Tiki torches Rodgers
Barber: Packers QB too ‘sensitive’ for New York
Tiki Barber isn’t so sure Aaron Rodgers would make it here.
On his customary spot on “The Pat McAfee Show” earlier this week, Rodgers said top NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter had no insight into him or his inner circle. Rapoport had reported what wound up being the incorrect date for the start of Rodgers’ darkness retreat, and Schefter had reported that both the Packers and Rodgers are aware a trade of the quarterback is a very real possibility this offseason.
Responding to Rodgers’ segment, on WFAN’s “Tiki & Tierney,” Barber said he believed the quarterback’s sensitivity over those reports does not portend well to life in the Big Apple should he get traded to the Jets.
“Earlier this week, Aaron Rodgers took some real shots at Ian Rapoport, basi- cally saying, ‘He doesn’t know anyone in my inner circle, he doesn’t have my number … basically shut the hell up, Ian,’ ” Barber said.
“As I’m reading the full quotes from his Pat McAfee weekly appearance, talking about Schefter and Rapoport … it just made me start to realize that if he is that sensitive that he gets upset that people, reporters, opinion-makers, influencers — whatever — want to talk about him, he is going to struggle in New York. I don’t know if I want him in New York if this is going to be his reaction to things that don’t matter.”
The 38-year-old Rodgers has been linked to the quarterback-needy Jets this offseason. Joe Namath was an early advocate of the idea and even offered to let Rodgers wear his long-retired number 12. The Jets, who hired former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett for the same role, have had preliminary discussions with Green Bay about a Rodgers trade, according to The Post’s Brian Costello.
“If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t want people talking about him, his offseason, his personal life and all these things that are going on with him, he needs to stop talking,” Barber, the former Giants running back, continued.
“When you go and you’re doing something that feels odd to normal society, which is going to sit in a cabin in the woods for four days in complete isolation, we’re gonna talk about it! We have to! It’s our job to!” Barber exclaimed. “For him to get offended by it, he’s not going to handle the intensity of the New York mediascape — traditional media, social, everything else — if he’s here. I don’t know if I want him here. Because it’s going to turn to a quick pain in the ass if Aaron Rodgers’ skin is that shallow that he’s taking shots at Ian Rapoport.”
It remains uncertain whether Rodgers will seek a trade, return to the Packers or retire after he emerges from his darkness retreat.