Aaron Rodgers: Enigma (2024) s01e03 Episode Script
Reckoning
- It's amazing how fast it goes by.
- Yeah, isn't it?
Then, now you're at that age
- What is this, coming up, year 14?
- 14.
- 14!
- Yeah.
Wow.
Our relationship I thought was good.
In spite of what people might say. And
I think it surprises some people that
when I said that about, you know, uh,
they don't pay me to mentor,
or however it was said,
I wasn't saying, "Screw him."
But I think a lot of people
- Thought that.
- took it that way.
"How dare he not help that kid along."
Sure, I would help.
If you asked a question and I can answer.
But I do remember, like,
it wasn't like you asked a question
about every single thing,
which, I think my chest would've poked out
a little, like, "Yeah, he really wants"
But you would sit and watch film.
And I don't remember ever saying,
"No, I don't want you in there
watching film with me."
"I'll let you know
when you can watch film."
I don't think I was ever that way, was I?
No, you weren't.
I have said that in my own mind, I would
I'm like, "I want to
hang out outside the facility."
I would drop hints all the time,
"If you ever need anybody
to scare out some deer
when you're hunting, let me know.
I'm not doing anything."
What?
I had you come over to the house.
We did play golf together,
but you were better than me.
- So I didn't want
- You were one-hand chipping.
That's 'cause I wasn't good
two-handed chipping.
Uh, you know,
my first thought when they drafted you is,
"It's about time that
they look for a replacement."
It happens to everyone,
whether its first-round pick
or a big free-agent pickup or something.
So, I mean, I was never like,
"That damn hotshot"
Um, that had nothing to do with it.
You just happened to be
the guy who's in that position.
As I look back, no one could throw it
like me until you came along.
And that was kind of like, "Damn!"
You know, I
I can make any throw.
I can throw it further than anyone.
And I was hoping that I'd go out that way.
Joe Montana
and Steve Young did it.
No one else has
ever done it but you and I.
To replace one guy,
and the replacement is as good,
if not better.
It's unmatched.
You're at the point where I was.
I don't know if they have
the answer yet that we had in you.
It was important to move forward
past a lot of that stuff, you know?
With time, it gives a perspective to
look at things a little bit differently,
take the ego out of it,
be empathetic,
go into the other person's experience.
And then, you know, I obviously got to go
into that experience firsthand in 2020,
and
and, uh
feel a little bit what that felt like.
That, of course,
is Las Vegas, Nevada,
where the draft was supposed to be held.
But things have changed dramatically.
Like millions of fans,
team personnel and prospects,
I join you from my home
for the first virtual NFL draft.
It was
definitely an interesting time.
Didn't know how bad it was going to get,
but I knew we were in for some shit,
and just had to hunker down.
The NFL sent all 58 players
involved in the draft
a camera to try to capture
those reaction shots on the couch,
when the big moment happens.
We're talking about
a wide receiver draft class
where there can be upwards of 15 to 20
that potentially have a first-round grade.
I think we had like the 30th pick.
I was on the McAfee Draftcast.
That beard, is that
something that's sticking around
or is it a quarantine beard?
I kind of feel like I channeled,
at least from a hair and beard standpoint,
Harrison Ford in The Fugitive.
Oooh!
Do you think this year, they buck the
trend of going defense in the first round,
and maybe get you another receiver
to air it out to?
We haven't picked a skill player
in the first round in the last 15 years.
That'd be kind of cool.
We traded up to something like 25 or 26,
I believe.
We have another trade.
Our fourth of the first round, guys.
Green Bay is now on the clock.
What do you think Green Bay
is needing right now in the draft?
A wide receiver, with
Aaron Rodgers looking for weapons.
It's all Davante Adams.
That's the only weapon
they have in the passing game.
Apparently, the pick is in.
And I was like, "Shoot,
I'm going to get on here."
So I was sitting in the
the TV room in my house in Malibu,
and I looked down at my phone,
and my agent just texts me "quarterback,"
and I was like, "No fucking way."
The Green Bay Packers select
Jordan Love, quarterback.
Bro!
- Will Aaron answer his phone now?
- No, we should not call him.
You got, I mean
Then the pick happens,
and I immediately got up off the couch,
and was super nonreactive,
and I just went
and poured myself some tequila,
and went back to the couch,
and knew there was going to be
some interesting conversation.
What an absolute slap
in the face to Aaron Rodgers.
The Green Bay Packers
have put Aaron Rodgers on the clock.
So now it's the biggest news.
You trade up four spots
to get a quarterback that does
need some time to percolate.
They did it to Brett Favre. Why not?
I just remember being like
"Great. I gotta be one of the first people
on the team talking about this scenario."
I just don't want to put David
in a difficult spot.
I've got my hair raised up
thinking about this.
I don't think a lot of people,
at least in our camp, thought that
Jordan would have
been there when we are picking,
and the opportunity presented itself,
and it was an opportunity
that Ted Thompson
thought was too good to pass up.
We're all surprised that
Green Bay traded up to take you.
Jordan, what do you think
you can learn from Aaron Rodgers?
I already know that I can learn
a lot from Aaron Rodgers.
That's one of the GOATs right there
in the game.
And, you know, I'm excited to be able
to come back behind him
and just learn as much as I can.
It was in 2005, when
Brett Favre was just about the same age,
the Packers decided to take
Aaron Rodgers in the first round.
I knew at some point that my name
was going to be a part of that list,
where you're too old,
and we're gonna kick you to the curb.
The Packers have a thing
where they got rid of you a year
before they thought you were done. Um
Then I started to think about how
he was me from 15 years before,
caught in the middle of something
that had nothing to do with him.
So here's my chance to
to do it a little bit better
than Brett did it.
He was upset in the moment,
and I think we were all
kind of a little bit surprised, um
of just everything that transpired.
However, I can tell you,
he welcomed Jordan with open arms,
and he was a mentor to him,
and I never asked him to do that.
None of our coaches asked him to be that.
I just think he went
from his past experiences,
having been in a similar situation.
So it's interesting
that he was on both sides of the coin.
The one-two relationship,
mentor, whatever,
how would you categorize
the way he is with you.
It's been good.
In the room, it's almost like
talking to a coach with Aaron.
He's just so smart, and things that
he kind of has seen over the years,
and just able to pick his brain
is just, it's pretty amazing.
Is it fair to say he's
enthusiastic about helping and teaching?
Yeah. For sure.
I was trying to engage
with him coming to a new team,
and all the emotions
I knew he would experience with
being away from home,
and everything is new.
And I would stop film sessions
to let him know what I was thinking,
why I did a certain thing,
you know, making sure he was
over at the house multiple times,
and was invited to things,
and I just tried to make it
as easy as I could for him,
and help him have a better experience,
maybe, than I did.
He'll be 41 in December.
Played four plays last year.
The year before when he was healthy,
he was not great.
I don't think there's a lot
of evidence of any quarterback at this age
coming off an Achilles and thriving.
Yes, he's coming off
the Achilles,
yes, he's turning 41 in December,
but we know what this brother
brings to the table.
It wouldn't be shocking if
he goes out there and actually plays well.
Brett Favre, Vinny Testaverde,
all those aging
great quarterbacks talked about,
it may just be a fraction of a second
that makes the difference between
Aaron Rodgers being elite and average.
So what I'm saying is this,
three years since we've seen a high-level,
and he's coming off an Achilles tendon,
and he's 40 years old.
Those are a lot of odds
and facts stacked against him.
Okay, thanks. And cut.
I was in an elevator last night
with Willie Randolph.
Know who he is? Baseball player.
And he says
"Were you in Green Bay in 1991?"
"No, I was not."
"I was seven in '91.
For most of the year."
"But thank you."
People have asked me before if
I've played against Steve Young.
Somebody asked me one time John Elway.
But
never 1991.
Thanks, Burke.
- Good job, man.
- Safe travels.
I'm going
to the first day of OTAs.
First real practice of the offseason.
It's not like super high intensity,
no pads. It's helmets, but
It'll be good to get off to a good start.
Year 20, that's pretty pretty rare.
I used to joke about playing 12 years.
Thought that'd be pretty awesome.
Then I couldn't believe
when I started my 15th season.
Then I said being 40 and a starter
would be pretty cool,
and missed that last year but now I am 40.
So it's wild to be in my 20th season,
just thinking about all the changes
over the years from, you know,
a pimple-faced 21-year-old kid,
who can only grow a little bit
of facial hair on my chin,
to now, I, you know,
have to decide whether or not I want
to color my chin hair that's turning gray.
It's a fun little
life arc in the NFL.
Knowing this is near the end,
I'm more really enjoying the journey.
And you don't get
many more opportunities to
kind of have a first
first day at OTAs.
Is your rehab over?
Where are you in that process?
Yeah, I feel really good.
It's just about the mental part.
- You said there's pressure on all of us.
- All of us, yeah.
Why do you say there's pressure on you?
Well, I think if
if I don't do what
I know I'm capable of doing,
we're all probably gonna be out of here.
That's the way the NFL is.
I'm not saying anything monumental, as
you're typing and putting your tweets out.
As you get older in the league,
if you don't perform,
they're gonna get rid of you,
or bring in the next guy
to take over.
What do you make of this idea
of Rodgers being in a position where
he is the superstar
but he's got
the first-round kid in camp with him?
You don't pick a QB
in the first round
without the idea that at some point
you're gonna be turning to him.
The NFL's
a replacement business,
even for a guy like him.
All of the discord
and whatever frustration there is,
the time for talking
about that stuff is now over.
You have to focus on the season
as they go out and try and win
the championship they were
pretty close to last year.
One thing
the NFL plans to do this year
is take as many precautions as possible
just to keep everybody safe.
There will be no fans at all
allowed inside the stadium for the games.
In 2020, and we go in season,
and obviously there's COVID,
the biggest thing was just
not having the life in the stadium.
It felt really strange.
The first week we played in Minnesota,
and there's nobody in the stands,
and we ran a reverse,
and, you know,
I was startled 'cause I heard claps.
Allen Lazard gets a block
and has a first down
From our sideline.
And it felt like
Like a junior college game.
Rodgers on the move.
End zone for Adams, he's got it.
Touchdown, Packers!
That's a tough place to play,
usually, with a lot of sound.
Quickly to Jones
on third and five and the ball is out.
But with nobody there.
In motion
We drew them offside like five times,
and we made them pay
just about every time.
Viking jump,
free play, Lazard.
And Allen Lazard has a Packer touchdown.
Four touchdown passes for Aaron Rodgers.
You just knew there was
gonna be something special that year.
End zone throw.
Touchdown, Packers.
We played in home environments
the entire time.
Oh, he got him.
Here's this guy that has
the best cadence in all of football,
and we're on the road,
and he can actually use his cadence.
I haven't been around anybody
that's drawn as many free plays.
This does not happen
if this is a normal crowd in here.
Hard count. There's the
Rodgers free play we hear so much about.
When you get into that zone,
it feels like you
just flip that little button,
and it all just goes silent.
The focus really tightens,
and just see this thing happening
milliseconds before it happens,
and the ball comes out perfectly.
Touchdown.
There's nothing like that feeling.
Rodgers back
to throw. Lofts it deep
- He's got him.
- What a throw! Touchdown!
There were times in 2020,
it was so damn quiet all the time,
I felt like I was in the zone
every fucking week.
And yeah, I kind of played like it
for some stretches, for sure.
Rodgers, into the end zone.
Touchdown, Packers.
Some video-game-type numbers,
which you dream about.
To be able to throw 48 touchdowns,
and only five interceptions
is pretty wild.
Rodgers to his right,
he's going to try and take it,
and he is in for the touchdown.
