There’s probably nothing that excites Aaron Rodgers more right now than the thought of winning another Super Bowl with a new team while his former team toils in disarray.
You know, the Tom Brady special.
Rodgers seems destined for a breakup with the Green Bay Packers, which is what the reigning NFL MVP apparently wants more than anything right now. He’s going out of his way to force that exit, and it sure feels like this whole thing will get uglier before it reaches its ultimate resolution.
With every day that passes, it seems like that resolution is a messy divorce.
The root of Rodgers’ problems with the Pack depends on who you ask. The contract is always a consideration. The team trading up to draft his replacement, Jordan Love, in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft probably didn’t help. But it’s the combination of those things and everything else that comes with building a championship contender that really seems to irk Rodgers.
The three-time MVP reportedly has had it up to here with the Green Bay front office, which admittedly has — at times — failed to properly build around Rodgers. It’s not dissimilar to what Brady went through at the end of his legendary run with the New England Patriots.
Eventually, the Brady-Patriots thing ran its course, and both sides — spearheaded by Brady — decided to go their separate ways. The situations, while not identical, certainly have parallels.
“It’s also a given that Rodgers has been monitoring Tom Brady’s extraordinary first season in Tampa Bay and how Buccaneers management has involved him, if not catered to him, regarding personnel and other decisions,” longtime Packers insider Bob McGinn wrote Wednesday for The Athletic.
The situation in Green Bay feels far less salvageable than anything Brady experienced near his end in Foxboro. McGinn also reported Rodgers has resorted to mocking general manager Brian Gutekunst in text messages with teammates. Other reports indicate Rodgers won’t return if Gutekunst still occupies the GM chair, although some close to Rodgers have pushed back on that notion.
Even so, it’s probably not a complete coincidence — as McGinn noted — that this is coming months after Brady led the Bucs to a Super Bowl win. That championship was the culmination of a wildly successful Year 1 in Florida among Brady, general manager Jason Licht, head coach Bruce Arians and everyone else making Tampa Bay tick.
Perhaps Brady’s impact and say in personnel decisions was overstated, but we were having similar conversations about him wanting more input with the Patriots before that ultimately ended.
“Tom gets to become a little bit like Peyton Manning,” former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi said last March on his podcast after Brady signed with Tampa Bay. “He gets to be able to go down to Tampa, he gets to run his offense. There’s just no chance — no chance — Byron Leftwich is telling Tom Brady what he is going to run, all right? There’s just no chance of that. Nor is Bruce Arians.
“(Licht) has just hired an assistant general manager. And his name is Tom Brady. And they are going to do everything in their power to make Brady happy.”
That idea must be music to Rodgers’ ears at this point, as he imagines getting his own Tim “The Toolman” Taylor situation in Denver or Las Vegas.
From the outside, though, it feels like Lombardi’s predictions were slightly overstated. Licht even downplayed the impact Brady would and ultimately did have on the team-building process. But you’re also crazy if you think Brady wasn’t being consulted on big-name offensive decisions.
After all, how did Brady’s BFF Antonio Brown end up in Tampa Bay after Arians adamantly said it wouldn’t happen?
One might argue Rodgers hasn’t earned the cachet enjoyed by Brady at this point in his career. Rodgers has just one Super Bowl ring on his fingers despite a handful of close calls. But no one can match Brady’s long-term success.
Where Rodgers does match up with Brady is Hall of Fame talent at the most important position in sports. In the end, that might be just enough to get what he wants and a chance to follow in Brady’s footsteps.
