For years, there was no Green Bay Packers player more beloved by fans than four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers. Even with the 2023 team, led by Jordan Love, advancing to the playoffs, there are still some who hold Rodgers in higher esteem than they do current players. It is understandable, in a way. After all, Rodgers won a Super Bowl with the Packers and provided countless memories of amazing throws and dominant offenses.
Over the past few years, though, more and more fans have become disillusioned with Rodgers. Even when he was still with Green Bay, fans began to tire of his backhanded comments and conspiracy theories that he spouted on The Pat McAfee Show. Now that he is with the New York Jets, even more fans have hopped off the Rodgers hype train.
Rodgers’ appearances on The Pat McAfee Show have drawn millions of viewers over the years and have made the future MVP millions of dollars on the side. However, the future of his appearances were called into question last week after he made disparaging remarks about comedian Jimmy Kimmel, with whom Rodgers has a long-standing feud.
Last week, Rodgers insinuated that Kimmel’s name would be on the infamous Epstein List, a claim that Kimmel denied and responded harshly to both on social media and his own show. The comments lost Rodgers even more fans, and his refusal to apologize this week did not go unnoticed; but one of his former teammates was not surprised by the situation at all.
Former Green Bay Packers Wide Receiver Greg Jennings Reveals the Moment Aaron Rodgers Showed Him Who He Really Was
Whereas Rodgers was universally beloved by Packers fans for years, former wide receiver Greg Jennings was not. His exit from Green Bay in free agency following the 2012 season was not amicable and he did not have great things to say about Rodgers on his way out.
As a result, fans shunned Jennings and he remained vastly unpopular for nearly a decade. In recent years, though, Jennings has attempted to make amends with the fanbase and was elected into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2022.
In the wake of Rodgers’ recent comments about Kimmel and the fallout that has come as a result, Jennings told First Things First the moment that he realized who Rodgers really was as a person, and why none of the things that have transpired surrounding the future Hall of Fame quarterback are surprising to him:
“I really try to hold back on having this conversation about Aaron because of the way I exited Green Bay and the things that I said. But I will say this: you find out who a person is when they show you who they are. And then you look at everything that happened prior to seeing that differently.
“For me, that was when we were on the football field, and we were playing in a Week One game, and he comes up on the timeout and talks to an opponent and said, ‘Hey man, you guys should come and get Greg.’
“So I’m in a contract year, and we’re playing the 49ers. I’m talking to Carlos Rodgers, a cornerback, and he’s like ‘Hey man, why they got you running these routes?’ Aaron Rodgers comes up and says, ‘Hey you guys should come and get him.’
“What? You are my guy. You know I want to stay here. You know that I want to be here. Now I’m not trying to relive or rehash all of these things, but in that moment, he showed me who he was. And so from that moment, everything that happened prior to, I looked at differently. Everything that happened afterwards, I looked at differently, because now I know who you are.
“You are selfish. You were sending me, you were offering me up. I’m supposed to be your guy. And again, I’m not disgruntled. I was very bothered in that moment and in that season of life. I’m far beyond that.
“But when I hear things like this, it’s like here we go again.”
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