It has been quite the offseason already for the Green Bay Packers. The ongoing trade negotiations with the New York Jets concerning Aaron Rodgers have been talked about for weeks. A recent report stated that Jets owner Woody Johnson backed off of his initial offer to the Packers because of Rodgers’ retirement talk. Of course, those talks have dominated headlines, and rightly so.
However, David Bakhtiari also made his own headlines when he told “Bussin’ with the the Boys” that the 2023 Green Bay Packers were probably going to suck. Earlier this week, Packers insider Matt Schneidman of The Athletic appeared on “Nine 2 Noon” on 97.3 The Game with John Kuhn and Brian Butch to discuss those two stories.
Former Green Bay Packers fullback John Kuhn asked Schneidman if he thought that Rodgers talked about retirement because he knew it would cause the Jets to lower their offer to the Packers. Schneidman responded with the following:
“Well he should be [trying to sabotage the price] because if that’s the team he is going to play for, he wants them to have as many resources as possible to help him out. Now, how much does he care if it is a 2025 conditional pick or a 2025 first round pick, whatever you want to say, when he’s probably not going to be on the team then? I don’t know how much he cares about that.
“But in terms of the picks this year, 2023, or even next year in 2024 since he is considering playing another year. We know this is the way it is with him, it is very much a year-to-year thing with him, I could see that.
“Now, I’m not saying he went on McAfee and thought ‘I’m going to say I was 90% retired going into the darkness’ so that the Jets don’t give up as much and hold up negotiations.’ But the guy is a mastermind in his own way, so I wouldn’t be surprised is all I’m saying."
Schneidman hit the nail on the head. Rodgers is very calculated. He never says anything publicly without a purpose. It is entirely possible that there was an ulterior motive to his admitting that on The Pat McAfee Show.
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