Aaron Rodgers shocked everyone with his press conference this week. The Green Bay Packers quarterback criticized some of the decisions general manager Brian Gutekunst has made during his tenure with the team. Gutekunst spoke to reporters this week and understands Rodgers’ concerns. However, he doesn’t regret any roster decisions he has made over the years.
“I wouldn’t say I have any regrets. Obviously, this is a hard business. This is a tough business,” the general manager said, per NFL.com. “When it comes to an end for any player, I don’t think it usually goes well, I don’t think they usually feel good about it. We are always very sensitive to what those players have given this organization, and when we go through that, it’s always with class and dignity. But again, it’s a hard business.
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“Sometimes, we, the Packers, may take the brunt of what is the NFL business. While those decisions are hard, they have to be made for the team to grow. Keeping players longer than maybe we should, all of a sudden we’re not signing guys we should later down the road. It’s a domino effect, and it’s hard on players. Players should have those feelings. It’s hard, and you play as long as Aaron has, you’re going to see a lot of that.”
Rodgers returned to the Packers on Tuesday after not being with the team all offseason. The plan for Rodgers not to report to training camp and not play for the Packers this year. The Packers and Rodgers were able to get a reworked contract done where the final year of his original deal (2023) is voided. Rodgers was also able to get wide receiver Randall Cobb back who was with the Packers from 2011-2018. One of the agreements Rodgers had with the Packers is trading for Cobb as he was a big part of the Packers’ run in the 2010s.
“We realized this was an important piece for Aaron early on in. We started thinking how could this work? How could we make this work?” Gutekunst explained. “Not only from a football team perspective, salary cap, trade, compensation, all that type of stuff. At the end of the day, there are positives and negatives to everything. Having Randall Cobb in our building is a positive, there’s no doubt about that.”
