Aaron Rodgers Sideline Interview: Talks Jets and Upcoming Season

You were in the cabin and you were in the field. We saw you walking through the tunnel at Lambeau at the end of the

season

and then you went to the Retreat in the dark and what did you discover? What did you discover? Man when you were. There you decided that you wanted to come back for more. I started a love for the game that never went away. It was just thinking about what I wanted life to be like in 2023 and this definitely exceeded all my expectations and all the thoughts I had in that dark place during those few days Darkness most of my life, so I can relate to that, but the The funniest part of watching you for me has been that you look like you're having fun, right?

I mean, you're not. retired, you're not on vacation and yet you seem to have really embraced this whole idea of ​​mentoring and coaching and being around these young players, that's been part of the mix, yeah, I think so. I mean, I've always enjoyed that role. and I've had a lot of great endorsements over the years that I love and still keep in touch with and I think that's part of that and I got to be around Brett Favre for three years and learn from him by watching him. Listening to him and seeing how to win in his business, I always felt that it was part of the job to help those young men and prepare them to play.

At some point, there was someone cool behind me. Green Bay, which now has a chance, which is a lot of fun for j-love and I love helping Zach, Tim and Chris. It has been very fun. Victorian Thompson Robinson, the Browns picked up on the first down, continue from the 21st here. that pass is incomplete, but for you, Aaron, like you have energy, your juice, you can see it, you can feel it, we were talking on the field before the game, you committed, you took a big pay cut, like you left 30 million on the table, what? Is it about walking into this situation that has you hungry and feeling young again?

Well, I love our team. I love the guys we have. I love the men and women who work for the organization. It's a really fun environment. I think that's what you have to do. When there's a big change in your life, you can either resist it or you can just jump in and surrender to the process and all the newness and just be excited, I mean, it's been a lot of fun to be around these young people and to be around a team that has very hungry and had some success last year, it obviously ended very tough, but the pieces are in place and Robert has done an incredible job putting together a staff that encourages these guys. that pushes these guys and makes them accountable and uh I'm just, you know, just a cog in that wheel and I know my role and it's important, but I'm excited to get the living working here, this is fun.

I mean, football is back, you know, it's August, it's training camp, but it's an exciting time of year, the old cog in the wheel that you are, but, parking the wheel right now is for the first time, I think I'm going to get an opportunity to do some things and have contributions at a level that maybe you've never had in your entire career. Mike McCarthy, the great coach Matt Leflore, will always have input and teach you your offense now that you have your friend Nathaniel Hackett there. and who's not just the really talented football coach, a good guy and someone you like to be around, give us the experience of putting this offense together, well it's a lot of fun, it's actually a lot of the things that we've put together afterwards.

season

19, when greed hit and we couldn't win in person, Matt, Nathaniel and I had a lot of meetings on Zoom when no one knew what Zoom was and then Zoom went crazy and it was like our lives were okay for a good part of uh the day was Zoom meetings that we hosted uh a combination of you know, a lot of things that Matt has done with some of the things that I did with Mike for so many years and then a lot of things that Nathaniel did in various places, obviously he has the pedigree of his father, the legendary football coach, um, and a lot of those things that we did in '20 and '21 that we had a lot of success with and then you know some other things that we learned By the way , but I love Nate, he's an amazing guy, he has a great wife and four amazing kids and he brings great energy to work every day and obviously he went through some growing pains last year, but you know, I think there were There are a lot of great lessons for him and I'm excited to work with him again.

It will be a blow, a late blow for a defensive player, keep this momentum going for the Browns. Sean Payton provided the comments. I think Golovas heard about them. Regarding Nathaniel's year in Denver and you came out very strong behind him and so did some of the other people on your team, that speaks a little bit about your personal relationship with him, what does he have as a guy that you've had? connected very well with him over the years, well, he's a man of great character, he has a lot of integrity, he cares about his people, you know, and his people are not just his family, but his family at work and shows us how.

He cares deeply all the time and brings incredible energy and vitality to the workplace. Anyone who has worked with him, you know, I think would probably speak very positively about his habits, his demeanor, his attitude, his flamboyance and all the things that make him. hack hack and that's why we love him so much and I mean it's like a dream to be able to be back with him just because not only is he a great football coach, but he's also a dear friend of mine. down for the Browns Felton with the run there, yeah, there's nothing better than seeing you guys with that number eight diamond around your neck and salsa, you guys hanging out at the basketball games.

