OPINION: Stranger Than Truth
Adam Schefter’s shattering report of Aaron Rodgers’ discontentedness with the Green Bay Packers on the opening night of the NFL Draft may have been journalistic malpractice, but the conclusion may still not be far from reality.
Schefter admitted on Dan Patrick Show last week that his “breaking news” on Rodgers was not from Rodgers’ camp, or the Packers or really anyone for that matter.
“It was nothing that morning that came in that all of a sudden said to me, ‘Yeah he wants out, you should report this’... It was just an accumulation of information,” Schefter said on DPS, adding the timing right before the draft was more based on what he viewed as the inevitable nature of such information being made public.
“I said, ‘How long until it gets out that Aaron Rodgers wants out of Green Bay?’” Schefter added on DPS. “It’s gonna come out. What does it matter if it comes out now or next week or next month?”
Before this revelation, all I could think about this week were the few times my fiancée has roped me into watching reality television. Whenever two people on a reality show get in a conflict, my mind avoids the temptation of the show to draw me into one side or the other. For whatever reason, the spell of being sucked into these conflicts rarely works on me. Instead, these programs elicit frustration at the cameras pushing in, the editors distorting the conflict or the writers of the show playing up the moment.
Am I disappointed with the lack of communication to clear up misnomers from Rodgers after he returned from his weekend trip to the Kentucky Derby? Absolutely.
Am I disappointed with the Packers for putting Rodgers in a situation where his job does not feel secure when he’s playing at a level few have ever dreamt of? Absolutely.
Am I allowing the incessant speculation of the national sports talk industry to blow the issue out of proportion and make me pick a side right now? No.
While Schefter should definitely not have passed the writing on the wall off as a source, the writing is still there. It has been there in the form of drafting Jordan Love and in Rodgers’ press conference after January’s NFC Championship game among other public comments. The man himself has expressed a desire to play potentially into his 40s for Green Bay, and the pick of Love suggested at least at the time that the Packers may not have planned for the same. His leverage as the league MVP is also as high as it could be without a reigning Super Bowl title. Those are the important facts to keep in mind in the months ahead, not click-baity reports of text messages, speculation on Rodgers’ likelihood of returning and third-hand hearsay.
There will be a lot of noise over the next month as a June 1 hurdle clears that makes the trading of Rodgers easier on the Packers’ salary cap. There is also not a lot to talk about in this long lull between the draft and training camp. Expect a microscope that lingers through each preseason snap taken by Love.
As much as many Packers faithful would like it to, some reporters like Schefter will not simply sit by and let this play out in its own time.
