Former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has had a tough go of things after departing Green Bay three years ago.
After both he and Russell Wilson watched what Tom Brady did after Brady departed New England and won a championship in Tampa in his first season, both players seemed to believe that they were good enough to follow suit. They appeared to feel a change of scenery, and taking their talents elsewhere, would yield similar results.
So far, that hasn’t been the case, and unlike Wilson, Rodgers is someone that no one seems to be excited about bringing in.
Recent rumors seemed to have Rodgers potentially on Minnesota’s radar, although Pittsburgh reportedly has interest but the clock is ticking as Mike Tomlin doesn’t appear ready to allow Rodgers to string him along.
Playing in Minnesota is probably something Rodgers would have preferred, with the Vikings obviously playing indoors along with the incredibly talented group of players they have on offense. Still, head coach Kevin O’Connell likely has some reservations on the impact Rodgers would have on the culture of his locker room.
That has Rodgers seemingly with limited options, and former Patriots wideout Julian Edelman said during a recent segment with Colin Cowherd that he believes a previous teammate has likely impacted the type of antics we’ve seen from Rodgers in recent years.
“Let’s rewind back when Aaron Rodgers was a young, spry, quarterback. There was a quarterback in his room that was playing the antics that Aaron Rodgers is literally playing now,” said Edelman. “Aaron picked up a lot of the habits of Brett Favre. Let’s not joke around about it. He’s doing the same things that Brett Favre did at the end of his career. That doesn’t happen by accident.”
“You have a young quarterback in JJ McCarthy, with the Vikings, with a quarterback genius coach in Kevin O’Connell. You just want to throw in Aaron Rodgers, who week eight last year on was great because he started to get that chemistry that he doesn’t get in the offseason because he doesn’t do the offseason, but he started to get that.”
“But you’re also getting all the other noise that you’re going to have with Aaron Rodgers, which is a lot of distraction. And do you really want to go into this locker room, Minnesota, that went to the NFC Championship or went to the divisional round last year and really put something in there that could mess with the Feng Shui of what that locker room is?”
Cowherd added that Rodgers isn’t really a “culture” guy, which obviously limits his options. However, he also believes if anyone can make it work, it’s Tomlin.
“People have said about Aaron, like Pittsburgh fans are saying, ‘Well, he doesn’t fit our culture.’ And my take is he’s not really a football culture guy,” said Cowherd. “Years ago in 2020, a story came out where Green Bay told Aaron, ‘Don’t be the problem.’ Since that article, this would be his third team in four or five years.”
“I think Aaron has sent a very clear message. ‘I am unapologetically independent. I am what I am. If you sign me, I’m going to want a couple of buddies on the team. I’m okay with you as long as you don’t fool me.’ Like, Gronk’s, ‘I’ll go to Tampa because I like the warm weather and I don’t like the cold weather.’ So he told everybody, ‘Cold weather teams, not interested.’ So to me, you have to have a strong culture or Aaron can hijack it, like the Jets. Like, I think he could go right now to a Detroit or to a San Francisco. But for instance, there were a couple of signings the Patriots made, Albert Hainsworth, Randy Moss. I don’t think Aaron fits a lot of cultures.”
Edelman’s point when it comes to Favre is interesting. The fact Rodgers has essentially followed a similar path by landing with the Jets and seemingly hoping for a shot in Minnesota is a little uncanny. Favre also seemed to have a similar ego, especially considering how he conducted himself. However, all things considered, Rodgers seems to have stepped things up a notch, even compared to Favre.
Although, Rodgers hasn’t followed in Favre’s footsteps in terms of his former teammate allegedly sending inappropriate texts to reporters, so at least there’s that.
For now, the question will be which team will ultimately take a chance on the embattled quarterback. Edelman feels that given Pittsburgh’s history of troubled players, including Edelman’s former teammate, Antonio Brown, Tomlin can handle them. Especially since, as Edelman pointed out, those guys really didn’t become an issue until they left Pittsburgh.
“I agree, but I do think he fits the Steelers culture because I believe in Mike Tomlin and the professional that he is as a head coach and how he communicates with players, that he can make it work with Aaron Rodgers,” said Edelman. “Like, We didn’t hear anything about Antonio Brown until he left the Steelers. That is a magic power by Mike Tomlin, who kept all that noise in the building.”
“So if there’s any place for Aaron Rodgers to probably be okay with how he handles football, I think Mike Tomlin would be a great guy for that.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
Tomlin DID NOT keep the noise down!
Browns antics were heard outside the locker room for 2 yrs!
The national media does NOT pay attention to Tomlin at all.
They just say the usual B S…
Tomlin is despised here more than you think.
Hes a loser who cannot draft…
He lost control of this team in 2011
Your and Edelmans opinions don’t amount to a hill of beans.