Rodgers rips media ahead of ‘darkness’ retreat

Aaron Rodgers will not be exchanging Christmas cards with the biggest NFL insiders.

Rodgers did his weekly spot on “The Pat McAfee Show” and lambasted Ian Rapoport of NFL Media and ESPN’s Adam Schefter as people who he says have no insight into his mindset or inner circle.

“This thing has been planned for about four months, and it was always the same dates — always the end of this week,” Rodgers said. “Anybody with knowledge to the opposite of that is fake news. Let me just reiterate one more time: There’s an inner circle, and in my inner circle, nobody talks to Ian Rapoport, to Adam Schefter or to any of those people. So if you’re one of those people who’s talking to those people, it’s a great reminder to you: You’re not in the inner circle.”

Rapoport, a frequent guest on McAfee’s show, previously reported that Rodgers’ darkness retreat would begin Monday and Schefter has previously said both the Packers and Rodgers are aware a trade of the quarterback is a “very real possibility” this offseason.

“And if anybody else is out there saying stuff, or if they’re just making it up, which those are both likely, just stop with the fake news,” Rodgers continued in his rant. “I speak for myself and I will continue to do that. I’m not upset about it. It’s the classic media, trying to be first, not trying to be right. The problem is, there’s a slippery slope.

“So let me just remind everyone out there listening: When somebody says something — whether it’s Ian Rapoport or Adam Schefter, or Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Anthony Fauci, Joe Rogan, myself, anybody — question it. If it’s legitimate, it can stand up to questioning. So question things and then think about them and contemplate them in your own time, and then figure out what seems most likely to be true based on your own intuition and feel and conglomeration of fact.”

The Jets are among the teams that have reached out to the Packers should Rodgers become available on the trade market.

Eventually, Rodgers gave the pair of insiders a begrudging compliment.

“I think Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport are really good at their jobs but when it comes to me they don’t know s–t,” he said.