This year's AP most valuable player award
goes to, drumroll,
Mr. Aaron Rodgers.
Thank you so much. It's an honor
to win this award for the third time
2020 was definitely a crazy year.
Welcome to
the NFC Championship game
at the end of a season unlike any other.
It just doesn't get any better than
what we're about to see
with Aaron Rodgers taking on Tom Brady.
Good matchup with Corey
Linsley, one of the best in the game.
Here's one down the sideline.
It is caught!
Touchdown, Green Bay.
Brady throws, end zone.
He's got Evans for the touchdown.
Brady goes for the deep shot.
He's got a touchdown.
Scotty Miller.
And that makes it
an 11-point game before the half.
It was 21-10 at half,
and then we put together a couple drives.
Rodgers slings it,
pass is caught.
Touchdown, Tonyan.
It's third and goal,
extra man on the rush.
Pass caught, touchdown, Adams.
And we're down 31-23,
and that score stayed for,
you know, the entire fourth, basically,
and then we finally put together a drive,
and went down to the eight.
Third down and goal.
Moves, throws. Pass broken up.
With that stop, the field goal try
now by Crosby at 26.
I remember walking off the field
looking at the clock going, what the
What are we doing?
Kicking a field goal? For what?
We still gotta get a touchdown.
I'm surprised
by that decision, Joe.
I thought that
they would go for it on fourth down.
We never got the ball back.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and Tom Brady are going to Super Bowl LV.
I'm just pretty gutted.
It's a long season. You put so much into
itto get to this point.
This one definitely stings,
and it's going to for a long time.
I don't know that I know
the real story about Achilles.
Yeah, let's actually learn.
That's actually a good idea.
He was in The Iliad.
His mother made him invulnerable
by dipping him in the River Styx
Oops, sorry.
while he was still an infant.
The problem was that she held him
by the heels which were not wetted.
Ah.
This remained
a vulnerable part of his anatomy.
- Interesting.
- That's pretty wild.
I think there's so many great
archetypes in the heroes
of the old epics that
I really, uh, you know, resonate with.
The rebels who are fighting the good fight
against the powers that be,
and standing up for what you believe in,
and willing to lay it on the line.
So in the Egyptian pantheon,
there's a god named, Shu.
S-H-U, embodiment of wind or air.
I remember you talking about Shu.
What list are you looking at right now?
Just a list of major and minor
gods of Egypt.
Gods of Egypt.
I'm super drawn to
Egypt and Greece, really,
I love the myths from those those places.
Osiris is god of death and resurrection.
So now I'm going over to Egypt,
which I'm excited about.
Is Haason Reddick
attending minicamp?
No, so we've got two unexcused absences.
One obviously being Haason.
The second one is Aaron.
Um, he's been very good in communication.
He's been here the entire time.
It's unexcused, but he had an event
that was very important to him.
Um, which he communicated.
Aaron Rodgers
is not attending minicamp.
It is not excused.
What is he doing that's important?
What's going on that I'm not aware of?
Maybe he's at one of those
retreat things that he goes to.
I don't like it.
This is not a big deal
at all. He's been at everything.
We are talking about minicamp.
You don't even take no reps in minicamp.
Does it matter?
Absolutely, because we're doing
segments about it,
and the tabloids in New York
are gonna have it on
the back page of all of their editions.
I understand.
It's Aaron Rodgers and he's had
his issues with the press in the past.
It's been one ing
distraction after another.
Aaron Rodgers' unexcused
absence from minicamp
sparked a media firestorm.
I think you learn that everybody
in the media is gonna have an angle,
and they are able to paint a narrative,
whatever they want to paint.
And for the longest time
I just didn't respond.
But eventually,
as I got to love myself better
and get comfortable in my own skin,
I felt way more comfortable sharing
some of the stuff from behind the curtain,
and being less of an enigma.
The first taste I got
of kind of taking back the narrative
was I did a Tuesday show with Jason Wilde,
who was a local
beat reporter in Green Bay.
It was just on radio,
and I was like,
"Damn, I really like this."
I like being able to have a voice.
We know you're a fan
of The Princess Bride.
Are there any other things
that really make you laugh?
Is there any comedian?
The smugness of Alex Trebek
when he corrects a contestant on Jeopardy.
I think it's so incredible.
Like, "Really, Alex? You knew that one?"
I like being able to kind of open it up
more and talk about non-football stuff.
In any endeavor whether it's learning
how to play chess or studying astrology.
It's what is at the root of this?
Why does it work? Why is it important?
And what about it
can be applicable to my life.
You know, a simple psilocybin journey
can really open up
some pretty euphoric experiences.
In order for us to advance as a society,
there has to be,
in this age of Aquarius,
there has to be disclosure.
We've had some more
non-football things from Aaron Rodgers.
The people who praise him
would say he's a free thinker.
Some of his critics might say
he's lost the plot.
When all's said and done,
he's gonna go down as one of the more
intriguing figures in history of the NFL.
Not only for his lengthy Hall of Fame
career, but what he says off of it.
I enjoyed taking back
the narrative, and I enjoyed those times,
and that's why I enjoy The McAfee Show.
It's people getting to see
a different side of me.
You started off a little rocky,
negative 12 yards in the first quarter.
And I would say
fairly confidently.
I feel like pre-COVID,
people enjoyed The McAfee Show.
We really wanted to come out
the first quarter just blazing.
- You thought that was gonna happen?
- No, that's what we did.
New from the NFL today,
they're incentivizing
players to get vaccinated.
NFL chief medical officer,
Dr. Allan Sills,
tells ESPN that with the vaccine,
he believes teams have the ability
to turn COVID into a seasonal illness
rather than a devastating pandemic.
We never did
the flu shots growing up.
My dad just didn't believe in it,
and didn't think like a shot
that's notoriously been
in the 15% range as far as effectiveness
of even just picking
the right strand of flu that season,
was worth the unknown,
you know, ingredients in it.
So I was always
a little bit skeptical of that.
I'm up to date on what's going on
with some of the ridiculous protocols.
There is
a clear dividing line.
Those who have been vaccinated.
Those who have not.
If you're unvaxxed, there was
a lot of wild stuff you had to do.
Testing every day,
working out in your own spot,
the mask mandates,
the mandates outside the facility.
Not supposed to leave
the team hotel on the road.
Can't eat with certain people.
A lot of unvaccinated players
pissed off about this.
Sorry, guys, that's the way it is.
And it's at that point that I went
and engaged with a holistic doctor,
who's been doing
immunization processes for kids
that have compromised
immune systems forever.
So we had nice conversations
about a number of topics.
When it came to COVID,
she had a protocol she was working with.
Um, at the same time I knew this was going
to be a battle between myself
and the NFL,
should they choose to do mandates,
so I amassed a document
that end up being about 500 pages long.
That I submitted to the PA first,
and that was supposedly
passed on to the, uh, to the NFL.
Uh, I came back with
you know, being immunized, uh,
and, uh,
was put in the, uh,
non-vaxxed group.
The NFL has not
actually had mandates
but have still had 95%
of its players vaccinated.
New COVID-19 protocols draws
a pretty big line between vaccinated
and unvaccinated players.
Vaccinated players are allowed to visit
high-risk places like bars and nightclubs.
An unvaccinated player will be fined
if found at one of
these high-risk locations.
They're doing a witch hunt
on who's vaxxed who's not vaxxed.
I knew it was coming.
I mean, shit, so did my PR guy, Tom,
who I fucking love. Tom's the best.
He's like, "What are you gonna say?"
And I'm gonna say, "I'm immunized."
And he said, "What if they follow up?"
I'm gonna say, "I have an allergy to PEG."
So, I'm not gonna get those vax. I did
a holistic process, blah, blah, blah.
He goes, "All right."
So, I finally get asked about it,
like the third media availability,
I believe, second or third.
Are you vaccinated,
and what's your stance on vaccinations?
Yeah, I've been immunized. Um
You know, there's a lot of
lot of conversation around it,
around the league,
and a lot of guys who have made
statements or not made statements,
owners who've made statements.
Um, there's guys on the team
that haven't been vaccinated.
I think it's a personal decision.
I'm not gonna judge those guys.
There's guys have been vaccinated
that contracted COVID.
Um
So it's an interesting issue
that I think we're gonna see
played out the entire season.
The follow-up question wasn't,
"Can you explain what that means?"
Or, "Which shot did you get?"
It was, "Do you want to condemn
teammates for not getting vaccinated?"
Was that important,
from an example-setting standpoint?
I mean, no
It wasn't about that at all, I think.
Um
I like to learn about everything
that I'm doing,
and there was a lot of research that
even went into that.
The other part that people
might not understand
is that I'm in my appeal right now,
and my appeal hangs on
those words exactly.
"I have been immunized."
If that was the only question
I had to answer, that still,
what my appeal is hinging on is
literally what I told them from the start,
that you need to recognize
other forms of protection against COVID.
Saints and Packers fans
are taking over the River City.
The New Orleans Saints moved
their first game to Jacksonville
after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana.
It's been an interesting year.
First game, we played
in Jacksonville against the Saints.
I mean, talk about
a fucking weird way to start it.
Rodgers throws
and he's picked.
And they beat us
like 38-3, I think.
It was an ugly one.
Rodgers bootlegs right,
throws right, got his man,
end zone, touchdown.
Then we bounced back
and won the second game.
Then we went to San Fran,
and won that game.
And it is good.
So we're two and one,
feeling better about ourselves,
and starting into a rhythm,
and playing really well.
He dumps it off right side.
Got a man in the end zone, touchdown!
What company to be in, Dan Marino.
Aaron Rodgers' Halloween
plans coming back to haunt him.
The NFL issued a nearly $15,000 fine for
attending this party while unvaccinated.
I knew it was
more than likely I would get COVID.
I tested every single day.
Then the one day I came in I knew
I knew I probably had it.
At that point it wasn't even a question,
you're out for ten days.
That shit's gonna get out,
'cause it got out like this.
Any time somebody has COVID,
it got out quick.
Aaron Rodgers has
tested positive for COVID,
and will miss Sunday's game
against the Chiefs.
Wait,
they're calling him out already?
If you're vaccinated,
you can get cleared in four days.
If you can generate two negative tests
24 hours apart, you're good to go.
Unvaccinated players face
a mandatory 10-day wait
to return to the team
after a positive test.
Rodgers testing positive followed
by reports that he was unvaccinated,
despite many believing
that he was vaccinated
based on Rodgers' own comments.
Aaron Rodgers implied he was
inoculated against COVID-19.
He's smart enough to know
what he was saying. He was lying.
There was this whole smear campaign
that I was endangering my teammates,
and that I was gonna kill their grandmas,
and all these different things
because how could I be in a room,
and nobody know that I wasn't vaxxed.
Did you ever lie about being vaccinated?
I never lied.
I took all my teammates into a huddle,
got all their faces three inches away
from my wet mouth, and told them trust me.
Everybody in my fucking circle
knew I wasn't vaccinated,
everybody on my team
knew I wasn't vaccinated.
Rodgers didn't break any rules
by not being vaccinated.
Basically, what he did
was he deceived people.
You don't have to be vaccinated
to play in the NFL.
I think that's been a little lost,
I also think the team surely knew
he was not vaccinated.
The NFL surely knew
that he was not vaccinated.
We knew the status of everybody,
and you got to respect people's decisions.
They got to make
their own choices for themselves.
At the end of the day like,
nobody, we're not passing judgment
in that locker room about who's vaccinated
and who's not vaccinated and if you
got the booster, how many you got.
But I think it was definitely
something that the media ran off with.
My goodness,
what a horrible mistake by him.
We're seeing
a different side of Aaron Rodgers.
