And the drama rages on. Aaron Rodgers, who is apparently trying to force his way out of Green Bay, has reportedly been mocking Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst in group texts, per The Athletic’s Bob McGinn. McGinn writes:
According to sources, Rodgers has mocked Gutekunst in group chats with his teammates in Green Bay by referring to the GM as Jerry Krause. The late Krause, the general manager of the Chicago Bulls during their run of six NBA championships, was loathed by Michael Jordan for some personnel moves with which Jordan disagreed.
It was widely known that Jordan disliked Krause, but the documentary The Last Dance laid that fact bare to the world. And with the Packers and Bears being huge rivals in the NFC North, it likely hits close to home. Rodgers reportedly is adamant that he won’t return to the team as long as Gutenkust remains the GM, per Yahoo! Sports Charles Robinson, who is yet another strong reporter who has no history of flinging rumors for the sake of clicks.
Gutenkust responded to that report by telling ESPN’s Rob Demovsky:
“Aaron hasn’t said anything like that to me and certainly hasn’t said anything publicly. I think that’s a little unfair to put that on him. Certainly don’t like to hear those things, but no, nothing’s been communicated directly to me.”
So here we are. There seems to be little room to doubt that Rodgers isn’t a fan of his GM’s personnel moves. We know that he wants out from under those moves, either by the removal of Gutenkust or through a trade to a new team. The most-likely of those two scenarios is a trade, but there’s also a chance the Packers dig their heels in and Rodgers could do the same and sit out training camp and regular season games. Reconciliation is another possibility, but at this point it doesn’t feel like that is going to happen, at least not in the near future.