Aaron Rodgers has taken aim at Adam Schefter and other members of the media on numerous occasions, and the ESPN insider says he was simply trying to do his job last week when Rodgers told him off.
Rodgers last Wednesday told “The Pat McAfee Show” that he intends to join the New York Jets if and when they can agree to a trade with the Green Bay Packers. The quarterback also addressed the report from ESPN’s Dianna Russini that Rodgers has given the Jets a wish list of players to pursue in free agency. That report, which was backed by Schefter, clearly angered Rodgers.
Rodgers said both Schefter and Russini reached out to him. He ignored Russini but replied to Schefter by telling the reporter to lose his number. Schefter confirmed that the story was true by sharing a screenshot of the text message he got from Rodgers.
Peter King of NBC Sports asked Schefter for his side of what led to the cold text message from Rodgers. Schefter said he had reached out to Rodgers after Trey Wingo reported that Rodgers to the Jets is “done.” Schefter said he has had Rodgers’ phone number for a while but never used it prior to last week.
“We’re on the air for two hours. I call the Jets, I call the Pack, I call Rodgers’ advisers. No one’s saying anything,” Schefter explained. “So, I’m sitting there on the set with Dianna Russini. ‘Should I text Rodgers?’ She said, ‘Yeah, text him.’ At 3:35, I texted him. I say, basically: ‘Have you informed the Jets that you’d like to play there? I wanted to open it up to you.’ He didn’t respond for maybe 10 minutes. So then I called the number, got sent to voice mail. Then he texts me, ‘Lose my number. Good try tho.’ That’s all.
“He’s the one who says the media’s getting it wrong. I wanted to go to source and get it right. That’s all. I was just trying to do my job.”
Rodgers often criticizes the media for sharing information about him, even when a lot of it turns out to be true. He can’t seem to accept that reporters have a job to do. If he doesn’t when to set the record straight when given an opportunity, he shouldn’t complain. Also, Wingo’s report turned out to be accurate. Russini’s has plenty of merit, too.
More must-reads: