Packers’ Rodgers: Relationship with GM ‘work in progress’
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said his relationship with general manager Brian Gutekunst is a “work in progress,” but he has nothing but affection for the man Gutekunst drafted as his possible replacement: backup Jordan Love.
Rodgers returned to the Packers last week, reporting on time for training camp after an offseason in which he made clear he was unhappy with the organization. The three-time MVP skipped Green Bay’s organized team activities and mandatory minicamp, and he acknowledged he doesn’t know whether he will be back with Green Bay next season, saying he just wants to focus on this year.
Love took the majority of reps at minicamp and likely would have been the Packers’ starter this season if Rodgers hadn’t returned, a situation for which Rodgers has some sympathy. Rodgers did his part by staying in touch with his understudy.
“I didn’t hold things from him,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “I let him know where I was at mentally and what I was thinking about. And hopefully he appreciated that. I just felt that’s what I would want in that situation, just to hear from the guy.”
As for Gutekunst, the
conversation hasn’t always flowed as freely, but Rodgers said their recent communication has been positive.
“Relationships aren’t formed in a matter of a couple days,” Rodgers said. “There’s time where the respect grows and the communication follows. I think the greatest relationships that you have with your friends and loved ones involved conversation and flow. You can not talk to a close friend for a few months and pick up right where you left off. There’s no break in communication, there’s no forced conversations or you’ve got to hit this person up because it’s on your to-do list that day.
“It’s all about wanting to have those conversations and wanting to be in
conversation like that, and we’ve had a couple conversations, and they’ve been positive conversations.”
Both men last week used the word “professional” to describe their relationship.
The 37-year-old Rodgers said last week that his concerns included wanting to have a voice in the Packers’ decision-making process and believing the organization didn’t treat departing high-character veterans with enough respect. He also had expressed an interest in helping the Packers recruit free agents.
Those words had an immediate an impact when the Packers brought back one of Rodgers’ former favorite targets, Randall Cobb, a move Gutekunst said he wouldn’t have made without Rodgers’ input.