.It is no secret that Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers organization were not in a good place for years. While Rodgers was always grateful to Ted Thompson for drafting him, his relationship with former head coach Mike McCarthy declined. When Thompson stepped down and Brian Gutekunst was hired, there was, of course, an adjustment period. There were new faces in the front office who had not been around the players very much. Unfortunately, there was also a culture, according to Rodgers, of disrespect between team officials towards the players. He relayed a rather disturbing story that took place in 2018 that involved Kenny Clark.
Kenny Clark Was Made to Believe He Was Being Cut
Brandon Carwile of Packers Wire shared the following video of Aaron Rodgers’ interview after the first day of training camp:
Really interesting story from Aaron Rodgers about Kenny Clark who thought he was going to get cut heading into his third season.
Rodgers noted that there’s been positive changes from the front office in how they manage their relationships with the players. pic.twitter.com/JA1HTTHtTt
— Brandon Carwile (@PackerScribe) July 28, 2022
This story does not paint a very pretty picture of the way things were run back in 2018. As Packers fans all know by now, one of the reasons for Aaron Rodgers’ holdout in 2021 was due to how he felt the organization had disrespected himself and other players in the past.
Coincidentally, I wrote about how each of these “disrespected” players fared after they were let go by Packers after Rodgers’ holdout: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.
Why Did Aaron Rodgers Bring This Up Now?
To be honest, I do not have the context in which this story was told. I do not believe that Rodgers told it to re-fire a feud with the front office. Instead, I venture that Rodgers was discussing how differently the front office is run compared to five years ago. There is no reason to believe that Rodgers and the front office are still at odds. In fact, Rodgers went as far as to defend Brian Gutekunst when the general manager received criticism from fans for trading Davante Adams.
All of this to say that I do not believe that there is anymore drama between Rodgers and the front office. Rodgers has said many times since 2021 that he and Gutekunst have improved their relationship. Additionally, he feels like the organization is doing a better job of respecting players.
How far we have come!
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