Tiki Barber: Aaron Rodgers Will Struggle Under New York Media Scrutiny

Aaron Rodgers faces an uncertain future with the Packers. As the possibility of retirement or a potential trade looms for the 39-year-old, one New York great shared a brutally honest opinion on how the quarterback would fare amid big-market media coverage.

The Jets have been rumored to have interest in the four-time NFL MVP. But former Giants running back Tiki Barber didn’t hold back when stating he doesn’t think Rodgers would be able to handle the scrutiny he’d receive from the media in New York.

During a Wednesday segment of WFAN’s Tiki and Tierney, Barber expressed doubts that Rodgers could navigate the intense media pressure should he be traded to the Jets, alluding to comments Rodgers made about ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Tuesday during his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.

“If he is that sensitive that he gets upset that people, reporters, opinion-makers, influencers, whoever, want to talk about him, he is going to struggle in New York. And I don’t know if it’s the right fit for him,” Barber said. “I don’t know if I want him in New York if this is going to be his reaction to things that don’t matter.”

“If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t want people talking about him, talking about his offseason, talking about his personal life, talking about all these things that are going on with Aaron Rodgers, he needs to stop talking.”

If anyone would know about the intensity of New York’s media coverage, it’s Barber. The former NFL running back spent his entire 10-year playing career with the Giants from 1997-2006. 

With the Jets seem to be at the forefront of the trade market for Rodgers if he opts to extend his playing career outside of Green Bay, Barber got brutally honest on how he envisions the Packers QB handling the change of scenery.

Rodgers’s plan to experience a four-day darkness retreat also piqued Barber’s interest.

“When you go, and you do something that feels odd to normal society—which is going to sit in a cabin in the woods for four days in complete sensory isolation, [the media is] gonna talk about it,” Barber said. “You have to. It’s our job to. And for him to get offended by that, he’s not going to handle the intensity of the New York mediascape—that’s obviously traditional media, social and everything else—if he’s here.”