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‘Aaron Rodgers Trade to Patriots’ Reporter Calls Bill Belichick ‘Satan’

“Those snakes in the grass in New England can never be trusted,” Craig Carton says. "I want to thank my man Aaron Rodgers for recognizing you don’t go play for Satan.”
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Aaron Rodgers chose to be traded to the New York Jets, his circle responding to the New England Patriots’ attempt to lure the four-time MVP by saying, “No, we ain’t playing for New England!”?

According to FS1's Craig Carton, that’s how it went down - and the idea that coach Bill Belichick gave it a try makes for a heck of a story.

But does it necessarily make the story true?

On Wednesday's "The Carton Show," the host reported that the Patriots made a run at Rodgers.

The New England Patriots made an offer to the Green Bay Packers to get Aaron Rodgers," Carton said Wednesday. "And when Aaron Rodgers heard it, his agent said no, we ain't playing for New England, we want to be a Jet."

The “wanna be a Jet” part is inarguable … because that’s what happened. Rodgers donning a Patriots jersey to try to pick up where Tom Brady left off? Mac Jones maybe dealt to the Jets in the swap? Jones - who sort of admits he needs to upgrade his attitude - now continuing under the mentorship of a boss in Belichick who tried to dump him?

And in the competitive AFC East, the Belichick/Rodgers combo vaulting the Pats from (a projection of) worst to first?

A trio of problems, though. …

1 -  The last time we all checked in with Rodgers on Belichick, the then-Packers star said (in September of last year) that  Belichick is a “living legend” and the “greatest coach ever.”

Weird then that Rodgers would so passionately and forcefully decline the chance to work with the “greatest coach ever.”

2 - We’ve been given no confirmation on Carton’s scoop, and it’s odd that there hasn’t been a flood (or even a trickle) of media confirmation of this gigantic story.

3 - And then there’s this … the most troubling part of the report … 

“Those snakes in the grass in New England can never be trusted,” Carton said as part of his report. "I want to thank my man Aaron Rodgers for recognizing you don’t go play for Satan.”

“Snakes”? “Satan”? The report may have some validity. But the reporter - Carton is known more for “muckraking” than for “news-breaking” - damages himself and his story with such hateful rhetoric.

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