We're seeing a side of Aaron Rodgers
that people are really disgusted by.
Many of
his sponsors dropped him.
And during that week,
there was a total shitstorm in the media,
and everybody was sort of waiting,
"Okay, what's he gonna say?"
He will be asked
what he meant by immunized,
and whether he deliberately,
or even unintentionally, deceived people.
You know, him and I
spent some time talking that week,
and I got to really hear,
kind of where he was truly coming from.
And he says, "I feel as if I don't
stand up for what I truly believe in,
I'll never be able
to look myself in the mirror."
It was kind of this beginning
of this polar shift in his life
where he had to actually choose,
am I gonna be myself,
or am I gonna fall in line?
He chose to be himself.
Had there been a follow-up to my statement
that I've been immunized,
I would have responded, uh, with this.
I would have said, "Look, um,
I'm not, uh, you know,
some sort of anti-vax flat-earther."
I believe strongly in bodily autonomy,
and the ability
to make choices for your body.
He had a stance.
He had his opinion.
I think he, because of who he is,
quickly got put in the limelight for it.
One side tried to turn him into a demon,
the other side tried to raise him up.
He's like look, "I'm not trying to be
on anyone's side. This is my opinion."
The seven-game winning streak
for the Packers is over.
There was
a lot going on that year.
But he has a way of
being able to compartmentalize
everything else that's going on in life.
And I think he's able
to do that as well as anybody.
So I got COVID.
Come back, play in Seattle.
Wasn't a very good game for me.
But after that game, I kind of went on
a run, and was semi-unconscious.
Rodgers throws, going
for the deep shot, and delivers a strike.
I had seven or eight games,
and I only turned the ball over
maybe one or two times at the most.
And just was really in a good groove,
and we were really good.
Diving grab, touchdown.
The '21 season,
I mean, he was out of his mind.
Aaron Rodgers one touchdown
pass away from surpassing Brett Favre.
I think I finished with
37 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Aaron Rodgers,
the most prolific touchdown passer
in Packers history.
The road to Super Bowl LVI in the NFC
comes through Lambeau.
We were 13-4.
We were the one seed again.
Felt like there was a good possibility
that I was gonna win MVP.
After what you said last week
about what it would mean
to win your fourth MVP,
what do you think of one of the 50 voters
coming out and saying yesterday, quote,
"I don't think you can be
the biggest jerk in the league,
and punish your team,
your organization and fan base
the way he did and be the MVP."
"I think he's a bad guy,
and I don't think a bad guy
can be the MVP at the same time."
He doesn't know me.
He doesn't know anything about me.
I never met him, had lunch with him.
I've never had an interview with him.
Um, his problem is I'm not vaccinated.
And the 2021 AP most valuable player is
Aaron Rodgers.
What a year, huh? Uh
AJ Dillon,
six-yard touchdown run.
That was a marvelous opening drive.
The only reason we all do this
is to win a championship,
and the further you go, the more perfect
every single person has to be.
Even if you play a perfect game,
if one other person doesn't,
or if there's one little mistake,
certain things happen.
You have to be kidding me.
Special teams
killing the Packers.
That game. I'll never forget it.
Losing a home playoff game
to San Francisco.
I know for him, he certainly took it hard.
You obviously wish at times
things could be easier in various aspects.
Not testing positive for COVID,
not answering a question better, you know.
Having my reputation take a shot
the whole 2021 season, that was
definitely heartbreaking, for sure.
Aaron Rodgers is back.
He was spotted.
So, at least we know he's in the country.
Now the big question is
where the hell was he,
and when it finally does come out,
is he going to get buried by bitter people
in the media that are gonna be upset?
There's certain people who have
some sort of an issue with Rodgers,
a bit of an agenda, if you will.
There were all types of
rumors about where he might be.
There were some reports that were saying
he was down in South America somewhere
on an ayahuasca trip.
Gesundheit.
But it appears that, Rob,
he was actually in Egypt.
Egypt on a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
It might have involved his
methodology of expanding his mind,
and getting his mind straight to try
and win a Super Bowl for the Jets.
Now, was he over there
to see the pyramids?
Is that what it was? He wanted to go
inside there and see you see what all the
All the hoopla's about.
How did they build it
with no equipment?
- That's what
- You know what I mean? Seriously.
One of the things Rodgers may
have been there trying to figure out.
- Like what some reports are saying.
- How they built the pyramids?
Here's what's gonna happen.
At some point,
week one, Monday Night Football,
Jets, San Francisco,
Aaron Rodgers in the shotgun,
"Nefertiti! Nefertiti!"
Is going to Egypt, a vacation,
a valid excuse
for missing mandatory minicamp?
It's the age of outrage.
And I just don't resonate with that.
In the past I would have been fueled
by bitterness and resentment,
and now I'm definitely trending way
more towards curiosity and humor than
bitterness and resentment.
I don't need to fight the powers that be.
I don't need to fight
the COVID war anymore.
I feel detached from that in a healthy
way, not in a judgment way at all.
I mean, I want to
make that as clear as possible.
I don't know how it's gonna come off,
but I don't resonate with that energy.
It doesn't mean I judge the energy.
I'm actually super curious about
where that comes from and why,
and what I've learned is
if you can have a healthy detachment
from that, energetically,
it's just a passing thought and a smirk
or a smile and then it's on to the next.
Aaron Rodgers
at training camp.
Big smile on his face.
He was wearing an Egyptian cat shirt.
- I think that's only a shirt you can buy
- King Tut.
at the Pyramids.
I did that trip
for my own mental health.
And my ability to disconnect,
in order to fully connect when I'm here.
I think that's
an important part of mental health
is the ability to walk
between both worlds.
The world of the introvert who enjoys
meditation, and medicine retreats,
and spiritual adventures,
and then the extrovert,
who loves and thrives as
an alpha leader of men as a quarterback.
Rodgers
He's picked!
And this is going to the house!
I knew that 2022 was gonna be
a different type season,
and that if I showed any
non-MVP qualities
14-play,
69-yard drive that nets nothing.
that was gonna be it.
Then I had a real nagging injury
based on the last play against the Giants,
which we never should've been
in the situation, but, um,
but I broke my thumb
on the last play of the game.
Rodgers, in trouble.
Ball knocked out with no time left
for Green Bay, and the Giants
And after that
we lost five in a row.
The Packers
are in major trouble.
He's playing with a broken
thumb. It's on his throwing hand.
That's a pretty big deal
that never really got talked about.
He'll never use that as an excuse.
But do I think it affected him?
Absolutely.
Four or five Green Bay games
this year, Rodgers has a QBR under 20.
If your third eye is open,
why are you missing passes?
Do they need to put the
first-round pick Jordan Love on the field?
I think this should be
Aaron Rodgers' last season in Green Bay,
because it's clear that this team
is much closer to a rebuild
than they are an actual title,
and I'm not paying
a 39-year-old quarterback
$50 million a year to miss the playoffs.
Aaron Rodgers' final start
at Lambeau this season,
year 18 in the league.
So the stakes are simple.
Packers win, they're in.
If the Lions win or it's a tie,
Seattle goes to the playoffs.
They would love
to knock the Green Bay Packers out.
Inside of five left.
Third and ten.
Here's a blitz, can Rodgers beat it?
Big ball downfield and it is intercepted.
The Lions have come into Lambeau,
and they've knocked
the Packers down and out.
The story and the focus right now
is not the Lions winning,
but, for the moment, it is Rodgers.
Aaron's going to take a long
look around here.
Take it in a little bit.
Randall and I,
obviously are really dear friends,
knew that that was
probably the last time for us.
I told him in the locker room
before the game. I said,
"Find me after the game,
I want to walk off the field with you."
"Because you're my best friend
on the team,
and I feel like it'd be really special."
So, we lose the game.
You know, just a real shitty feeling.
I felt like kind of walking off, like
"Damn, that's probably it."
Where do you stand on
what you want to do next year?
Do I feel like I have anything left
to prove to myself, or is it time?
Is it time to step away? Is it time
for another voice to be leading this team?
Um
I think I need to get away
and contemplate those things.
The future, very much
uncertain, and no playoffs this year.
No MVP trophy, and maybe
no more Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
So, the Packers, they said,
"What do you want to do?"
And I said, "I don't know, actually,
I'm thinking I may retire."
And it was like, "No, you're not done,
blah blah blah."
"As long as you want to come back
you can be the guy."
And I said, "I appreciate that,
but let me think about."
And they said, "Yeah, take until March.
Just let us know before free agency."
"Of course. I don't want
to disrespect the team and organization."
"You guys have been great."
By the time we get
to the first week in February,
my agent said, "They're shopping you."
I said, "What do you mean?"
"The team has reached out to
other teams about trading for you,
if you still want to play."
So I was like, "Really?"
At that point I was
starting to feel better.
My thumb was feeling better.
My body's all right.
And I had booked this darkness retreat
that I wanted to do as
a final ritual contemplation
of what my new life could feel like.
But before I went in, though,
I hit up the decision makers
over at the Packers.
I said, "I don't know what I'm gonna do."
"I'll be in the darkness
for the next five-six days."
"I'll integrate, then get a hold of you."
Aaron Rodgers
is doing it as only he can,
so he has not yet made up his mind
whether he's going to continue to play,
and that he is going to
spend a bunch of time
in total darkness
in trying to figure it out.
Part of
the room is underground,
and you go there
and sit in silence and darkness.
Three hundred square feet,
and you have a bed, and a bathroom,
and they bring you food.
One of the most important
decisions in the NFL
is going to be made through this process.
So I go in the darkness,
and those four really beautiful days
Uh, long days, for sure.
I kind of made peace with
certain aspects of my life.
And sat in contemplation around
the insecurity around
not being a player anymore,
and how relevance plays a role in my life.
Eventually all the fears and insecurities
around retirement went away,
and I felt great about that next chapter,
whenever that comes.
And as I sat there in that room,
or in the bathtub, or on the yoga mat,
and thought about what I wanted to do
I was thinking, "You know,
maybe I'm not done."
And as I sat there,
I thought about playing next season,
and what does that look like?
And I really felt like
because Hackett's the coordinator,
I've always respected Robert Saleh,
and it's fucking New York,
if there was a landing spot
that would work out the best,
it would be with the Jets.
- Aaron! Aaron!
- Can I take a picture?
Aaron Rodgers making
his 20th appearance.
Can you believe that it's been 20 years
here at the American Century Championship?
I've been caddying for him, I guess,
you know since the beginning.
When we would first come out here,
he's like the backup quarterback
for Brett Favre that just got drafted.
And today, oftentimes, the crowds
are following because it's him.
- Will you sign my Bears hat?
- Anything for you.
- Will you take a picture with me?
- Obviously.
I think you're amazing.
I really My friends have disowned me.
Good.
You don't need them anyway.
So during
the whole vaccine mandate thing,
he's the only professional athlete
that said something.
So when he came by here two years ago.
I said, "AR" I said, "Thank you."
"I'm a Bears fan. Thank you."
And he looked at me, he's like, "Why?"
"'Cause you, oh my, 'cause you
stood up for my civil liberties."
I said, "Ain't nobody do that."
- Good to see you.
- Thank you.
- Thanks again for those words.
- I'm surprised you remember.
It's things like that,
even if you don't realize it,
that make a big difference.
That was a weird year in my life.
Just having that support
meant a lot so thank you.
I told you, and I'll tell you again,
I'm a health care provider.
I had to get the vaccine.
I didn't have a choice.
But I felt like everyone in the world
needed to make their own goddamn choice.
- I hope you remember me.
- I did. Right away, I was like, "Oh!"
Can you take a picture?
- Come on, friend.
- Thank you.
