Getty Aaron Rodgers (left) and Jordan Love of the Packers
Former Packers star defensive back LeRoy Butler never actually played with Aaron Rodgers, having retired four years before Rodgers was taken in the first round of the NFL draft in 2005. But he’s been around the team since as a media personality and remains etched in Packers lore as the inventor of the Lambeau Leap.
On Sunday, before the Packers decimated the Bears in Chicago in the opening week of the NFL season, Butler picked the Packers to win and, along the way, had some words in support of new quarterback Jordan Love—in the process, though, he threw some shade in Rodgers’ path.
“Welp!,” Butler wrote, “It’s so refreshing not to Hear ‘i don’t have anyone to throw to’ or complain about the offense, shout out to @jordan3love, just throw to the open guy, and trust that YOU! Belong in this League @packers fans welcome to LOVE ERA! Enjoy the #Leap to success , pack 23-19.”
Welp! It’s so refreshing not to Hear “i don’t have anyone to throw to”,or complain about the offense”, shout out to @jordan3love, just throw to the open guy, and trust that YOU! Belong in this League @packers fans welcome to LOVE ERA! Enjoy the #Leap to success , pack 23-19
Now, where had Butler been hearing those complaints in recent years? Well, from Rodgers, of course. More on that later. Let’s start with love for Love.
Jordan Love Had Highest QB Rating in Week 1
The Love Era certainly is off to a rousing start, with Jordan Love moving the Packers to a whopping 38-20 win in his debut as the team’s committed starter. Love went for 245 yards passing on 15-for-27 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He posted a 123.2 quarterback rating, which was No. 1 in the NFL on Sunday.
He added three rushes for 12 yards and was sacked just once.
Love was the Packers’ first-round pick in 2020, taken with the 26th pick out of Utah State, a move that irked Rodgers at the time because he felt the team needed more help overall, especially at wide receiver. Bengals star Tee Higgins was taken seven picks after Love, and Colts 1,000-yard receiver Michael Pittman Jr. was selected with the pick after that.
“It feels great,” Love said on Sunday. “It feels great. It’s definitely been a long time coming for me — three years as a backup. Just watching, learning and growing, seeing this team work. It feels good to be out there leading those guys and being out there playing with them, finally. And to come away with a dub, it’s just what we wanted.”
How Much Did Aaron Rodgers Bash WRs?
Now, it can be debated exactly how much Rodgers bashed his receivers in his time with the Packers. He never flat-out said, “I don’t have anyone to throw to,” but he was very critical of the team’s young receivers in last year’s training camp ,when he said, “The young guys, especially young receivers, we’ve got to be way more consistent,” Rodgers said, according to ESPN. “A lot of drops, a lot of bad route decisions, running the wrong route.”
That comment led to the team calling a meeting between Rodgers, coaches and the young receivers. Throughout last season, too, there were rumblings that the receivers felt they were scapegoats, and did not much appreciate it.
Months earlier, Rodgers also complained about the Packers, “not paying (ex-Packers star) Davante Adams,” and lamented the team’s inability to bring in quality pass-catchers.
“There’s not a lot of teams that want to trade receivers to Green Bay, so I feel like we are at the back of the line for a lot of these teams,” Rodgers said. “Our picks are usually late, and nobody wants to trade in the conference a guy like Deebo (Samuel), probably.”
And there was more said, of course, behind the scenes, in rumors and unnamed reports. Butler is mostly right—Rodgers was not happy throwing to a young stable of wide receivers, but Love did not have much trouble doing so on Sunday.