Honestly, I've never seen anyone come in and just be one of the kids, you feel like you're one of the kids on this football team. My question for you is how soon can the kids catch up with you? But how soon can Garrett Wilson get to the level of Alan Lessard and Randall Cobb and be able to allow this offense to really be what it could be, well, I think pretty quickly, I think they're smart guys, they're talented guys and that. It's what we did a lot of in the off-season during OTA time, it was just a lot of conversation about what we're trying to do, what we're trying to accomplish, what to be prepared for, but Garrett, man, he's a special talent and, obviously, you know Joe has done a great job picking the offense and defense. rookie of the year, last year with, you know, my new best friend, Sauce and Garrett.

I mean, Garrett is an amazing kid, you know, I have a lot of love and respect for Devante and I feel like he's the best receiver in the league. So I'm not saying this lightly, but there are definitely traits that this 17 has and that that special 17 also has and I'm not going to put them in that category yet because I know Devonte is in a category of his own. but Garrett has the potential to be really special in this league for a long time because he has all the right things and he has the incredible old talent, he has a great work ethic and he is a great kid, I mean, he really is.

He's a good human being, he cares about it, he carries himself the right way, he gives himself like a seasoned veteran, but he has a humility that you would love to see in a young player, so I'm very excited to work. with him, unfortunately he's coming back from a little ankle thing he did in practice, but amazing kid and we have a lot of other guys in the room that have done great things. We have Nicole Hartman, who won a couple of championships. I've got Corey Davis, who's an extremely talented guy, Alan Lazard, who obviously I know Randall Cobb, there's also the young guys from the Knicks and a guy like Malik Taylor had a nice catch on the second drive here tonight, he did some things. good, so it's fun.

I mean, it's going to be tough for the team to get down to 53 because there's a lot of depth at a lot of positions, um, but yeah, man, I love my time here, I mean, I just accepted everything, uh. New. York and I had great opportunities at MSG and Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran concerts and you play and there's a lot of things to do. I'm enjoying it you're the mayor you're the mayor of New York shame here at the Jets it's a third and one up uh before we let you go and by the way you can join us at every preseason game this has been great I'm on TV Omar almost trying to move on right now put them on we're going we're killing them, they know his face.

I want to do one more thing with you after this first downplay here. Aaron uh Dorian Thompson Robinson, the rookie at UCLA, has good momentum here as he throws here, catches, good grip. Isaiah Mitchell Patton, shy in the first half. So you went to the Hall of Fame for the first time, you walked in there and walked past the bus and looked at all the buses. I realized it when I saw this. You're going to be one of those busts in the Hall of Fame. One day fame hit you while you were walking and taking in all that.

I mean, yes, he did. I've been a fan of the league for as long as I can remember and there have been so many incredible players that uh, I've played against now that are in the hall, I mean, tonight, uh, you know, DeMarcus Ware, Grande Barber, Darrell Rivas, uh You know, I played against those three guys, that's what happens when you've been around as long as I have. but it is a special place with so much great history. I mean, I've said this before I grew up wearing out this old VHS tape of Super Bowl highlights, so I'm a, you know, I've been in love with the game. since I can remember and this is always what I wanted to do to be able to continue doing it, to have this new and fun opportunity here to have 18 great years in Green Bay with a franchise of such history and then a The day you have that at the end The road is going to be pretty special, so when they call you, will you do like Demarcus and sing the national anthem?

Because I'm going to buy my tickets. Now I'm going to go ahead and buy. them now to be able to be here for that, I would stand next to the copy, as always. I said if Demarcus was going to sing and we laughed and then they announced a copy, I think she's going to introduce the singer and then he started. It was amazing, it was amazing, he did a good job, so his DTR was there ready for an hour and he stayed within limits. Oh, that's great, that's a talented kid, that's a west coast kid. I love seeing him at UCLA, he's not a good guy, yeah. he was with Chip Kelly there, good run right now, I told the slide tonight, although he took an unnecessary shot right there, come on BTR, get off buddy, you're mentoring the entire league, that's cool, hey , great, catching up, we'll see you against Patrick.

Mahomes, week four of Sunday Night Football, we can't wait to see you thanks man, congratulations on the new stop, the new shade of green and we look forward to seeing you, thanks guys, I appreciate it. Aaron Rodgers joins us from the bench. We appreciate his time here. It's Dorian Thompson