The Green Bay Packers have two games remaining in their season to try to sneak into the NFL playoffs as a wildcard and make a possible, implausible run at the Lombardi Trophy.
Jordan Love has established himself as the team’s potential franchise quarterback and is performing on par with some of the NFL’s finest signal callers.
Meanwhile, Love’s predecessor, despite only playing four snaps for the Jets in 2023 due to a torn Achilles sustained in the season opener, continues to create headlines.
The latest controversy involving Rodgers arose last week, when the organization opted to move their injured quarterback to the active roster, resulting in the release of a longstanding veteran fullback to create way for the deal.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Rodgers took a lot of flak despite the fact that he won’t be playing for the team this season and the move was made primarily to let him to continue getting practice repetitions as he prepares to return as the Jets’ franchise quarterback in 2024.
Aaron Rodgers, former Green Bay Packers quarterback, responds to his detractors.
As with so many situations in the NFL, fans — and even members of the media and former players — don’t necessarily have the complete picture before launching into a rant about a controversial decision.
Rodgers, as ESPN writer Rich Cimini pointed out in a recent column on the topic, lobbied to go on IR and had no say in the decision.
Aaron Rodgers, irritated that “conspiracy theorists” are portraying him as selfish for taking up a roster slot even though he isn’t playing, claimed Tuesday that being activated from injured reserve wasn’t his idea.
In his weekly interview on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers stated that the Jets wanted him on the 53-man roster so he could continue exercising with the team despite being ruled out due to his surgically repaired Achilles. Rodgers stated that he would have been fine to sit out the rest of the season.By bringing him back, the Jets had to let go of another player, veteran fullback Nick Bawden, who eventually rejoined the team on the practice squad.
The former Packers standout says he was as astonished as everyone else when he was promoted to the active roster.
“I assumed I was going to go on IR,” Rodgers remarked after announcing his retirement on December 19th. “I requested to be placed on IR, but then there was a discussion, ‘Do you want to practice?'” I said not at the risk of someone losing their job. I understand how this works.
“I didn’t feel like I needed to practice to keep my rehab going.” I could do on-field stuff on the side, but I was obviously overridden there. That’s all there is to it. This was a unique situation.”
Rodgers’ 21-day practice period ended on December 20. At that point, the Jets had to decide whether to keep him on injured reserve (no practice) or activate him to the active roster. They took an unusual approach, adding him to the roster while admitting he had no chance of playing in a game.
“I called Nick right away,” said Rodgers. “I just said, ‘Hey, I hope you know this isn’t coming from me,'” she explained. ‘I requested that I be placed on IR.’ ‘Hey, look, I’m vested,’ he said. I’m going to grab my money. ‘I’m alright,’ she says.
Because he was on the opening-day roster, Bawden’s $1.1 million compensation is guaranteed as a vested veteran. He was signed to the practice squad after clearing waivers and then upgraded for last Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders despite missing the game due to a knee injury – another rare move. On Monday, he was demoted to the practice squad.
Bawden basically bounced the transaction wire around so Rodgers could practice. In the end, it was cornerback Kalon Barnes who was let go from the 16-man practice squad to make way for Bawden.
The veteran fullback lauded the former Green Bay Packers standout for his professionalism in handling a circumstance beyond his control.
“Everyone says it’s a business, and he did call me,” Bawden said to ESPN. “It wasn’t surprising because Aaron is that type of guy.” I see him every day, and he exudes love and the qualities of a wonderful leader. So that didn’t surprise me, and we think we had a pretty excellent chat just hearing what he had to say.”
Rodgers’ account of what happened is confirmed by Jets coach Robert Saleh.
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