"Not true" - Packers GM Brian Gutekunst fires back at Aaron Rodgers' comments on trying to shop QB
It is no secret that longtime Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is heavily speculated to be joining the New York Jets in what could possibly be one of the biggest trades of the upcoming 2023 season.
However, the Packers' front office is putting in the work to make sure it does not emerge from the move with a smear on its image.
Speaking to a field of reporters today (Eastern Time) at the NFL Owners Meeting, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst responded to rumors that he had been shopping the faces of the team around the league. His response was blunt:
"I didn't really take his comments like that. And it's certainly not true. I mean, I think you so as we got out of the offseason, or after the season, and we had a good conversation, and then we're gonna have some follow up conversations, and our inability to reach him or for him to respond in any way. I think at that point, then we just kind of had to, we had to, I had to do my job and kind of reach out and understanding that a trade could be possible, and see who was interested, but that shopping was never really part of that."
When asked further about when the organization realized it had to move on from Rodgers, Gutekunst elaborated:
"Coming out of [the 2022] season we had a lot of conversations ...with the rest of the team, the coaches and everybody. And you go through that process, you kind of get an idea of where you're gonna move to as a team, how you're gonna go forward.
"I think I was really looking forward to the conversations with Aaron to see how he fit into that. Those never transpired. There came a time when we had to make some decisions. So we went through his representatives to kind of talk about where we were going with our team, and at that point, they informed us he would like to be traded to the Jets.
Brian Gutekunst said he tried to contact Aaron Rodgers “many times” this offseason to discuss how he fit in the Packers’ future.
“Our inability to reach him or for him to respond in any way — I think at that point … I had to do my job.”
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Where and when did Aaron Rodgers say he wanted to be traded to the New York Jets?
Rodgers revealed his desire to be traded to the New York Jets on The Pat McAfee Show last week. He announced:
“At this point, I made it clear that my intention was to play and play for the New York Jets. I still have that fire and want to play. It’s just a matter of getting that done at this point.”
When further asked by McAfee about when he realized he had to leave, Rodgers said that he felt something was off as 2022 rolled on:
“That just wasn’t the sentiment that I felt throughout the season,” Rodgers said. “Especially even toward the end of the season, it felt like everybody was ready to move on. I was interested by what the conversations would be in the week after the season, but it was pretty obvious they weren’t standing on the table [to keep him but] they weren’t doing the opposite, though. It was kind of in the middle.”
He realized that the Packers were going in a different direction at quarterback:
“When I came out, I was really interested in what the landscape was, where Green Bay was at and, obviously, if I wanted to play, what were the options?
“Everything I was told during the week I was in Green Bay [after the season] was take as long as you want and we want you to retire a Packer. You want to come back and play, obviously the door is wide open. So, that was the information I was going on. Now, when I came out of the darkness, something changed. I’m not exactly sure what that was but something changed.
“It was clear to me at that point that, although the Packers were going to say the right thing publicly, that they were ready to move on.”
Rodgers admitted that even before his four-day darkness retreat last month, he was "90 percent" considering retiring.