Shefter for how he went about breaking the story and the week that has followed.

I don't have any idea on the motive, but, again, this sounds like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. The man's own $%@# tweet mentions "sources on Thursday". So, fine, accumulation, but there was something that gave the green light that day.

I don't believe for a second it wasn't a strategic play to leak it on Thursday and that it was not orchestrated by Schefter.

I also don't believe this is all overblown, any longer. It's not a coincidence that it took Rodgers' buddies 6 days to start coming out and walking it back. If it was overblown from the start, a quick fix was readily available to Rodgers.

[BSA]

It 100% makes me suuuper angry at Schefter for how he went about breaking the story and the week that has followed.

I came across this one on another board, but it seems germane to your comment above. We all need to remember that Schefter et al survive on clicks and controversy - its what they live for, its what pays the bills. If it means effing with a team/fans ? Too bad. They have different and often opposite goals and they have the platform to further those goals. We don't need to play that game, we don't need to let THEM screw with US.

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/11/26