Content available exclusively for subscribers
Please subscribe now to unlock this article!
The saga continues . . .
Why was Aaron Rodgers ghosting Green Bay Packers GM Brian Gutekunst this off-season prior to the quarterback’s trade to the Jets?
“Did Brian text me more than I texted him? Yeah, but did I ghost him? No,” Rodgers told The Athletic. “I texted him back. There was back-and-forths that we had, and so this is the story you wanna go with? You’re gonna stand on this hill of austerity and say that arguably in the conversation of the best player in your franchise history, you’re gonna say I couldn’t get a hold of him and that’s why we had to move on?
“Like, c’mon man. Just tell the truth, you wanted to move on. You didn’t like the fact that we didn’t communicate all the time. Like, listen, I talk to the people that I like.”
So this kind of squelched that story that the problem was bad cell phone reception in Malibu, where Rodgers lives.
The bad blood between Gutekunst and Rodgers goes back to the Packers’ decision to pick Utah State QB Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 draft.
Notice I wrote “Packers’ decision.” The thing that isn’t talked about enough in this war of words between Rodgers and Gutekunst is that Gutekunst has a boss, and his name is Mark Murphy, the Packers President, a former NFL player.
People around the league know that no big decision is made in Green Bay without Murphy’s approval.
So this idea that Gutekunst is the bogeyman man here, is a little misleading.
Do you really think that Gutekunst drafted Love without Murphy being on board with it?
Do you really think that Gutekunst traded Rodgers without Murphy being on board with it?
Anybody who truly understands the construct of the Packers knows that Murphy calls the shots.
Not saying that Murphy is telling Gutekunst who to pick in the fourth round of the draft. It’s not like that. But any big decisions in the building need to be rubberstamped by Murphy. He is the defacto owner of the Packers, who aren’t owned by an individual or family, but by a public trust. So when you are the Packers President, it’s like being the Packers owner.
Rodgers is a very smart guy. He has to know about Murphy’s enormous power.
It’s clearly time for Rodgers to move on emotionally from the Packers. Perhaps this story in the Athletic will put a capstone on the back-and-forth between the QB and his former team.
Perhaps he just wanted to set the record straight, from his perspective, but it was behind a paywall, so only dribs and drabs leaked out.
But when it comes to these kinds of exclusives, only certain people, who played the game a certain way, are going to get them.
But it would be nice if somebody had the guts to bring up Murphy in all the reporting about the demise of Rodgers’ relationship with the Packers’ organization.
Any league observer, worth his bones, knows he’s the chief decision-maker in Green Bay.
Gutekunst is a foot soldier.
June 1, 2023
Premium will return by 9:30 pm or sooner on Friday.
