Are the Green Bay Packers moving on from Aaron Rodgers? That’s the stone-cold truth according to longtime Packers reporter Bob McGinn.
In Friday’s Go Long TD podcast, McGinn and host Tyler Dunne spent nearly an hour discussing Rodgers and his legacy but they opened the show with the flamethrower turned all the way up – and McGinn wasn’t taking prisoners.
Using his “own instincts,” “knowledge of the NFL,” and “discussions with someone who has first-hand knowledge of this organization,” McGinn says the Packers “are done with Rodgers.”
“He’s not coming back. They’re disgusted with him and they’re done with him and they’re moving on,” McGinn claimed.
Rodgers is embarking upon what he calls a four-day darkness retreat as he decides what’s next for his career after an 8-9 season and a spot on the couch during the playoffs.
“They have turned the page, just like they did to Favre in June and July, those months in the summer of 2008 and I don’t see it changing,” says McGinn. “This is everybody, I’m told. This is [team president Mark Murphy, this is [head coach Matt LaFleur], this is [general manager Brian Gutekunst]. This is the whole shooting match. They’ve turned the page.”
McGinn says the Packers “don’t see Rodgers as the guy who’s really working hard anymore.” The longtime Packers reporter says the organization now sees Rodgers as “a guy who, when he reported this year, his body wasn’t so-called ‘tight’ and strong as it was. They see a guy who blew off the offseason last year.”
Rodgers sat out last season’s OTAs while he mulled a career decision and his agent negotiated a new contract. Dunne said he talked to a Packers receiver who said, “It would have been really nice if Aaron was with us in OTAs.” Dunne made sure to note that the anonymous receiver wasn’t “anti-Aaron” and that they love Rodgers.
McGinn claims the Packers are all-in on Jordan Love, who they drafted in the first round in 2020.
“I’m totally convinced he is not going to be their starting quarterback this year. On the other hand, they love Jordan Love. They think he is the second coming now. They’ve seen enough in practice for three years, that they believe he is Rodgers 2.0. That’s where this organization is coming from right now,” McGinn said.
“Even if Rodgers comes back to collect that $59 million, I think he’s the backup. He could try to ruin the whole operation. But he knows that’s not going to happen and he’s going to accept a trade somewhere,” he continued. “He knows he can’t live with that, with the Packers’ fans and everybody. It’s Love’s turn. The organization’s going that way. And that’s the way it is.”
McGinn and Dunne then talked about Rodgers’ legacy in Green Bay, with McGinn disagreeing with the notion that Rodgers should be a first-ballot hall of famer.
“This narrative that he’s the greatest of all-time is one of the biggest crocks ever perpetrated in the world of sports,” said McGinn, after claiming Rodgers isn’t a top-18 quarterback in the history of the game.
For the record, this isn’t the first time McGinn has been hyper critical of Rodgers. In 2020, McGinn suggested that LaFleur, in his first year coaching the Packers, had “had enough of Rodgers’ act and wanted to change the narrative.” Rodgers won MVP that season and backed it up with another MVP in 2021.
And almost a year to the day McGinn chatted with Dunne and suggested that Rodgers would rather lose a game than throw an interception in a big spot to protect his passer rating.
Is it personal or does McGinn have the inside track to what the Packers are thinking?
