TV hosts, Hall-of-Famers, and even family. Aaron Rodgers may be one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game — but that doesn't mean that everyone has to like him.
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00:00TV hosts, Hall of Famers, and even family. Aaron Rodgers may be one of the greatest
00:05quarterbacks to ever play the game, but that doesn't mean that everyone has to like him.
00:09Rodgers owes much of his football career to the Green Bay Packers,
00:12which drafted him back in 2005. And yet, the future Hall of Famers spent much of 2021
00:17criticizing them. In April of that year, Rodgers made it clear he didn't want to
00:22keep playing for the Packers. That lack of grace spurred Terry Bradshaw to blast Rodgers
00:26during a May appearance on W-Fans' Moose and Maggie show. Bradshaw told the hosts,
00:30"...with him being that upset shows me just how weak he is. Go ahead and retire. See you later."
00:35It wasn't the first time Bradshaw openly criticized Rodgers. In 2021,
00:39when Rodgers was asked if he had received a COVID-19 vaccine, he told reporters that he'd
00:44been immunized. However, he wasn't actually vaccinated and eventually became sick that
00:48November. In the aftermath, Bradshaw proclaimed that Rodgers lied to everyone during an NFL
00:54on Fox appearance.
00:56"...I'm extremely disappointed in the actions of Aaron Rodgers."
01:00Aaron Rodgers has been trading barbs with Jimmy Kimmel for years. It started in 2021,
01:05when the late-night host first criticized Rodgers for trying to conceal his COVID-19
01:09vaccination status. He again roasted the sports pro in 2023 after Rodgers told Pat McAfee that
01:15the media was only talking about UFOs to distract from the release of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged
01:20client list. Kimmel quipped on his show,
01:22"...might be time to revisit that concussion protocol, Aaron."
01:26Things came to a head in January 2024, when Rodgers told McAfee that Kimmel's name would
01:31appear on Epstein's list. Kimmel fired back on X, slamming Rodgers for putting his family in
01:36danger with his reckless words. Kimmel also addressed the controversy on his show, saying,
01:41"...Aaron Rodgers is too arrogant to know how ignorant he is."
01:46The Green Bay Packers have a long rivalry with the Chicago Bears that dates back to the 1920s.
01:50So, when Rodgers celebrated an October 2021 touchdown against the Bears by shouting,
01:55"...I still own you," Bears Hall of Famer Dick Butkus made his displeasure known. He said on
02:00Unfiltered with David Kaplan,
02:02"...if I were on the field during the game, well, I couldn't do it today. I'd probably get arrested.
02:06We'll see who owns who."
02:07Butkus is no stranger to ribbing Rodgers. In August of 2022, he used X to criticize Rodgers'
02:13gameplay, writing,
02:14"...boy, I hope Aaron Rodgers has figured out how to throw passes to himself. Because if not,
02:18Packers games are going to look a whole lot like playing fetch with my dog."
02:22Rob Gronkowski may be one of the greatest tight ends to ever have played in the NFL,
02:26but he's also very humble. So, when Pat McAfee asked Rodgers if he'd consider playing in the
02:31NFL for a 19th season, Gronk was annoyed when the star QB launched into a slew of self-praises,
02:36such as,
02:38"...do I still think I can play? Of course. Can I play at a higher level? Yeah.
02:42The highest. I think I can win MVP again."
02:45During an appearance on Up and Adams the following day, Gronkowski said Rodgers
02:49should have focused on a potential team victory, rather than only talking about himself. He told
02:53the host,
02:54"...bro, like, why are you thinking MVP? Like, don't you want Super Bowls?"
02:58Rodgers joined the New York Jets in 2023. However, he tore his Achilles in his debut
03:03game and missed the rest of the season. Despite his absence, Rodgers reportedly butted heads
03:08with Jets head coach Robert Sala. So, when Sala was abruptly fired in October 2024,
03:13former tight end Shannon Sharp blamed Rodgers. He said on First Take,
03:18"...Aaron Rodgers undercut this man by not coming to mandatory minicamp.
03:21That bad man has become more problems than he's worth."
03:27While Sharp did admit that Rodgers had talent on the field, he told GBP Daily,
03:31"...he's a horrible person. He's a liar. He's arrogant. He's aloof."
03:35Former New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini also took issue with how Rodgers treated Sala.
03:40In July 2024, Sala told reporters his
03:43"...instinct was not to play Rodgers in the preseason following the quarterback's injury."
03:47But rather than respecting that decision, Rodgers said he wasn't aware of Sala's plan.
03:51Mangini saw that as a total lack of respect, telling First Things First,
03:55"...I don't know why he has to go out of his way to embarrass Sala."
04:00Similarly, host Nick Wright took Rodgers to task for repeatedly teasing a comeback in 2023,
04:05which never happened. He fumed,
04:08"...you're now disingenuous about your own comeback,
04:12which you were disingenuous about the entire time!"
04:16In June 2024, Rodgers made headlines yet again when he failed to show up to the New York Jets'
04:21mandatory minicamp. Rodgers reportedly had an event to attend, and was fined tens of thousands
04:26of dollars for missing all three days. One person who was upset about Rodgers' absence
04:30was Super Bowl champion Shawn King, who said on the Go Long podcast,
04:34"...he's become one of the most selfish and self-centered quarterbacks of my generation."
04:41He also criticized Rodgers for not considering the fact that he was leaving his coach and team
04:45in a lurch, saying, "...you don't think these guys need those refs? It's just so selfish of
04:51him because he's known when this date was." Back in 2016, Rodgers' youngest brother, Jordan,
04:57competed on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette. During his time on the show,
05:01Jordan revealed that the NFL star hadn't spoken to him or their parents since 2014.
05:06Aaron didn't deny the accusations, but did say he thought it was inappropriate for Jordan to
05:10air their dirty laundry on live TV. Jump to 2018, and the brothers' relationship had seemingly become
05:16even more hostile. When Aaron tweeted his plans to donate $1 million to help those who were
05:20displaced by the wildfire in Paradise, California, Jordan slammed his brother in a since-deleted
05:25ex-post, writing,
05:26"...when your own mom is home alone during the fires, car-packed,
05:29ready to evacuate, and you miss the fundamental first step of compassion,
05:32calling your parents to make sure they are safe, everything else just feels like an act."