I may not keep up with everything going on during football season, but one occurrence that I’ve taken note of this season is the tensions rising between the Green Bay Packers and their star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In the summer before the 2021 NFL season started, Rodgers made cryptic comments stating that he did not plan on returning to the team for the 2021 season despite his contract.
According to sources familiar with the subject, one of Rodgers’s frustrations came from the Packers deciding to trade up and select a quarterback in the 2020 NFL Draft after losing in the NFC Championship without informing him. While Rodgers remained their star quarterback, drafting another quarterback, especially without telling him signaled that his days may be numbered.
This alone would be enough to totally frustrate me, especially when Rodgers has been regarded as one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league for a number of years. However, as a local in Green Bay, WI, I’ve also seen the totally unwarranted criticisms of Rodgers that Packers fans make on a regular basis.
Probably the most insulting one that I’ve heard is that he is old. Even though he is getting older in terms of football players, he is still doing a great job playing. It’s not like he’s hobbling out onto the field with a cane, he’s only in his late thirties. For fans to imply that he is not capable to do his job because of something that he can’t control is so rude and insensitive. He won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award at 37 years old.
Another common criticism of Rodgers that I hear is that he could never follow up to former Packers quarterback Brett Favre. This is just wildly untrue, but most people in Green Bay are deeply traditional and still feel nostalgic towards the days where Favre could barely throw a ball without being intercepted. Not only is Rodgers a generally better football player than Favre, but genuinely seems like a better person as well. To constantly compare Rodgers to his predecessor is not only irrelevant but also misguided.
While these criticisms made by people who are supposed to support and root for you would weigh heavily enough on any person, Rodgers also just got engaged to his girlfriend this year. She lives in California, and if there are already reasons that would make him uncomfortable with returning to Green Bay, it would only make sense for him to permanently move to be with her.
I’m tired of seeing Packers fans criticize his every play and then turn around and complain that he wants to leave. While he did end up playing this season, he signed a deal with the Packers that stated his contract would conclude in 2022 instead of 2023. Inevitably within the next year, he’ll be leaving the team, and I say that as people who have watched him play for a decade, we should respect his decision and let him.
