There are few former Green Bay Packers players more beloved by fans, especially in Wisconsin, than LeRoy Butler. Both a Packers and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Butler remains in touch with the fanbase and community through his own podcast and community events. Having been a teammate of Brett Favre and a media personality during the transition to Aaron Rodgers, Butler has unique insight into the situation. In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, the Packers legend brutally slammed Rodgers and the New York Jets and made a less-than-favorable prediction for their season.
During his interview with TMZ, Butler did not hold anything back concerning his disappointment in the way Rodgers has handled this offseason and how low he thinks of the New York Jets’ Super Bowl chances. “Y’all ain’t going to no Super Bowl,” he said of the Jets, even after they acquire Rodgers. In fact, he doesn’t think the Jets will win more than eight games in 2023. Why? Because Rodgers is Rodgers:
“I don’t know if Aaron Rodgers is going to be there the whole offseason to gel with the top Rookie of the Year wide receiver [Garrett Wilson]. I don’t know if he’s going to be there to go to the clubs with Breece Hall. I don’t know. And then, you have to waffle again if he wants to play for 2024.”
To be clear: Butler still thinks that Rodgers is a good quarterback. In his interview, he talked about how Rodgers could be blindfolded and still hit a mosquito with a football. However, he does not think he is going to put in the effort to gel with his new team. It’s a fair concern. Rodgers was non-committal to any preseason workouts with the Jets even when asked about it by Pat McAfee.
As for the Packers, Butler predicts that they will win nine or ten games in Jordan Love’s first year as a starter. This would not only be an improvement over last season, but also surpass Green Bay’s win total in Rodgers’ first year as a starter (the Packers went 6-10 that year).
LeRoy Butler played his entire Hall of Fame career with the Green Bay Packers. In order to do so, he took a pay cut three times. Why would he do that? His answer is simple: the fans. Butler posted the following on Twitter:
While Rodgers has agreed to contract restructures before, he has never taken a pay cut to help the team get better. Instead, he was always among the highest paid players in the NFL. This isn’t to say that he didn’t deserve to be; his play for the past 15 years has been among the best in the history of the game. However, this is how players like Butler are different than players like Rodgers. While Rodgers just says he loves the organization and the fans, Butler actually did something to prove it.
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