(Audacy Sports/WGR 550) - Though the money quote came minutes earlier (“Since Friday my intention was to play for the New York Jets”), Aaron Rodgers - in his much-anticipated appearance Wednesday on "The Pat McAfee Show" - had plenty to say about ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter.
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Rodgers refuted Schefter's reports of his apparent list of “demands,” pressuring the New York Jets to sign a number of his former teammates. This included wide receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, as well as tight end Marcedes Lewis.
“It’s so ridiculous. Just ask Schefter what I texted him when he somehow got my number and texted me," said Rodgers during his appearance with Pat McAfee on Wednesday. "I didn’t respond to Dianna Russini, but I would say the same thing that I told 'Schefty': ‘Lose my number.’”
Rodgers continued his recent crusade against league insiders and their supposed “sources.”
“It’s like I had a sheet of paper when I met with the Jets and said, ‘Sign these people.’ That’s not the reality,” he said.
Rodgers has been critical of Schefter before, blasting him for misreporting details of his recent “darkness” retreat.
“There’s an inner circle, and in my inner circle, nobody talks to [NFL Network’s] Ian Rapoport or Adam Schefter,” said Rodgers at the time. “I have no problem with Ian Rapoport, Schefter, I think they’re really good at their jobs. When it comes to me, they don’t know s---. They really don’t.”
Schefter responded on Twitter, posting a screengrab of their last text exchange, confirming Rodgers did indeed tell him to lose his number.
After weeks of keeping us in the dark (no pun intended), Rodgers finally gave us the headline we were all waiting for, though, in absorbing the news of his departure from Green Bay. Many tuning into McAfee’s live stream — which exceeded half-a-million viewers — were more focused on his sweatshirt, amused by what appeared to be a food stain on his right chest.
There’s still work to be done, in terms of trade compensation, though all signs point to Rodgers following the same arc as his Green Bay Packers predecessor Brett Favre, who also defected to the Jets late in his career.
With no assurance Rodgers will play beyond 2023, the Jets are taking a calculated risk in staking their future to a 39-year-old coming off a career-worst season.
Still, amid the sport’s longest active playoff drought (12 years), the Jets needed to swing for the fences, if only to appease their long-suffering fanbase - one that hasn’t experienced competent quarterback play in far too long.
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