Packers President Mark Murphy Acknowledges Aaron Rodgers Beef has Divided Fanbase
When June 2 came and went without Aaron Rodgers getting dealt out of Green Bay, many Denver Broncos fans were disappointed. All eyes had been set to that post-June 1 mile-marker as the Packers would have to eat significantly less dead money if the team traded Rodgers.
Green Bay, however, has stuck to its guns on the Rodgers front. From GM Brian Gutekunst to head coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers' message has been unified on the 'we're not trading Aaron' front.
Team president Mark Murphy recently put figurative pen to paper in his weekly column on the Packers website and acknowledged that the Rodgers rift has divided Green Bay's fanbase.
The situation we face with Aaron Rodgers has divided our fan base. The emails and letters that I've received reflect this fact. As I wrote here last month, we remain committed to resolving things with Aaron and want him to be our quarterback in 2021 and beyond. We are working to resolve the situation and realize that the less both sides say publicly, the better.
Meanwhile, Rodgers didn't get the memo on the less-is-more front. Just a week ago, the NFL's reigning MVP appeared on Kenny Mayne's last hurrah on SportsCenter where he pointed to a corroded culture and compromised team philosophy as the true source of his disillusion — not Jordan Love, the QB the Packers abruptly drafted in Round 1 last year.
"I love Jordan; he's a great kid [and we've had] a lot of fun to work together," Rodgers said last week. "Love the coaching staff, love my teammates, love the fan base in Green Bay. An incredible 16 years. It's just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It's about character, it's about culture, it's about doing things the right way."
Whether this gets Rodgers any closer to leaving Green Bay is anyone's guess. The Packers have tried to ameliorate Rodgers' hurt feelings by reportedly making a substantial contractual offer to him but whatever it was, it didn't move the needle.
If Rodgers sticks to his guns and follows through on his ultimatum of not playing in 2021 if the Packers don't trade him, it won't be as if Green Bay will be bereft of options at QB. Love was a first-rounder and the time might soon come for him to endure his NFL baptism-by-fire.
As for the Broncos, the team continues to move forward with Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater battling it out in OTAs. Next week will kick-off mandatory mini-camp, at which point the Broncos will hold 11-on-11 team drills for the first time.
Perhaps then fans will start to see how the Lock-Bridgewater competition is shaping up. When it comes to Rodgers, Broncos Country, the message remains: hurry up and wait.
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