Getty Quarterback Jordan Love #10 of the Green Bay Packers warms up prior to the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field on January 02, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Nothing says all is well in the Green Bay Packers’ quarterback room like a Twitter dunk session on the latest rumor concerning Aaron Rodgers.
One of the strangest rumors yet about Rodgers emerged on Friday when former NFL player and longtime analyst Boomer Esiason shared he received text messages from someone claiming to be in Rodgers’ “direct circle” who said the three-time NFL MVP quarterback was planning to threaten not to play in the Super Bowl — if the Packers make it — unless the league alters some of its COVID-19 rules.
Even stranger, Esiason had his radio co-host Gregg Giannotti read the texts live on the air during WFAN’s The Morning Show with Boomer & Gio on January 7 with a segment from the show later making the rounds on social media. Here’s what Giannotti read from someone that Esiason said he would trust with their information:
Boom, the Rodgers saga continues to get crazier and crazier. I’ve been told by multiple people in Aaron’s direct circle that if the Packers make the Super Bowl, he will use the week leading up to the Super Bowl to prove a major point. He will threaten the NFL by saying he won’t play in the big game or next season if they don’t eliminate some of the COVID-related rules. One big one that upsets him the most is the testing of non-symptomatic players. He’s told Jordan Love to be ready. Like you said, he’s got to make it first, but Super Bowl week will be set on fire and send (NFL commissioner Roger) Goddell in a frenzy navigating the situation.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Rodgers and the Packers’ other quarterbacks to catch wind of the report and take it for a spin around the Twitterverse.
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Packers QBs Dismiss Report as ‘Fake News’
As the subject of the ridiculous rumor, Rodgers took the first retaliation shot at Esiason’s show on Twitter when he mocked their quote about him telling Love — the Packers’ backup quarterback and 2020 first-round pick — to be ready for the Super Bowl and decried the report as #fakenews and the #dumbestf***ingstoryever.
It wasn’t long after that, though, when both of the Packers’ other quarterbacks — including third-stringer Kurt Benkert — decided to join in on the fun.
At one point, Rodgers even tagged former backup Matt Flynn and dragged him into the conversation after Love “admitted” he was the leaker in the boycott story. While Flynn warned to “leave me out of this one,” he also joked that he had been responsible for some of the leaks during the 2021 offseason about Rodgers and said that Love was “stealing my moves like he stole my number!”
@AaronRodgers12 @KurtBenkert Leave me out of this one… but i was definitely the leak this past off-season.
@jordan3love stealing my moves like he stole my number!
#boycottTKE #boycottchemtrails #boycottmoobs
Beyond making fun of the boycott story, Rodgers and Benkert also trolled each other about which of the two of them is better at Halo with Benkert issuing a challenge to his veteran quarterback with the message that it’s “time to send the old man into retirement.” Sure, Benkert has an Esports partnership, but Rodgers contends his “traditional” skills as a gamer will win out in the end.
And as long as the matchup is streamed, we all win in the end, right?