Maybe Aaron Rodgers should R-E-L-A-X.
The Packers quarterback went off on Tuesday regarding the effort of his team’s younger receivers during one specific period during the team’s practice.
“I think it was one of the worst carded sessions we’ve had,” Rodgers said. “I don’t know how you can make it simpler. You literally have what the play would be in our terminology of the card. And the effort level was very low, especially what I’m accustomed to, having run that period for a number of years. It’s not a good start for us on the carded period for the young guys. I think [DeAngelo] Yancey has really progressed, [Geronimo Allison], obviously 16 [Jake Kumerow]. But everybody else was piss poor.”
It’s a surprising degree of candor from Rodgers, who clearly was disappointed in the team’s decision to dump receiver Jordy Nelson during the offseason. Rodgers also has expressed a certain degree of frustration regarding the fact that his contract extension wasn’t finalized before the start of training camp, and it’s possible that he now has a somewhat shorter fuse than maybe he’s had in the past.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Packers react to the uncharacteristic decision of Rodgers to call them out publicly, and whether this is the start of a new trend for Rodgers as he tries to get the most out of the players around him.