Since the COVID conversation,
I think the media, for whatever reason,
has kind of painted a narrative about him
that he's sort of selfish and doesn't
really think about other people.
Come on, Dad. Take a selfie now.
Do a selfie.
It's hilarious to me that
that that's what they've come up with.
Hold that real quick.
This is a better one here.
I can sign right there.
Are you any good at golf?
No, not really,
but I like playing. What else you got?
What's your biggest accomplishment?
I don't know. There's been
a lot of fun things I've done.
We won the Super Bowl a long time ago.
That's pretty cool.
What advice do you have
for fourth graders?
For a fourth grader?
Have fun, be a kid,
play a lot of sports, if you love sports.
Do really good in school,
and listen to your parents.
- Okay.
- Yeah. Thanks, bud. Great questions.
Hey.
How are you doing? Good to see you.
- This is my Tahoe grandma, Carol.
- Oh.
The best.
Have you talked to Campen at all?
We had a friend
who was a coach for Green Bay.
But I just loved Aaron, anyway,
and so I was following him.
He was sitting all by himself
in his golf cart,
so I went up to him,
and then it's just evolved from there.
And so there's just
an effortless friendship there,
- that is just really amazing.
- Mm-hm.
And I feel very fortunate
that I'm part of his life.
- So good to see you.
- So good to see you.
- Love you.
- Okay, love you too.
I mean, is she not
the cutest thing of all time?
There were a lot of years
when she would walk all four days.
She's just as sweet as can be,
and we just fell in love,
and she's been literally following me,
you know, for 20 years.
She's amazing.
It's a fun week,
we rent a house, we're on the lake.
Every year it gets better.
Hey, all right, you're back.
How'd it go? Good times?
Are we not acknowledging the camera?
I hit a low
Into the tree.
I embarrassed you on the fairway.
We made ten straight birdies.
We birdied six, seven, eight, nine,
ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, six
- We went 11 straight birdies.
- All your shots?
Most of them.
Obviously,
Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place,
but there's something about the nostalgia,
I think, that really drives him back here.
And it also represents
the end of the offseason.
The four-time NFL MVP
is in the Big Apple now.
The Jets? Last time you
and I talked, it was all up in the air.
There was a lot of decisions that had
to be made, but I'm excited where I'm at.
There's still some 12 jerseys out here.
- Seen a couple eight jerseys as well.
- Yeah.
That's pretty exciting.
Breaking news.
Aaron Rodgers is going
to the New York Jets. It's official.
The teams
will swap first-round picks,
and Green Bay also receives
a second-round pick
and sixth-round pick this year,
as well as a conditional
second-round pick next season.
I remember just like this
surreal feeling of like, "Damn."
"I just got traded. That's crazy."
After 18 years,
including 15 as the starter,
the end of Aaron Rodgers' chapter
in Packers history.
The Green Bay Packers
have won the Super Bowl.
There's a period of, like, sadness of,
like, the grieving of,
"Damn, that chapter's closed."
Then the excitement,
I think, starts to start to sink in.
It is on.
Our defense is better than yours,
our quarterback's better than yours.
He's not far removed from
being back-to-back league MVP.
That's right.
I'm excited about
the new adventure here in New York.
When do you
plan on practicing?
Does tomorrow count?
It was really cool sharing the excitement.
You're out and about seeing,
New Yorkers, New Jerseyans,
just like excited, and coming up to you
and buying you pizza.
He has embraced New York.
We've seen him at Knicks games,
we've seen at Rangers games.
You can hear the reaction,
the Jets fans on their feet.
Aaron Rodgers takes over at quarterback
for the first time with the Jets.
Drops back, lobs one, front left pylon.
It is caught, Garrett Wilson, touchdown.
They're absolutely
Super Bowl contenders.
If he wins a championship
with a team that has not won in 54 years,
it would arguably be the biggest
New York sports story of all time.
With all the hype,
with all the buildup,
I can't remember any team
that has more at stake, it feels like,
than in this game one.
Gonna be loud,
it's gonna be electric.
- You'll be able to see it from space.
- Can't wait!
Protection breaks down
and time runs out.
Down goes Rodgers on the sack
from Leonard Floyd.
Right away,
you knew something was off.
You felt the air just leave the stadium,
and it was just silence.
I remember that night thinking
of what it must be like for him.
For all of the work that he had
put into coming to the Jets
and the focus that he had
for what that season was going to be,
and for all that to come crashing down,
it's devastating.
How do you rebuild from that?
That's one thing that
really blew me away about this.
How quickly his mind shifted
from mourning what happened
to this is the game plan,
this is what we're doing.
It was boom, boom, boom, boom,
and it was hitting the ground running.
I think anytime you
go through some rough stretches,
you kind of figure out
who's really in your inner circle,
and who are those people you can count on.
Can we take out all the pictures
where I look fat?
- That's gonna be tough.
- Yeah.
And my longtime friend Ryan
showed up for me in a huge way.
He was flying to Paris
for a couple months,
instead flew back with me.
And was my driver to rehab
until I could drive,
which took a long time.
He took care of me.
What are the red dots?
Those are ones that are jumping out to me.
I've always had a camera in my hand,
and I had some photos I'd already
been taking during the rehab process,
and it's feeling like we have
a photo book that's here.
There's some good ones in here.
Rehab to New York, and then back to rehab,
and then in the pool,
and then going to Costa,
doing that whole thing.
Every couple weeks we were coming
back, and we were looking at these photos,
and he was seeing
the progress he was making.
There's a lot of lessons in here.
Dealing with adversity,
and all the daily struggles
get on the fucking AlterG,
and then doing the marble pickup,
and getting these weird-ass tape jobs,
then coming home and doing pool workouts.
Like I said, I've always been one to
really have a hard time with the notion
that everything happens for a reason.
But what I've learned is
if things don't happen a certain way,
some of the miracles
that show up wouldn't have happened.
I'm really thankful,
which is crazy to say,
because my professional world fell apart.
But there's a lot of incredible things
that happened along the way.
I'm thankful for those that were
around me, from my doctor to my friends.
Every person played a little bit of a role
in the recovery process.
It's been a wild year.
Let's have a little easier year
this year, huh? What do you say?
The expectations last year
were sky-high for the Jets,
and the air went entirely out of
the balloon four plays into their season.
All right, let's go, boys.
If they don't win
a Super Bowl this year, he's 42.
He's 43.
The Jets are favored
in 14 of 17 games this season.
We did the thing
last offseason where we anointed the Jets,
and said they were
gonna win the Super Bowl.
We just want to see it.
If Aaron Rodgers goes down,
let's just be honest about it,
the whole thing's over.
I think there's
a little bit of trepidation
because of what happened last year
with my injury.
They haven't seen, you know,
me lead and do what I do.
These guys haven't seen me
complete a game.
It's reckless to just assume
- 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers
- Aaron Rodgers is a freakazoid.
- Ayahuasca and darkness retreats.
- It has to happen this season.
But they're the Jets
and something always goes wrong.
The 49ers host Aaron and New York Jets.
The NFL said,
"What would be the toughest game?"
Doesn't get into
the greatest conversation,
until he gets another Super Bowl.
When you talk about
pressure on Aaron Rodgers,
it couldn't be higher.
I just watched
the BALCO documentary on Netflix,
and I read the book.
And I think everybody in that
documentary and book
were obsessed with winning.
Their only thing was win at all costs.
Tim Montgomery is a sprinter, and he ran
9.78 to beat Maurice Greene's record.
And although it came out that
he was taking banned substances,
He has a quote, he said,
"There's nothing like that feeling of
posing next to the scoreboard
that says you broke a world record."
I really thought about that a lot
after I watched that, like,
is winning at all costs acceptable?
Vince Lombardi had
a famous quote that said,
"Winning isn't everything,
it's the only thing."
Like, is that true?
I I just don't really subscribe to that.
Aaron Rodgers returns
to the football field for the Jets,
on Monday Night Football.
Of course, Aaron Rodgers
is gonna draw all the eyeballs.
He's 40,
coming off of an Achilles injury.
It's very unprecedented to come back
and play at a high level.
a huge chance for the
New York Jets with Aaron Rodgers
to announce themselves
and see if they're worth the hype.
- It is without a doubt
- a Super Bowl or bust.
At the end of the day,
in 20 years,
it's gonna be hard for people to remember
who won every Super Bowl.
Those teams are really special.
We got one, it's always gonna be special.
When we come back in 2030 or 2040,
and do a reunion from that 2010 team,
that'll be really cool to see those guys.
To reminisce about it.
But I'm pretty sure
when we get back it won't be like,
"Hey, remember when we ran the anaconda,
BJ, and you caught that pick
and ran it back for a touchdown?"
Big BJ Raji!
It might be, "Hey, BJ, remember when
we did that commercial for State Farm?"
"And you doing that dance
that went viral?"
You know, it'll be like, "Hey, remember
that Christmas, we went outside,
and got the 4-wheeler stuck in the snow?"
Just fun little memories like that.
There's Aaron Rodgers.
He's the oldest active player.
From Chico, California,
Pleasant Valley High School,
about 200 miles north of here.
You've got to believe
that if Rodgers stays healthy,
he's poised for a huge year.
This is the fourth snap
for Rodgers.
Floyd was there and it's a little flip,
a catch, a fumble by Hall,
and a recovery by the 49ers.
I've said many times I think
the idea of success and failure,
is unfortunately tied
to winning and losing.
Pass is caught.
And a strong catch
by Garrett Wilson for a first down.
It's not a binary
representation, I don't believe.
Hand off to Hall.
Touchdown, Jets.
You'll play your best sometimes
and it's not gonna be good enough.
What a throw, what a catch.
You're gonna play not your best,
and you might win.
That doesn't mean that's success, and
the flipside doesn't mean it's failure.
When you've been out,
do you want to take a hit
just to get back into the ballgame
and the feel of it?
- How did it feel to get hit again?
- Felt good.
I don't feel like
I need to prove anything
to anybody but myself at this point.
Which is a great place to be.
I just wanna prove one more, two more,
three more times that I can still do it.
Play action
from Rodgers again.
Pressure off the edge and the pass
is broken up, and now picked off.
Every year I gotta
remind myself that I'm great.
'Cause even though I could come off
an MVP year,
you have the doubts like,
"Can I still do this at a high level?"
"Am I good enough? Can I make the throws,
move out of the pocket, put my eyes in the
right spot, and do the right footwork?"
"Make the right adjustments
and trust my instincts?"
That's a fun challenge.
They're gonna
get a free play.
Rodgers is the master at it,
and a touchdown by Lazard.
But at some point the carousel stops
and it's time to get off.
A lot of times, you don't have the chance
to pick when that is.
And it's very rare you can
ride off into the sunset,
like John Elway did
winning back-to-back Super Bowls.
But I wanna go out
still knowing I can do it.
I didn't wanna go out on a cart.
I wanna go out on my feet,
playing good football,
and if that comes with a championship win,
then that's fantastic.
Rodgers through the
game healthy, but the Jets will leave 0-1.
There's, like, football legacy,
and then there's character legacy.
Football legacy is
cemented with the Hall of Fame.
Character legacy
is cemented every single day,
and it's way more important to me.
Yay!
We're all on
some level of a hero's journey.
- Good job.
- Everybody get in here.
It usually involves learning something,
and figuring out along the way the
perspective to be present every moment,
to enjoy the process,
enjoy the journey of it all,
and that life really exists
in millions of little moments.
So just can we be present?
To not miss out on the moments along
the way that make the journey worthwhile.
- All right.
- Yeah.
With the 24th selection
in the 2005 NFL draft,
the Green Bay Packers
select Aaron Rodgers.
