Throughout the offseason, no NFL storyline has dominated conversations more than the situation surrounding Aaron Rodgers.

With Rodgers unhappy with the way Green Bay treats players, many were surprised when Rodgers opted to return to the team last week.

But that apparently doesn’t mean Rodgers is happy about it, as he absolutely destroyed the Packers’ front office in his first press conference after his holdout.

Throughout his holdout, Aaron Rodgers rarely, if ever, spoke publicly about the issues he has with Green Bay’s front office, choosing instead to pull the classy move of refusing to air out personal grievances with his team.

However, while he didn’t rush to the media to try to win the PR battle by putting others down, Rodgers did make the reasons for his frustrations and displeasure with the Packers abundantly clear.

As a three-time league MVP, Super Bowl champion, and all-time great quarterback who’s nearing the end of the “prime” of his career, Rogers wanted to do more to help his team so he could one day retire knowing he did everything he could to win another Super Bowl in Green Bay.

He requested to merely be a part of the discussions the team has when deciding which free agents to sign, what players to trade for, and which current players they would be parting ways with.

Of course, Rodgers wouldn’t have been the first all-time great to be offered that level of involvement in personnel decisions, and would make total sense for a team like Green Bay, who’s only draw for free agents and other prospective talent is the chance to play with Aaron Rodgers.

But the Packers front office refused, shunning Rodgers in the middle of last season, the same season in which Rodgers won yet another MVP award.

On top of that, after Rodgers was crowned MVP in 2020, the Packers refused to extend his contract, which was set to expire after the 2021 season, and flat out refused to have any discussions with him about his future beyond this season.

With his team telling him that they didn’t value any of his input or opinions, and that they didn’t even want to talk to him about the future immediately following a MVP season, Rodgers was left feeling rather displeased, as any of us would.

And even though Rodgers ultimately made the decision to come back to Green Bay for the final year of his contract to play with his guys one more time, Rodgers’ level of displeasure with the Packers’ front office hasn’t subsided.

During his first post-holdout press conference, Rodgers opened up for the media, and was as brutally honest and transparent as any athlete has been in recent memory as he absolutely destroyed the Packer’s front office.

Rodgers started off the press conference by fully admitting that he seriously considered retiring from football rather than playing for the Packers again, but ultimately decided, “”I know I can still play, and I want to still play.”

He also went into more detail about the reasons behind his holdout, saying he was bothered by the fact that the Packers’ front office disrespected “high character” veteran playmakers with lowball offers or no offers at all the stay with the team.

“I wanted to help the organization maybe learn from some of the mistakes in the past,” Rodgers said. “In my opinion, the way 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 foundation, our locker room . . . Guys who were exceptional players for us, but great locker room guys, high character guys. Many of them who weren’t offered a contract at all or were extremely lowballed or were maybe, in my opinion, not given the respect on the way out that guys of their status and stature and high character deserve.”

From there, Rodgers talked about the fact that he wanted to be able to give his input on other personnel decisions, like who the team is targeting in free agency, for the first time in his career, and offer his services as a recruiter.

“You know, I’ve trained with a number of NFL guys most of my career in the offseasons, my agency has worked with a number of high draft picks over the years,” Rodgers continued. “I’ve tried to pass along information. It hasn’t really been used, shall we say. So I wanted to offer up my services as a recruiter.”

Rodgers then went on to say exactly what everyone who isn’t a Packers fan has always known — no free agents want to play in Green Bay for any reason other than the chance to play with Aaron Rodgers.

“I think we can all understand that Green Bay isn’t a huge vacation destination. People are coming here to play with me, to 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 was one I wanted to change moving forward. And I felt like based on my years, the way I can still play, that should be a natural part of the conversation.”

He also went on to admit that not being allowed to take part in helping recruit free agents was ultimately the straw that broke the camel’s back and ultimately caused all of the drama of the past few months.

According to Rodgers, at that point, the Packers had refused to talk to him about the future beyond 2021, and had told him they didn’t want him involved in helping them build the team for the future.

So, as anyone else in that position would have felt, Rodgers began to feel as though the Packers had no interest in him beyond this season, so he felt like they should just go ahead and move on without him, if that’s how they truly felt.

“As that progressed from that point, nothing really changed on that front. So we got into March, and the conversation changed, as I felt like if you can’t commit to me past 2021 and I’m not a part of the recruiting process in free agency, if I’m not a part of the future, then instead of letting me be a lame duck quarterback, if you want to make a change and move forward, then go ahead and do it. That obviously didn’t happen.”

At the end of the day, no matter how you feel about Aaron Rodgers, his decision to holdout, or any of his comments during his press conference, there is one thing everyone has to be able to agree on because, well, it’s the truth – Aaron Rodgers is right.

He’s one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation, and he’s going to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame the first year he’s eligible after his retirement.

When you have a guy like that in the fold, there’s simply no logical reason that you would then make any plans for any future that didn’t involve him.

Making the decision over a year in advance that you’re going to part ways with Aaron Rodgers, of all quarterbacks, in favor of a rookie Jordan Love who’s barely ever got off the bench thus far in his career is about as stupid of a decision as can be made.

If you’re the Packers, Aaron Rodgers is your quarterback until he decides to retire, or he’s proven over the course of an entire season – maybe two – that he’s no longer capable of playing football. Period.

You simply do not make the decision to part ways with him the next year after he just won his third league MVP and was literally the only bright spot on your entire roster.

Furthermore, when that type of player comes to you and says he wants to help you recruit other players to come to Green Bay to help win a Super Bowl, you don’t do anything other than let him.

No NFL free agents are beating down the door to move to Green Bay – they only go there to play with Aaron Rodgers.

And when you have a player who’s so good that he’s making guys actually want to move to Green Bay, you can’t just put him in a closet and only allow him to come out on Sundays to play.

You let him help the team any way he can, whenever he wants, and the only question you ask him is, “What can we do to help?”

Ultimately, the Packers better really savor this season, and pray to God that Aaron Rodgers can win you a Super Bowl.

Because after this season, it’s all over, and the thought of winning a Super Bowl will seem like nothing but a distant memory of days gone by.

And the Packers have no one to blame but themselves.

Sports with Balls will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.

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