Aaron Rodgers is back with the Green Bay Packers as he practiced with the team at training camp on Wednesday. And after practice, Rodgers spoke to the media and talked about his biggest issues with the Packers. Tom Pellisero of the NFL Network asked Rodgers what was “this all about for you?”
“I think it was a lot of things that transpired,” Rodgers said. This wasn’t a draft-day thing. Started the conversation in February after the season ended ,and I just expressed my desire to be more involved in conversations that directly affected my job. Also, I wanted to help the organization maybe learn from some of the mistakes in the past in my opinion, about some of the outgoing veterans were treated and just the fact that we didn’t retain a number of players that I felt like were core players to our foundations, our locker room.”
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My man @TomPelissero with the question to @AaronRodgers12 that gave us the answer we were all waiting for: 4 pages. Read them all. pic.twitter.com/2tpurKDJ1e
โ James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) July 28, 2021
Rodgers went on to name players who moved on from the Packers like Charles Woodson, Jordy Nelson, Bryan Bulaga, Micah Hyde and Randall Cobb, who is reportedly being traded to the Packers. Rodgers then went on to reveal another issue, which was the Packers being committed to him beyond the 2021 season. He also wanted to be more involved in free agency decisions with the team.
“I had to assess the situation,” Rodgers stated. “Not necessarily wanted to be a lame-duck quarterback, especially after an MVP season, as I think you can understand. And then the other part, in February was wanted to be a part of conversations involving free agency which has never happened in my career.”
Rodgers believes because of what he has done in his NFL career, he can recruit free agents to play for the Packers. “I think we can all understand Green Bay isn’t a huge vacation destination,” Rodgers admitted. People are coming here to play with me, play with our team and knowing that they can win a championship here and the fact that I haven’t been used in those discussions is what I wanted to changes moving forward.”
Rodgers then said in March the “conversation changed” and told the team that they can move on from him if he’s not going to be part of the free agency discussions and not be committed to him past 2021. And before agreeing to come back to Green Bay, Rodgers said he was focusing on “my own mental state throughout the summer.”