It's gonna be a great opportunity for me.
Could be the last year.
But it could not be.
- Yeah, isn't it?
Then, now you're at that age
- What is this, coming up, year 14?
- 14.
- 14!
- Yeah.
Wow.
Our relationship I thought was good.
In spite of what people might say. And
I think it surprises some people that
when I said that about, you know, uh,
they don't pay me to mentor,
or however it was said,
I wasn't saying, "Screw him."
But I think a lot of people
- Thought that.
- took it that way.
"How dare he not help that kid along."
Sure, I would help.
If you asked a question and I can answer.
But I do remember, like,
it wasn't like you asked a question
about every single thing,
which, I think my chest would've poked out
a little, like, "Yeah, he really wants"
But you would sit and watch film.
And I don't remember ever saying,
"No, I don't want you in there
watching film with me."
"I'll let you know
when you can watch film."
I don't think I was ever that way, was I?
No, you weren't.
I have said that in my own mind, I would
I'm like, "I want to
hang out outside the facility."
I would drop hints all the time,
"If you ever need anybody
to scare out some deer
when you're hunting, let me know.
I'm not doing anything."
What?
I had you come over to the house.
We did play golf together,
but you were better than me.
- So I didn't want
- You were one-hand chipping.
That's 'cause I wasn't good
two-handed chipping.
Uh, you know,
my first thought when they drafted you is,
"It's about time that
they look for a replacement."
It happens to everyone,
whether its first-round pick
or a big free-agent pickup or something.
So, I mean, I was never like,
"That damn hotshot"
Um, that had nothing to do with it.
You just happened to be
the guy who's in that position.
As I look back, no one could throw it
like me until you came along.
And that was kind of like, "Damn!"
You know, I
I can make any throw.
I can throw it further than anyone.
And I was hoping that I'd go out that way.
Joe Montana
and Steve Young did it.
No one else has
ever done it but you and I.
To replace one guy,
and the replacement is as good,
if not better.
It's unmatched.
You're at the point where I was.
I don't know if they have
the answer yet that we had in you.
It was important to move forward
past a lot of that stuff, you know?
With time, it gives a perspective to
look at things a little bit differently,
take the ego out of it,
be empathetic,
go into the other person's experience.
And then, you know, I obviously got to go
into that experience firsthand in 2020,
and
and, uh
feel a little bit what that felt like.
That, of course,
is Las Vegas, Nevada,
where the draft was supposed to be held.
But things have changed dramatically.
Like millions of fans,
team personnel and prospects,
I join you from my home
for the first virtual NFL draft.
It was
definitely an interesting time.
Didn't know how bad it was going to get,
but I knew we were in for some shit,
and just had to hunker down.
The NFL sent all 58 players
involved in the draft
a camera to try to capture
those reaction shots on the couch,
when the big moment happens.
We're talking about
a wide receiver draft class
where there can be upwards of 15 to 20
that potentially have a first-round grade.
I think we had like the 30th pick.
I was on the McAfee Draftcast.
That beard, is that
something that's sticking around
or is it a quarantine beard?
I kind of feel like I channeled,
at least from a hair and beard standpoint,
Harrison Ford in The Fugitive.
Oooh!
Do you think this year, they buck the
trend of going defense in the first round,
and maybe get you another receiver
to air it out to?
We haven't picked a skill player
in the first round in the last 15 years.
That'd be kind of cool.
We traded up to something like 25 or 26,
I believe.
We have another trade.
Our fourth of the first round, guys.
Green Bay is now on the clock.
What do you think Green Bay
is needing right now in the draft?
A wide receiver, with
Aaron Rodgers looking for weapons.
It's all Davante Adams.
That's the only weapon
they have in the passing game.
Apparently, the pick is in.
And I was like, "Shoot,
I'm going to get on here."
So I was sitting in the
the TV room in my house in Malibu,
and I looked down at my phone,
and my agent just texts me "quarterback,"
and I was like, "No fucking way."
The Green Bay Packers select
Jordan Love, quarterback.
Bro!
- Will Aaron answer his phone now?
- No, we should not call him.
You got, I mean
Then the pick happens,
and I immediately got up off the couch,
and was super nonreactive,
and I just went
and poured myself some tequila,
and went back to the couch,
and knew there was going to be
some interesting conversation.
What an absolute slap
in the face to Aaron Rodgers.
The Green Bay Packers
have put Aaron Rodgers on the clock.
So now it's the biggest news.
You trade up four spots
to get a quarterback that does
need some time to percolate.
They did it to Brett Favre. Why not?
I just remember being like
"Great. I gotta be one of the first people
on the team talking about this scenario."
I just don't want to put David
in a difficult spot.
I've got my hair raised up
thinking about this.
I don't think a lot of people,
at least in our camp, thought that
Jordan would have
been there when we are picking,
and the opportunity presented itself,
and it was an opportunity
that Ted Thompson
thought was too good to pass up.
We're all surprised that
Green Bay traded up to take you.
Jordan, what do you think
you can learn from Aaron Rodgers?
I already know that I can learn
a lot from Aaron Rodgers.
That's one of the GOATs right there
in the game.
And, you know, I'm excited to be able
to come back behind him
and just learn as much as I can.
It was in 2005, when
Brett Favre was just about the same age,
the Packers decided to take
Aaron Rodgers in the first round.
I knew at some point that my name
was going to be a part of that list,
where you're too old,
and we're gonna kick you to the curb.
The Packers have a thing
where they got rid of you a year
before they thought you were done. Um
Then I started to think about how
he was me from 15 years before,
caught in the middle of something
that had nothing to do with him.
So here's my chance to
to do it a little bit better
than Brett did it.
He was upset in the moment,
and I think we were all
kind of a little bit surprised, um
of just everything that transpired.
However, I can tell you,
he welcomed Jordan with open arms,
and he was a mentor to him,
and I never asked him to do that.
None of our coaches asked him to be that.
I just think he went
from his past experiences,
having been in a similar situation.
So it's interesting
that he was on both sides of the coin.
The one-two relationship,
mentor, whatever,
how would you categorize
the way he is with you.
It's been good.
In the room, it's almost like
talking to a coach with Aaron.
He's just so smart, and things that
he kind of has seen over the years,
and just able to pick his brain
is just, it's pretty amazing.
Is it fair to say he's
enthusiastic about helping and teaching?
Yeah. For sure.
I was trying to engage
with him coming to a new team,
and all the emotions
I knew he would experience with
being away from home,
and everything is new.
And I would stop film sessions
to let him know what I was thinking,
why I did a certain thing,
you know, making sure he was
over at the house multiple times,
and was invited to things,
and I just tried to make it
as easy as I could for him,
and help him have a better experience,
maybe, than I did.
He'll be 41 in December.
Played four plays last year.
The year before when he was healthy,
he was not great.
I don't think there's a lot
of evidence of any quarterback at this age
coming off an Achilles and thriving.
Yes, he's coming off
the Achilles,
yes, he's turning 41 in December,
but we know what this brother
brings to the table.
It wouldn't be shocking if
he goes out there and actually plays well.
Brett Favre, Vinny Testaverde,
all those aging
great quarterbacks talked about,
it may just be a fraction of a second
that makes the difference between
Aaron Rodgers being elite and average.
So what I'm saying is this,
three years since we've seen a high-level,
and he's coming off an Achilles tendon,
and he's 40 years old.
Those are a lot of odds
and facts stacked against him.
Okay, thanks. And cut.
I was in an elevator last night
with Willie Randolph.
Know who he is? Baseball player.
And he says
"Were you in Green Bay in 1991?"
"No, I was not."
"I was seven in '91.
For most of the year."
"But thank you."
People have asked me before if
I've played against Steve Young.
Somebody asked me one time John Elway.
But
never 1991.
Thanks, Burke.
- Good job, man.
- Safe travels.
I'm going
to the first day of OTAs.
First real practice of the offseason.
It's not like super high intensity,
no pads. It's helmets, but
It'll be good to get off to a good start.
Year 20, that's pretty pretty rare.
I used to joke about playing 12 years.
Thought that'd be pretty awesome.
Then I couldn't believe
when I started my 15th season.
Then I said being 40 and a starter
would be pretty cool,
and missed that last year but now I am 40.
So it's wild to be in my 20th season,
just thinking about all the changes
over the years from, you know,
a pimple-faced 21-year-old kid,
who can only grow a little bit
of facial hair on my chin,
to now, I, you know,
have to decide whether or not I want
to color my chin hair that's turning gray.
It's a fun little
life arc in the NFL.
Knowing this is near the end,
I'm more really enjoying the journey.
And you don't get
many more opportunities to
kind of have a first
first day at OTAs.
Is your rehab over?
Where are you in that process?
Yeah, I feel really good.
It's just about the mental part.
- You said there's pressure on all of us.
- All of us, yeah.
Why do you say there's pressure on you?
Well, I think if
if I don't do what
I know I'm capable of doing,
we're all probably gonna be out of here.
That's the way the NFL is.
I'm not saying anything monumental, as
you're typing and putting your tweets out.
As you get older in the league,
if you don't perform,
they're gonna get rid of you,
or bring in the next guy
to take over.
What do you make of this idea
of Rodgers being in a position where
he is the superstar
but he's got
the first-round kid in camp with him?
You don't pick a QB
in the first round
without the idea that at some point
you're gonna be turning to him.
The NFL's
a replacement business,
even for a guy like him.
All of the discord
and whatever frustration there is,
the time for talking
about that stuff is now over.
You have to focus on the season
as they go out and try and win
the championship they were
pretty close to last year.
One thing
the NFL plans to do this year
is take as many precautions as possible
just to keep everybody safe.
There will be no fans at all
allowed inside the stadium for the games.
In 2020, and we go in season,
and obviously there's COVID,
the biggest thing was just
not having the life in the stadium.
It felt really strange.
The first week we played in Minnesota,
and there's nobody in the stands,
and we ran a reverse,
and, you know,
I was startled 'cause I heard claps.
Allen Lazard gets a block
and has a first down
From our sideline.
And it felt like
Like a junior college game.
Rodgers on the move.
End zone for Adams, he's got it.
Touchdown, Packers!
That's a tough place to play,
usually, with a lot of sound.
Quickly to Jones
on third and five and the ball is out.
But with nobody there.
In motion
We drew them offside like five times,
and we made them pay
just about every time.
Viking jump,
free play, Lazard.
And Allen Lazard has a Packer touchdown.
Four touchdown passes for Aaron Rodgers.
You just knew there was
gonna be something special that year.
End zone throw.
Touchdown, Packers.
We played in home environments
the entire time.
Oh, he got him.
Here's this guy that has
the best cadence in all of football,
and we're on the road,
and he can actually use his cadence.
I haven't been around anybody
that's drawn as many free plays.
This does not happen
if this is a normal crowd in here.
Hard count. There's the
Rodgers free play we hear so much about.
When you get into that zone,
it feels like you
just flip that little button,
and it all just goes silent.
The focus really tightens,
and just see this thing happening
milliseconds before it happens,
and the ball comes out perfectly.
Touchdown.
There's nothing like that feeling.
Rodgers back
to throw. Lofts it deep
- He's got him.
- What a throw! Touchdown!
There were times in 2020,
it was so damn quiet all the time,
I felt like I was in the zone
every fucking week.
And yeah, I kind of played like it
for some stretches, for sure.
Rodgers, into the end zone.
Touchdown, Packers.
Some video-game-type numbers,
which you dream about.
To be able to throw 48 touchdowns,
and only five interceptions
is pretty wild.
Rodgers to his right,
he's going to try and take it,
and he is in for the touchdown.
This year's AP most valuable player award
goes to, drumroll,
Mr. Aaron Rodgers.
