THE NFL HAS HEARD THE LAST FROM AARON RODGERS, WHOSE LIFE IS WAY TOO BIZARRE
Consider him retired after he spoke about his “serious relationship” and various issues, which should upset the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have no reason to wait and should seek a new QB in the draft
Millions upon millions of Americans deal with relationship drama. Allow me to inform Aaron Rodgers, the most selfish weasel in sports, that he can’t expect special treatment from NFL franchises because he’s immersed in his own societal affairs. He says he won’t make decisions about his future — on April 17, weeks away from mandatory minicamps and seven days before the draft — because his private life must be respected.
Aw, shucks.
This should be his final statement as the league decides in collective form that he is retired. He does not care about the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have waited patiently for his mind to stop blurring. For some ungodly reason, Rodgers thinks owner Art Rooney II and head coach Mike Tomlin should continue to wait. They do not have a quarterback, beyond backup Mason Rudolph, and are urged to locate one or trade up for one in Green Bay. The Steelers have been burned by Rodgers’ psychic hauntings and should not spend another day waiting for an elder, at 41, who might not stay healthy or play efficient football.
Take care of your girlfriend, Aaron. Hugs and kisses. The NFL should not want you.
“I'm in a different phase of my life,” Rodgers said Thursday. “I’m 41 years old. I'm in a serious relationship. I have off-the-field stuff going on that requires my attention. I have personal commitments I made not knowing what my future was going to look like after last year that are important to me. And I have a couple people in my inner, inner circle that are really battling some difficult stuff.
“So, I have a lot of things that are taking my attention, and have beginning in really January, away from football. That's been where I've been focusing most of my attention. To make a commitment to a team is a big thing, whether you're a first-year player or a 20-year vet.”
He swears he isn’t “holding anyone hostage” with “constraints in my life that warrant my attention.” He says he’ll play for $10 million a year. “I’m open to anything and attached to nothing, so retirement could still be a possibility,” he said.
What he voiced on Pat McAfee’s show cannot be tolerated by a serious operation. The New York Jets had it right when they released Rodgers in early February. They were not kind in the final meeting, starting with new head coach Aaron Glenn, and didn’t care that he flew a private jet from California to New Jersey. Claiming Glenn was “a little rogue,” he can’t grasp why he deserves an aberrant reaction after years of personal annoyance with the Packers and Jets. Many league executives are standing up and cheering. They run the teams. He does not.
“I felt like there wasn't an ample amount of respect in that meeting, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised based on some of the things I saw over the two years,” Rodgers said of the franchise. “I figured that when I flew across country on my own dime that there was going to be a conversation. And the confusing thing to me — and the strange thing -- was when I went out there, I meet with the coach, we start talking, he runs out of the room. I'm like, ‘That's kind of strange.’
“Then he comes back with the general manager (Darren Mougey) and I'm, ‘All right.’ So we sit down in the office, and I think we're going to have this long conversation. I've flown across the country and about 20 seconds in, he goes … 'So, do you want to play football?' And I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm interested.’ And he said, ‘We're going in a different direction at quarterback.’ I was kind of shocked. You could have told me this on the phone if we weren't even going to have a conversation.”
Glenn was proper as he explained the decision, saying, according to Rodgers: “I don't want to be up in front of the room saying something and have guys looking back at you.” To which Rodgers responded: “I said, ‘What does that even mean? Are you assuming I would be in the back of the room at a team meeting, undermining what you're saying?’ I said, 'You don't know me.’ And he said, ‘You don't know me.’ And then I said, ‘Exactly, which is why I flew across the country to have a face-to-face meeting with you to talk about my experience with the Jets and to hear your vision for the team.’ ’’
Credit Glenn, who tried to contain Rodgers as an NFL defensive coach for nine years, for planting the sickening seed. The veteran created the trade to New York. This is the first time he has been told no. The Steelers are allowing him a chance, while Minnesota asked him to wait as J.J. McCarthy develops and the New York Giants acquired Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. He refuses to tell the Steelers yes. When he visited Pittsburgh last month, he did not fly into the local airport and rented a Chevy Malibu. He wasn’t noticed before he spoke to Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan.
“I’ve talked to Mike Tomlin. He's more than I even thought from afar, as far as the type of person he is,” Rodgers said. “I have a lot of respect for what he's accomplished in the league. (Offensive coordinator) Arthur Smith, talk about a guy that doesn't need to work, he doesn't need the work, but he's a grinder. We've had a friendship for a couple years now. I like what he's all about. And the quarterback coach, Tom Arth, he was in the quarterback room with me in 2006 in Green Bay. ... Personally, I wanted to see what it was like there at the facility, meet Omar in person, just get a glimpse, a snippet of what life would be like in Pittsburgh.”
The snippet is that fans don’t want him. They have won six Super Bowls and crave another soon. Rodgers will eat french fries in a sandwich and won’t like the place. What will he do? What will his girlfriend do?
Jaxson Dart might be available at No. 21 in the draft, or higher if they trade up. The Steelers have messed up the quarterback position since Ben Roethlisberger retired. Wait, would they like to try Big Ben for a workout? It sure beats Aaron Rodgers, struggling in love, wondering about his next life step without a ball in his hand.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.