Arguably the greatest player in Green Bay Packers franchise history appears to want to argue that a communication breakdown led to his exit this offseason. General manager Brian Gutekunst said Monday that he wished he had spoken with Aaron Rodgers before the trade process. Rodgers, during his introductory press conference with the New York Jets Wednesday, gave one of the more bizarre answers as to why he and Gutekunst never had a conversation days before or after he went into the darkness retreat.
The Green Bay Packers wanted to talk to Rodgers
Gutekunst and Rodgers talked in meetings following the Packers’ season-ending loss at home to the Detroit Lions in Week 18. Gutekunst said after those meetings, communications between the Packers and Rodgers this offseason were held via Rodgers’ agent David Dunn.
It’s been a confusing back-and-forth between Rodgers and Gutekunst on whose fault it was that talks broke down. Rodgers has claimed on his appearances on the Pat McAfee Show that Gutekunst didn’t reach out to him about the Packers looking for trades as they move on to quarterback Jordan Love.
Gutekunst said during the League Annual Meeting that he was disappointed Rodgers went to the media instead of talking to him and the Packers front office. He said the team reached out to Rodgers “many times” during the offseason, to no response from the quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers offers an explanation
Rodgers was asked by Matt Schneidman with The Athletic about what transpired in communications between the Packers and Rodgers this offseason. Rodgers blamed poor cell service in his “beautiful house” and said it would have been known by the Packers they needed to reach him by FaceTime.
Rodgers claimed, with Jets general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh sitting awkwardly stoic beside Rodgers, to have FaceTime logs that never showed “specific” numbers from the Packers’ front office that he was “looking for” to reach out to him in his preferred way.
“I live in a beautiful house. The only downside is I have limited cell service. So if you want to get ahold of me, I have to see your face. You have to FaceTime me,” Rodgers said in the cadence of Gene Wilder’s version of Willy Wonka.
Rodgers then incoherently babbled about how he felt the Packers used not getting ahold of him as an excuse to move on to Love. He said the Packers should have told him their intentions to move on earlier in the offseason, even though he wasn’t confident at that point in the offseason he wanted to play football in 2023.
Full question by @mattschneidman and full answer by @AaronRodgers12 about what happened this offseason and the claim by #Packers GM Brian Gutekunst that he couldn’t get ahold of Rodgers👇
“I have very little cell service…you gotta FaceTime me.” -Rodgers pic.twitter.com/90c8DE0pMu
— Hunter Baumgardt (@hunterbonair) April 26, 2023
Rodgers didn’t make any sense with his comments
Rodgers was totally off-base with his comments. He might be upset the Packers moved on to Love, but the communication issues between the Packers camp and Rodgers seem entirely on Rodgers. One would assume Rodgers could check more than the FaceTime logs on his cell phone to see who called and could have returned a message. Rodgers’ response sounds incredible. But he’s the Jets’ front-office problem now. And given his responses to questions about playing for them in 2024, good luck to Woody Johnson.
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