Thank you so much. It's an honor
to win this award for the third time
2020 was definitely a crazy year.
Welcome to
the NFC Championship game
at the end of a season unlike any other.
It just doesn't get any better than
what we're about to see
with Aaron Rodgers taking on Tom Brady.
Good matchup with Corey
Linsley, one of the best in the game.
Here's one down the sideline.
It is caught!
Touchdown, Green Bay.
Brady throws, end zone.
He's got Evans for the touchdown.
Brady goes for the deep shot.
He's got a touchdown.
Scotty Miller.
And that makes it
an 11-point game before the half.
It was 21-10 at half,
and then we put together a couple drives.
Rodgers slings it,
pass is caught.
Touchdown, Tonyan.
It's third and goal,
extra man on the rush.
Pass caught, touchdown, Adams.
And we're down 31-23,
and that score stayed for,
you know, the entire fourth, basically,
and then we finally put together a drive,
and went down to the eight.
Third down and goal.
Moves, throws. Pass broken up.
With that stop, the field goal try
now by Crosby at 26.
I remember walking off the field
looking at the clock going, what the
What are we doing?
Kicking a field goal? For what?
We still gotta get a touchdown.
I'm surprised
by that decision, Joe.
I thought that
they would go for it on fourth down.
We never got the ball back.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and Tom Brady are going to Super Bowl LV.
I'm just pretty gutted.
It's a long season. You put so much into
itto get to this point.
This one definitely stings,
and it's going to for a long time.
I don't know that I know
the real story about Achilles.
Yeah, let's actually learn.
That's actually a good idea.
He was in The Iliad.
His mother made him invulnerable
by dipping him in the River Styx
Oops, sorry.
while he was still an infant.
The problem was that she held him
by the heels which were not wetted.
Ah.
This remained
a vulnerable part of his anatomy.
- Interesting.
- That's pretty wild.
I think there's so many great
archetypes in the heroes
of the old epics that
I really, uh, you know, resonate with.
The rebels who are fighting the good fight
against the powers that be,
and standing up for what you believe in,
and willing to lay it on the line.
So in the Egyptian pantheon,
there's a god named, Shu.
S-H-U, embodiment of wind or air.
I remember you talking about Shu.
What list are you looking at right now?
Just a list of major and minor
gods of Egypt.
Gods of Egypt.
I'm super drawn to
Egypt and Greece, really,
I love the myths from those those places.
Osiris is god of death and resurrection.
So now I'm going over to Egypt,
which I'm excited about.
Is Haason Reddick
attending minicamp?
No, so we've got two unexcused absences.
One obviously being Haason.
The second one is Aaron.
Um, he's been very good in communication.
He's been here the entire time.
It's unexcused, but he had an event
that was very important to him.
Um, which he communicated.
Aaron Rodgers
is not attending minicamp.
It is not excused.
What is he doing that's important?
What's going on that I'm not aware of?
Maybe he's at one of those
retreat things that he goes to.
I don't like it.
This is not a big deal
at all. He's been at everything.
We are talking about minicamp.
You don't even take no reps in minicamp.
Does it matter?
Absolutely, because we're doing
segments about it,
and the tabloids in New York
are gonna have it on
the back page of all of their editions.
I understand.
It's Aaron Rodgers and he's had
his issues with the press in the past.
It's been one ing
distraction after another.
Aaron Rodgers' unexcused
absence from minicamp
sparked a media firestorm.
I think you learn that everybody
in the media is gonna have an angle,
and they are able to paint a narrative,
whatever they want to paint.
And for the longest time
I just didn't respond.
But eventually,
as I got to love myself better
and get comfortable in my own skin,
I felt way more comfortable sharing
some of the stuff from behind the curtain,
and being less of an enigma.
The first taste I got
of kind of taking back the narrative
was I did a Tuesday show with Jason Wilde,
who was a local
beat reporter in Green Bay.
It was just on radio,
and I was like,
"Damn, I really like this."
I like being able to have a voice.
We know you're a fan
of The Princess Bride.
Are there any other things
that really make you laugh?
Is there any comedian?
The smugness of Alex Trebek
when he corrects a contestant on Jeopardy.
I think it's so incredible.
Like, "Really, Alex? You knew that one?"
I like being able to kind of open it up
more and talk about non-football stuff.
In any endeavor whether it's learning
how to play chess or studying astrology.
It's what is at the root of this?
Why does it work? Why is it important?
And what about it
can be applicable to my life.
You know, a simple psilocybin journey
can really open up
some pretty euphoric experiences.
In order for us to advance as a society,
there has to be,
in this age of Aquarius,
there has to be disclosure.
We've had some more
non-football things from Aaron Rodgers.
The people who praise him
would say he's a free thinker.
Some of his critics might say
he's lost the plot.
When all's said and done,
he's gonna go down as one of the more
intriguing figures in history of the NFL.
Not only for his lengthy Hall of Fame
career, but what he says off of it.
I enjoyed taking back
the narrative, and I enjoyed those times,
and that's why I enjoy The McAfee Show.
It's people getting to see
a different side of me.
You started off a little rocky,
negative 12 yards in the first quarter.
And I would say
fairly confidently.
I feel like pre-COVID,
people enjoyed The McAfee Show.
We really wanted to come out
the first quarter just blazing.
- You thought that was gonna happen?
- No, that's what we did.
New from the NFL today,
they're incentivizing
players to get vaccinated.
NFL chief medical officer,
Dr. Allan Sills,
tells ESPN that with the vaccine,
he believes teams have the ability
to turn COVID into a seasonal illness
rather than a devastating pandemic.
We never did
the flu shots growing up.
My dad just didn't believe in it,
and didn't think like a shot
that's notoriously been
in the 15% range as far as effectiveness
of even just picking
the right strand of flu that season,
was worth the unknown,
you know, ingredients in it.
So I was always
a little bit skeptical of that.
I'm up to date on what's going on
with some of the ridiculous protocols.
There is
a clear dividing line.
Those who have been vaccinated.
Those who have not.
If you're unvaxxed, there was
a lot of wild stuff you had to do.
Testing every day,
working out in your own spot,
the mask mandates,
the mandates outside the facility.
Not supposed to leave
the team hotel on the road.
Can't eat with certain people.
A lot of unvaccinated players
pissed off about this.
Sorry, guys, that's the way it is.
And it's at that point that I went
and engaged with a holistic doctor,
who's been doing
immunization processes for kids
that have compromised
immune systems forever.
So we had nice conversations
about a number of topics.
When it came to COVID,
she had a protocol she was working with.
Um, at the same time I knew this was going
to be a battle between myself
and the NFL,
should they choose to do mandates,
so I amassed a document
that end up being about 500 pages long.
That I submitted to the PA first,
and that was supposedly
passed on to the, uh, to the NFL.
Uh, I came back with
you know, being immunized, uh,
and, uh,
was put in the, uh,
non-vaxxed group.
The NFL has not
actually had mandates
but have still had 95%
of its players vaccinated.
New COVID-19 protocols draws
a pretty big line between vaccinated
and unvaccinated players.
Vaccinated players are allowed to visit
high-risk places like bars and nightclubs.
An unvaccinated player will be fined
if found at one of
these high-risk locations.
They're doing a witch hunt
on who's vaxxed who's not vaxxed.
I knew it was coming.
I mean, shit, so did my PR guy, Tom,
who I fucking love. Tom's the best.
He's like, "What are you gonna say?"
And I'm gonna say, "I'm immunized."
And he said, "What if they follow up?"
I'm gonna say, "I have an allergy to PEG."
So, I'm not gonna get those vax. I did
a holistic process, blah, blah, blah.
He goes, "All right."
So, I finally get asked about it,
like the third media availability,
I believe, second or third.
Are you vaccinated,
and what's your stance on vaccinations?
Yeah, I've been immunized. Um
You know, there's a lot of
lot of conversation around it,
around the league,
and a lot of guys who have made
statements or not made statements,
owners who've made statements.
Um, there's guys on the team
that haven't been vaccinated.
I think it's a personal decision.
I'm not gonna judge those guys.
There's guys have been vaccinated
that contracted COVID.
Um
So it's an interesting issue
that I think we're gonna see
played out the entire season.
The follow-up question wasn't,
"Can you explain what that means?"
Or, "Which shot did you get?"
It was, "Do you want to condemn
teammates for not getting vaccinated?"
Was that important,
from an example-setting standpoint?
I mean, no
It wasn't about that at all, I think.
Um
I like to learn about everything
that I'm doing,
and there was a lot of research that
even went into that.
The other part that people
might not understand
is that I'm in my appeal right now,
and my appeal hangs on
those words exactly.
"I have been immunized."
If that was the only question
I had to answer, that still,
what my appeal is hinging on is
literally what I told them from the start,
that you need to recognize
other forms of protection against COVID.
Saints and Packers fans
are taking over the River City.
The New Orleans Saints moved
their first game to Jacksonville
after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana.
It's been an interesting year.
First game, we played
in Jacksonville against the Saints.
I mean, talk about
a fucking weird way to start it.
Rodgers throws
and he's picked.
And they beat us
like 38-3, I think.
It was an ugly one.
Rodgers bootlegs right,
throws right, got his man,
end zone, touchdown.
Then we bounced back
and won the second game.
Then we went to San Fran,
and won that game.
And it is good.
So we're two and one,
feeling better about ourselves,
and starting into a rhythm,
and playing really well.
He dumps it off right side.
Got a man in the end zone, touchdown!
What company to be in, Dan Marino.
Aaron Rodgers' Halloween
plans coming back to haunt him.
The NFL issued a nearly $15,000 fine for
attending this party while unvaccinated.
I knew it was
more than likely I would get COVID.
I tested every single day.
Then the one day I came in I knew
I knew I probably had it.
At that point it wasn't even a question,
you're out for ten days.
That shit's gonna get out,
'cause it got out like this.
Any time somebody has COVID,
it got out quick.
Aaron Rodgers has
tested positive for COVID,
and will miss Sunday's game
against the Chiefs.
Wait,
they're calling him out already?
If you're vaccinated,
you can get cleared in four days.
If you can generate two negative tests
24 hours apart, you're good to go.
Unvaccinated players face
a mandatory 10-day wait
to return to the team
after a positive test.
Rodgers testing positive followed
by reports that he was unvaccinated,
despite many believing
that he was vaccinated
based on Rodgers' own comments.
Aaron Rodgers implied he was
inoculated against COVID-19.
He's smart enough to know
what he was saying. He was lying.
There was this whole smear campaign
that I was endangering my teammates,
and that I was gonna kill their grandmas,
and all these different things
because how could I be in a room,
and nobody know that I wasn't vaxxed.
Did you ever lie about being vaccinated?
I never lied.
I took all my teammates into a huddle,
got all their faces three inches away
from my wet mouth, and told them trust me.
Everybody in my fucking circle
knew I wasn't vaccinated,
everybody on my team
knew I wasn't vaccinated.
Rodgers didn't break any rules
by not being vaccinated.
Basically, what he did
was he deceived people.
You don't have to be vaccinated
to play in the NFL.
I think that's been a little lost,
I also think the team surely knew
he was not vaccinated.
The NFL surely knew
that he was not vaccinated.
We knew the status of everybody,
and you got to respect people's decisions.
They got to make
their own choices for themselves.
At the end of the day like,
nobody, we're not passing judgment
in that locker room about who's vaccinated
and who's not vaccinated and if you
got the booster, how many you got.
But I think it was definitely
something that the media ran off with.
My goodness,
what a horrible mistake by him.
We're seeing
a different side of Aaron Rodgers.
We're seeing a side of Aaron Rodgers
that people are really disgusted by.
