One of my favorite under-the-radar episodes of The Simpsons is when Homer and the fam install satellite TV, which leaves Bart to become so obsessed with the endless channel options that he skips out on studying for the big standardized test. And young Bart’s obsession melts his brain to the point where the only things he was seeing around him were things he crammed into his eyeholes while watching TV.
It was a trippy send-off into bizarro world for Bart. And it feels like Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is on a similar trip.
But instead of the siren song of satellite TV doing damage, it was Rodgers’ most recent appearance on the Pat McAfee turning things sideways. Rodgers is known to go off-the-wall when discussing things with the punter-turned-multimedia entertainer. So I shouldn’t be surprised that today is any different. But this is on another level:
EL OH EL.
Rodgers calling for players to get reps cut is rich when you consider that he didn’t show up for voluntary off-season training with those same teammates. Don’t get it twisted. Voluntary isn’t mandatory. But you can’t be the guy wanting to scale back teammates’ reps when you weren’t putting in the same work they were in the offseason.
Rodgers nudging for players who aren’t getting playing time to leap-frog those ahead of them on the depth chart is a bit bonkers, too. Is he talking about himself in this? I mean, maybe he would like to see Jordan Love get some reps as a change of pace.
Nah. It couldn’t be. Not when you’re also saying stuff like this (see second tweet):
What a special load of gobbledygook from Green Bay’s QB1. Rodgers pushed the Packers to bring Tom Clements back into the fold. Considering Clements wouldn’t be cashing checks from the Packers without Rodgers, it is no surprise that his hand-picked position coach gave him his single-highest game grade this season. Rodgers is equal parts “everything is fine” guy and “burn it to the ground” bro all rolled into one. You’d think that would be impossible, but that’s just Rodgers in a nutshell.
This is the type of commentary that gets a player reprimanded by his coaches and front office. But maybe that is what Rodgers wants. Or maybe he just wants the attention. It has been a minute since Rodgers has done the football equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a grocery store aisle. At this point, I wonder if this is high-level performance art. And if it is, I can’t help but wonder what the next scene in this drama-comedy will be.
Maybe Rodgers is laying the groundwork for a departure from Green Bay. Again, hearing what he said feels like a first step toward burning some bridges you don’t plan on crossing again. Of course, the Packers are absolutely screwed from a cap standpoint if they move on from Rodgers after this season. Even a Rodgers retirement wouldn’t deliver the Packers from cap hell. What a fascinating situation for a team that is falling all over itself to satisfy my schadenfreude dreams.