Getty Russell Wilson #3 of the Seattle Seahawks greets Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers after the Packers defeated the Seahawks 28-23 in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Lambeau Field on January 12, 2020 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Ron Wolf doesn’t seem too happy about how much power Aaron Rodgers and other top quarterbacks wield in today’s NFL.
Wolf — who traded for a young Brett Favre and helped turn the Green Bay Packers into perennial contenders during his nine-year run (1991-2000) as general manager — was asked to discuss his former team’s situation with their franchise quarterback during his guest appearance on The Big Show Radio Network earlier this week and spent a bit of time talking about the “divas” playing quarterback in the modern NFL.
While Wolf was clear he knows “nothing” of substance about the back-and-forth between Rodgers and the Packers and says he feels out of touch with the modern NFL, the 82-year-old front-office legend also noted the “huge change” he has seen taking place with quarterbacks trying to seize more control than the position once provided.
Here’s what Wolf said when he weighed in on Rodgers’ situation on Monday:
There is a huge change, and it started with Russell Wilson, then went to (Deshaun) Watson, and now we got (Aaron) Rodgers. It appears that today’s quarterbacks want to be more than quarterbacks. In my time, they were hired to play the position of quarterback. That’s what they are being paid to for and that’s what they’re being paid to do. But these guys, they want to pick the coach, pick the players; it’s an interesting dilemma. … All three of these guys have signed long-term contracts, and they are under contract. I’m sure at that time there wasn’t anyone holding a gun to their head saying that you have to sign. But now, they’re not happy. They’re not happy with the team they signed a contract with, so it me, it’s very, very interesting.
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Wolf Struggles to Understand ‘Divas’ in Today’s NFL
Now, Wolf wasn’t trying to go out of his way to be critical of today’s NFL players. He was having a candid, how-the-times-have-changed conversation with two retired NFL players — ex-Packers Gary Ellerson and LeRoy Butler —who generally agreed with him about the growing prestige of the league’s top names.
At one point, the group even riffed about how NFL teams might want to consider adding personnel to their staff who are responsible for managing relationships with top-tier players, such as Rodgers or Watson, and ensuring they never become discontent with the team enough to cause friction. If a team was convinced it would help, Wolf thought it was a possibility worth considering, but he does have a tough time understanding why it would be necessary in the first place.
“Looks like we’ve got a lot of divas playing in the league right now,” Wolf said Monday. “It’s an interesting phenomenon as far as I’m concerned about what’s going on here. And the thing that I fail to understand is all these guys that are doing this have long-term deals. I just can’t believe the game has changed that remarkably.”
Wolf Touts Greatness of Packers, Not Rodgers
Wolf has given his thoughts on Green Bay’s situation with Rodgers a few times since the beginning of May and, predictably, showed profound loyalty to the organization he helped lead into the new millennium. In his mind, there is no better place for Rodgers — or any player, for that matter —than with the Packers, where “everything they do is about the player.”
“Now, I’m not really sure what the deal is with Rodgers — what is upsetting him,” Wolf told NFL enterprise reporter Tyler Dunne via a recent piece for Go Long with Tyler Dunne. “In my opinion, you can’t be in a better place. Everything there is geared toward the player. Everything they do is about the player. That’s the greatness of that franchise. To me, that’s why it’s been so successful. It’s about playing football. That’s all. It’s not about any other thing. It’s not about going to some owner’s wife’s tea party. This affair or that affair. It’s about playing football and being a professional football player. That’s all it is. That’s really the greatness of the Packers.”
Wolf wasn’t quoted saying anything specifically about Jordan Love in Dunne’s article, but he was inclined to throw his support behind Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst for his decision to trade up and get him at No. 26 overall in the 2020 NFL draft. In his mind, it is all about what best serves the interest of the Packers.
“You have to protect your operation, your organization,” Wolf said. “And if you have a guy who you think is that good and you’re willing to take him in the first round, you better take him — regardless of the position. And there isn’t a better person to take than a person at that position to protect your football team. What I’ve read is they’re really upset because the Packers didn’t take a wide receiver. I mean, they look like they’re doing OK with receivers.”