So, what exactly did Adam Schefter text Aaron Rodgers that made him tell Schefty to ‘lose my number,’ and how DID Dianna Russini come up with the idea that Rodgers had a “wish list” for the Jets to sign?
The two ESPN NFL insiders were both clowned by Rodgers during his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, but Schefter, at least, leaned into it, Tweeting proof that Rodgers did indeed tell him off and offering this explanation along with Russini:
“What happened was the timing of my text to him was encouraged by Dianna right here. Trey Wingo said it was a done deal, so we wanted to know if it was a done deal,” Schefter recalled. “We called the Packers and Jets, and everyone said we have to ask someone else, so I texted him to ask if he told the Jets if he’d told them he wanted to play with them. When he didn’t respond, I called him; he sent it right to voicemail, and that’s when I got the text.”
Here’s Russini’s take on that, plus the wish list controversy, from the same segment:
“I said, ‘why don’t we bring Aaron in on the conversation? Why aren’t we talking to someone who may want a voice in the situation?” Russini said. “It’s all semantics. It is smart business by Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets to be on the same page with what they want. Why wouldn’t the Jets ask Aron Rodgers which players he likes? They were recruiting him! This is a guy who was contemplating retirement, and New York was selling themselves. Smart by them. We saw Tom Brady share with the Bucs some players he’d like to play with as well, but again, a wish list – I have a wish list on my Amazon account. Does it mean I buy every single thing? No, but I would like for them to come true!
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She said “again” about the wish list, because here is what she had said about an hour or so earlier, right after Rodgers tried to nuke the ESPN narcs:
“These were not demands from Aaron Rodgers, and we never reported or presented it that way. It was, ‘these are the players I want to join me in New York, these are the guys I like,’” Russini said. “Randall Cobb is not a player the Jets had on their board as a free agent they wanted to bring in; that’s a player Rodgers likes and wants, right? Allen Lazard is a player the Jets actually wanted to bring in as well, and it happened to work out, and happens to be a player Aaron Rodgers loves. There are more players on that list, and I didn’t report that, but none of this was demands; this is all normal. If you’re recruiting a big-time QB like Aaron Rodgers, you’re going to let him make suggestions of players he wants to be with.”
Russini then finished by joking with Schefter that if she got the same treatment, “Rodgers wouldn’t be the first guy in my life to say ‘lose their number,’” and stood by her reporting about the wish list.
“There’s a big difference between a wish list, and a demand list,” she said. “We’re reporters, and our job is to reach out to everyone involved, and I stand by my reporting that Aaron Rodgers had a list of players he shared with the Jets that he wanted them to look into and see if they fit with their vision.”
True story?
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