Many of
his sponsors dropped him.
And during that week,
there was a total shitstorm in the media,
and everybody was sort of waiting,
"Okay, what's he gonna say?"
He will be asked
what he meant by immunized,
and whether he deliberately,
or even unintentionally, deceived people.
You know, him and I
spent some time talking that week,
and I got to really hear,
kind of where he was truly coming from.
And he says, "I feel as if I don't
stand up for what I truly believe in,
I'll never be able
to look myself in the mirror."
It was kind of this beginning
of this polar shift in his life
where he had to actually choose,
am I gonna be myself,
or am I gonna fall in line?
He chose to be himself.
Had there been a follow-up to my statement
that I've been immunized,
I would have responded, uh, with this.
I would have said, "Look, um,
I'm not, uh, you know,
some sort of anti-vax flat-earther."
I believe strongly in bodily autonomy,
and the ability
to make choices for your body.
He had a stance.
He had his opinion.
I think he, because of who he is,
quickly got put in the limelight for it.
One side tried to turn him into a demon,
the other side tried to raise him up.
He's like look, "I'm not trying to be
on anyone's side. This is my opinion."
The seven-game winning streak
for the Packers is over.
There was
a lot going on that year.
But he has a way of
being able to compartmentalize
everything else that's going on in life.
And I think he's able
to do that as well as anybody.
So I got COVID.
Come back, play in Seattle.
Wasn't a very good game for me.
But after that game, I kind of went on
a run, and was semi-unconscious.
Rodgers throws, going
for the deep shot, and delivers a strike.
I had seven or eight games,
and I only turned the ball over
maybe one or two times at the most.
And just was really in a good groove,
and we were really good.
Diving grab, touchdown.
The '21 season,
I mean, he was out of his mind.
Aaron Rodgers one touchdown
pass away from surpassing Brett Favre.
I think I finished with
37 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Aaron Rodgers,
the most prolific touchdown passer
in Packers history.
The road to Super Bowl LVI in the NFC
comes through Lambeau.
We were 13-4.
We were the one seed again.
Felt like there was a good possibility
that I was gonna win MVP.
After what you said last week
about what it would mean
to win your fourth MVP,
what do you think of one of the 50 voters
coming out and saying yesterday, quote,
"I don't think you can be
the biggest jerk in the league,
and punish your team,
your organization and fan base
the way he did and be the MVP."
"I think he's a bad guy,
and I don't think a bad guy
can be the MVP at the same time."
He doesn't know me.
He doesn't know anything about me.
I never met him, had lunch with him.
I've never had an interview with him.
Um, his problem is I'm not vaccinated.
And the 2021 AP most valuable player is
Aaron Rodgers.
What a year, huh? Uh
AJ Dillon,
six-yard touchdown run.
That was a marvelous opening drive.
The only reason we all do this
is to win a championship,
and the further you go, the more perfect
every single person has to be.
Even if you play a perfect game,
if one other person doesn't,
or if there's one little mistake,
certain things happen.
You have to be kidding me.
Special teams
killing the Packers.
That game. I'll never forget it.
Losing a home playoff game
to San Francisco.
I know for him, he certainly took it hard.
You obviously wish at times
things could be easier in various aspects.
Not testing positive for COVID,
not answering a question better, you know.
Having my reputation take a shot
the whole 2021 season, that was
definitely heartbreaking, for sure.
Aaron Rodgers is back.
He was spotted.
So, at least we know he's in the country.
Now the big question is
where the hell was he,
and when it finally does come out,
is he going to get buried by bitter people
in the media that are gonna be upset?
There's certain people who have
some sort of an issue with Rodgers,
a bit of an agenda, if you will.
There were all types of
rumors about where he might be.
There were some reports that were saying
he was down in South America somewhere
on an ayahuasca trip.
Gesundheit.
But it appears that, Rob,
he was actually in Egypt.
Egypt on a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
It might have involved his
methodology of expanding his mind,
and getting his mind straight to try
and win a Super Bowl for the Jets.
Now, was he over there
to see the pyramids?
Is that what it was? He wanted to go
inside there and see you see what all the
All the hoopla's about.
How did they build it
with no equipment?
- That's what
- You know what I mean? Seriously.
One of the things Rodgers may
have been there trying to figure out.
- Like what some reports are saying.
- How they built the pyramids?
Here's what's gonna happen.
At some point,
week one, Monday Night Football,
Jets, San Francisco,
Aaron Rodgers in the shotgun,
"Nefertiti! Nefertiti!"
Is going to Egypt, a vacation,
a valid excuse
for missing mandatory minicamp?
It's the age of outrage.
And I just don't resonate with that.
In the past I would have been fueled
by bitterness and resentment,
and now I'm definitely trending way
more towards curiosity and humor than
bitterness and resentment.
I don't need to fight the powers that be.
I don't need to fight
the COVID war anymore.
I feel detached from that in a healthy
way, not in a judgment way at all.
I mean, I want to
make that as clear as possible.
I don't know how it's gonna come off,
but I don't resonate with that energy.
It doesn't mean I judge the energy.
I'm actually super curious about
where that comes from and why,
and what I've learned is
if you can have a healthy detachment
from that, energetically,
it's just a passing thought and a smirk
or a smile and then it's on to the next.
Aaron Rodgers
at training camp.
Big smile on his face.
He was wearing an Egyptian cat shirt.
- I think that's only a shirt you can buy
- King Tut.
at the Pyramids.
I did that trip
for my own mental health.
And my ability to disconnect,
in order to fully connect when I'm here.
I think that's
an important part of mental health
is the ability to walk
between both worlds.
The world of the introvert who enjoys
meditation, and medicine retreats,
and spiritual adventures,
and then the extrovert,
who loves and thrives as
an alpha leader of men as a quarterback.
Rodgers
He's picked!
And this is going to the house!
I knew that 2022 was gonna be
a different type season,
and that if I showed any
non-MVP qualities
14-play,
69-yard drive that nets nothing.
that was gonna be it.
Then I had a real nagging injury
based on the last play against the Giants,
which we never should've been
in the situation, but, um,
but I broke my thumb
on the last play of the game.
Rodgers, in trouble.
Ball knocked out with no time left
for Green Bay, and the Giants
And after that
we lost five in a row.
The Packers
are in major trouble.
He's playing with a broken
thumb. It's on his throwing hand.
That's a pretty big deal
that never really got talked about.
He'll never use that as an excuse.
But do I think it affected him?
Absolutely.
Four or five Green Bay games
this year, Rodgers has a QBR under 20.
If your third eye is open,
why are you missing passes?
Do they need to put the
first-round pick Jordan Love on the field?
I think this should be
Aaron Rodgers' last season in Green Bay,
because it's clear that this team
is much closer to a rebuild
than they are an actual title,
and I'm not paying
a 39-year-old quarterback
$50 million a year to miss the playoffs.
Aaron Rodgers' final start
at Lambeau this season,
year 18 in the league.
So the stakes are simple.
Packers win, they're in.
If the Lions win or it's a tie,
Seattle goes to the playoffs.
They would love
to knock the Green Bay Packers out.
Inside of five left.
Third and ten.
Here's a blitz, can Rodgers beat it?
Big ball downfield and it is intercepted.
The Lions have come into Lambeau,
and they've knocked
the Packers down and out.
The story and the focus right now
is not the Lions winning,
but, for the moment, it is Rodgers.
Aaron's going to take a long
look around here.
Take it in a little bit.
Randall and I,
obviously are really dear friends,
knew that that was
probably the last time for us.
I told him in the locker room
before the game. I said,
"Find me after the game,
I want to walk off the field with you."
"Because you're my best friend
on the team,
and I feel like it'd be really special."
So, we lose the game.
You know, just a real shitty feeling.
I felt like kind of walking off, like
"Damn, that's probably it."
Where do you stand on
what you want to do next year?
Do I feel like I have anything left
to prove to myself, or is it time?
Is it time to step away? Is it time
for another voice to be leading this team?
Um
I think I need to get away
and contemplate those things.
The future, very much
uncertain, and no playoffs this year.
No MVP trophy, and maybe
no more Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
So, the Packers, they said,
"What do you want to do?"
And I said, "I don't know, actually,
I'm thinking I may retire."
And it was like, "No, you're not done,
blah blah blah."
"As long as you want to come back
you can be the guy."
And I said, "I appreciate that,
but let me think about."
And they said, "Yeah, take until March.
Just let us know before free agency."
"Of course. I don't want
to disrespect the team and organization."
"You guys have been great."
By the time we get
to the first week in February,
my agent said, "They're shopping you."
I said, "What do you mean?"
"The team has reached out to
other teams about trading for you,
if you still want to play."
So I was like, "Really?"
At that point I was
starting to feel better.
My thumb was feeling better.
My body's all right.
And I had booked this darkness retreat
that I wanted to do as
a final ritual contemplation
of what my new life could feel like.
But before I went in, though,
I hit up the decision makers
over at the Packers.
I said, "I don't know what I'm gonna do."
"I'll be in the darkness
for the next five-six days."
"I'll integrate, then get a hold of you."
Aaron Rodgers
is doing it as only he can,
so he has not yet made up his mind
whether he's going to continue to play,
and that he is going to
spend a bunch of time
in total darkness
in trying to figure it out.
Part of
the room is underground,
and you go there
and sit in silence and darkness.
Three hundred square feet,
and you have a bed, and a bathroom,
and they bring you food.
One of the most important
decisions in the NFL
is going to be made through this process.
So I go in the darkness,
and those four really beautiful days
Uh, long days, for sure.
I kind of made peace with
certain aspects of my life.
And sat in contemplation around
the insecurity around
not being a player anymore,
and how relevance plays a role in my life.
Eventually all the fears and insecurities
around retirement went away,
and I felt great about that next chapter,
whenever that comes.
And as I sat there in that room,
or in the bathtub, or on the yoga mat,
and thought about what I wanted to do
I was thinking, "You know,
maybe I'm not done."
And as I sat there,
I thought about playing next season,
and what does that look like?
And I really felt like
because Hackett's the coordinator,
I've always respected Robert Saleh,
and it's fucking New York,
if there was a landing spot
that would work out the best,
it would be with the Jets.
- Aaron! Aaron!
- Can I take a picture?
Aaron Rodgers making
his 20th appearance.
Can you believe that it's been 20 years
here at the American Century Championship?
I've been caddying for him, I guess,
you know since the beginning.
When we would first come out here,
he's like the backup quarterback
for Brett Favre that just got drafted.
And today, oftentimes, the crowds
are following because it's him.
- Will you sign my Bears hat?
- Anything for you.
- Will you take a picture with me?
- Obviously.
I think you're amazing.
I really My friends have disowned me.
Good.
You don't need them anyway.
So during
the whole vaccine mandate thing,
he's the only professional athlete
that said something.
So when he came by here two years ago.
I said, "AR" I said, "Thank you."
"I'm a Bears fan. Thank you."
And he looked at me, he's like, "Why?"
"'Cause you, oh my, 'cause you
stood up for my civil liberties."
I said, "Ain't nobody do that."
- Good to see you.
- Thank you.
- Thanks again for those words.
- I'm surprised you remember.
It's things like that,
even if you don't realize it,
that make a big difference.
That was a weird year in my life.
Just having that support
meant a lot so thank you.
I told you, and I'll tell you again,
I'm a health care provider.
I had to get the vaccine.
I didn't have a choice.
But I felt like everyone in the world
needed to make their own goddamn choice.
- I hope you remember me.
- I did. Right away, I was like, "Oh!"
Can you take a picture?
- Come on, friend.
- Thank you.
Since the COVID conversation,
I think the media, for whatever reason,
has kind of painted a narrative about him
that he's sort of selfish and doesn't
really think about other people.
Come on, Dad. Take a selfie now.
Do a selfie.
It's hilarious to me that
that that's what they've come up with.
Hold that real quick.
This is a better one here.
I can sign right there.
Are you any good at golf?
No, not really,
but I like playing. What else you got?
What's your biggest accomplishment?
I don't know. There's been
a lot of fun things I've done.
We won the Super Bowl a long time ago.
That's pretty cool.
What advice do you have
for fourth graders?
For a fourth grader?
Have fun, be a kid,
play a lot of sports, if you love sports.
Do really good in school,
and listen to your parents.
- Okay.
- Yeah. Thanks, bud. Great questions.
Hey.
How are you doing? Good to see you.
- This is my Tahoe grandma, Carol.
- Oh.
The best.
Have you talked to Campen at all?
We had a friend
who was a coach for Green Bay.
But I just loved Aaron, anyway,
and so I was following him.
He was sitting all by himself
in his golf cart,
so I went up to him,
and then it's just evolved from there.
And so there's just
an effortless friendship there,
- that is just really amazing.
- Mm-hm.
And I feel very fortunate
that I'm part of his life.
- So good to see you.
- So good to see you.
- Love you.
- Okay, love you too.
I mean, is she not
the cutest thing of all time?
There were a lot of years
when she would walk all four days.
She's just as sweet as can be,
and we just fell in love,
and she's been literally following me,
you know, for 20 years.
She's amazing.
It's a fun week,
we rent a house, we're on the lake.
Every year it gets better.
Hey, all right, you're back.
How'd it go? Good times?
Are we not acknowledging the camera?
I hit a low
Into the tree.
I embarrassed you on the fairway.
We made ten straight birdies.
We birdied six, seven, eight, nine,
ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, six
- We went 11 straight birdies.
- All your shots?
Most of them.
Obviously,
Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place,
but there's something about the nostalgia,
I think, that really drives him back here.
And it also represents
the end of the offseason.
The four-time NFL MVP
is in the Big Apple now.
The Jets? Last time you
and I talked, it was all up in the air.
There was a lot of decisions that had
to be made, but I'm excited where I'm at.
There's still some 12 jerseys out here.
- Seen a couple eight jerseys as well.
- Yeah.
That's pretty exciting.
Breaking news.
Aaron Rodgers is going
to the New York Jets. It's official.
The teams
will swap first-round picks,
and Green Bay also receives
a second-round pick
and sixth-round pick this year,
as well as a conditional
second-round pick next season.
I remember just like this
surreal feeling of like, "Damn."
"I just got traded. That's crazy."
After 18 years,
including 15 as the starter,
the end of Aaron Rodgers' chapter
in Packers history.
The Green Bay Packers
have won the Super Bowl.
There's a period of, like, sadness of,
like, the grieving of,
"Damn, that chapter's closed."
Then the excitement,
I think, starts to start to sink in.
It is on.
Our defense is better than yours,
our quarterback's better than yours.
He's not far removed from
being back-to-back league MVP.
That's right.
I'm excited about
the new adventure here in New York.
When do you
plan on practicing?
Does tomorrow count?
It was really cool sharing the excitement.
You're out and about seeing,
New Yorkers, New Jerseyans,
just like excited, and coming up to you
and buying you pizza.
He has embraced New York.
We've seen him at Knicks games,
we've seen at Rangers games.
You can hear the reaction,
the Jets fans on their feet.
Aaron Rodgers takes over at quarterback
for the first time with the Jets.
Drops back, lobs one, front left pylon.
It is caught, Garrett Wilson, touchdown.
They're absolutely
Super Bowl contenders.
If he wins a championship
with a team that has not won in 54 years,
it would arguably be the biggest
New York sports story of all time.
With all the hype,
with all the buildup,
I can't remember any team
that has more at stake, it feels like,
than in this game one.
Gonna be loud,
it's gonna be electric.
- You'll be able to see it from space.
- Can't wait!
Protection breaks down
and time runs out.
Down goes Rodgers on the sack
from Leonard Floyd.
Right away,
you knew something was off.
You felt the air just leave the stadium,
and it was just silence.
I remember that night thinking
of what it must be like for him.
For all of the work that he had
put into coming to the Jets
and the focus that he had
for what that season was going to be,
and for all that to come crashing down,
it's devastating.
How do you rebuild from that?
That's one thing that
really blew me away about this.
How quickly his mind shifted
from mourning what happened
to this is the game plan,
this is what we're doing.
It was boom, boom, boom, boom,
and it was hitting the ground running.
I think anytime you
go through some rough stretches,
you kind of figure out
who's really in your inner circle,
and who are those people you can count on.
Can we take out all the pictures
where I look fat?
- That's gonna be tough.
- Yeah.
And my longtime friend Ryan
showed up for me in a huge way.
He was flying to Paris
for a couple months,
instead flew back with me.
And was my driver to rehab
until I could drive,
which took a long time.
He took care of me.
What are the red dots?
Those are ones that are jumping out to me.
I've always had a camera in my hand,
and I had some photos I'd already
been taking during the rehab process,
and it's feeling like we have
a photo book that's here.
There's some good ones in here.
Rehab to New York, and then back to rehab,
and then in the pool,
and then going to Costa,
doing that whole thing.
Every couple weeks we were coming
back, and we were looking at these photos,
and he was seeing
the progress he was making.
There's a lot of lessons in here.
Dealing with adversity,
and all the daily struggles
get on the fucking AlterG,
and then doing the marble pickup,
and getting these weird-ass tape jobs,
then coming home and doing pool workouts.
Like I said, I've always been one to
really have a hard time with the notion
that everything happens for a reason.
But what I've learned is
if things don't happen a certain way,
some of the miracles
that show up wouldn't have happened.
I'm really thankful,
which is crazy to say,
because my professional world fell apart.
But there's a lot of incredible things
that happened along the way.
I'm thankful for those that were
around me, from my doctor to my friends.
Every person played a little bit of a role
in the recovery process.
It's been a wild year.
Let's have a little easier year
this year, huh? What do you say?
The expectations last year
were sky-high for the Jets,
and the air went entirely out of
the balloon four plays into their season.
All right, let's go, boys.
If they don't win
a Super Bowl this year, he's 42.
He's 43.
The Jets are favored
in 14 of 17 games this season.
We did the thing
last offseason where we anointed the Jets,
and said they were
gonna win the Super Bowl.
We just want to see it.
If Aaron Rodgers goes down,
let's just be honest about it,
the whole thing's over.
I think there's
a little bit of trepidation
because of what happened last year
with my injury.
They haven't seen, you know,
me lead and do what I do.
These guys haven't seen me
complete a game.
It's reckless to just assume
- 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers
- Aaron Rodgers is a freakazoid.
- Ayahuasca and darkness retreats.
- It has to happen this season.
But they're the Jets
and something always goes wrong.
The 49ers host Aaron and New York Jets.
The NFL said,
"What would be the toughest game?"
Doesn't get into
the greatest conversation,
until he gets another Super Bowl.
When you talk about
pressure on Aaron Rodgers,
it couldn't be higher.
I just watched
the BALCO documentary on Netflix,
and I read the book.
And I think everybody in that
documentary and book
were obsessed with winning.
Their only thing was win at all costs.
Tim Montgomery is a sprinter, and he ran
9.78 to beat Maurice Greene's record.
And although it came out that
he was taking banned substances,
He has a quote, he said,
"There's nothing like that feeling of
posing next to the scoreboard
that says you broke a world record."
I really thought about that a lot
after I watched that, like,
is winning at all costs acceptable?
Vince Lombardi had
a famous quote that said,
"Winning isn't everything,
it's the only thing."
Like, is that true?
I I just don't really subscribe to that.
Aaron Rodgers returns
to the football field for the Jets,
on Monday Night Football.
Of course, Aaron Rodgers
is gonna draw all the eyeballs.
He's 40,
coming off of an Achilles injury.
It's very unprecedented to come back
and play at a high level.
a huge chance for the
New York Jets with Aaron Rodgers
to announce themselves
and see if they're worth the hype.
- It is without a doubt
- a Super Bowl or bust.
At the end of the day,
in 20 years,
it's gonna be hard for people to remember
who won every Super Bowl.
Those teams are really special.
We got one, it's always gonna be special.
When we come back in 2030 or 2040,
and do a reunion from that 2010 team,
that'll be really cool to see those guys.
To reminisce about it.
But I'm pretty sure
when we get back it won't be like,
"Hey, remember when we ran the anaconda,
BJ, and you caught that pick
and ran it back for a touchdown?"
Big BJ Raji!
It might be, "Hey, BJ, remember when
we did that commercial for State Farm?"
"And you doing that dance
that went viral?"
You know, it'll be like, "Hey, remember
that Christmas, we went outside,
and got the 4-wheeler stuck in the snow?"
Just fun little memories like that.
There's Aaron Rodgers.
He's the oldest active player.
From Chico, California,
Pleasant Valley High School,
about 200 miles north of here.
You've got to believe
that if Rodgers stays healthy,
he's poised for a huge year.
This is the fourth snap
for Rodgers.
Floyd was there and it's a little flip,
a catch, a fumble by Hall,
and a recovery by the 49ers.
I've said many times I think
the idea of success and failure,
is unfortunately tied
to winning and losing.
Pass is caught.
And a strong catch
by Garrett Wilson for a first down.
It's not a binary
representation, I don't believe.
Hand off to Hall.
Touchdown, Jets.
You'll play your best sometimes
and it's not gonna be good enough.
What a throw, what a catch.
You're gonna play not your best,
and you might win.
That doesn't mean that's success, and
the flipside doesn't mean it's failure.
When you've been out,
do you want to take a hit
just to get back into the ballgame
and the feel of it?
- How did it feel to get hit again?
- Felt good.
I don't feel like
I need to prove anything
to anybody but myself at this point.
Which is a great place to be.
I just wanna prove one more, two more,
three more times that I can still do it.
Play action
from Rodgers again.
Pressure off the edge and the pass
is broken up, and now picked off.
Every year I gotta
remind myself that I'm great.
'Cause even though I could come off
an MVP year,
you have the doubts like,
"Can I still do this at a high level?"
"Am I good enough? Can I make the throws,
move out of the pocket, put my eyes in the
right spot, and do the right footwork?"
"Make the right adjustments
and trust my instincts?"
That's a fun challenge.
They're gonna
get a free play.
Rodgers is the master at it,
and a touchdown by Lazard.
But at some point the carousel stops
and it's time to get off.
A lot of times, you don't have the chance
to pick when that is.
And it's very rare you can
ride off into the sunset,
like John Elway did
winning back-to-back Super Bowls.
But I wanna go out
still knowing I can do it.
I didn't wanna go out on a cart.
I wanna go out on my feet,
playing good football,
and if that comes with a championship win,
then that's fantastic.
Rodgers through the
game healthy, but the Jets will leave 0-1.
There's, like, football legacy,
and then there's character legacy.
Football legacy is
cemented with the Hall of Fame.
Character legacy
is cemented every single day,
and it's way more important to me.
Yay!
We're all on
some level of a hero's journey.
- Good job.
- Everybody get in here.
It usually involves learning something,
and figuring out along the way the
perspective to be present every moment,
to enjoy the process,
enjoy the journey of it all,
and that life really exists
in millions of little moments.
So just can we be present?
To not miss out on the moments along
the way that make the journey worthwhile.
- All right.
- Yeah.
With the 24th selection
in the 2005 NFL draft,
the Green Bay Packers
select Aaron Rodgers.
It's gonna be a great opportunity for me.
Could be the last year.
But it could not be.