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New York Jets Quartback Aaron Rodgers unloaded on the hosts of ESPN’s SportsCenter and other sports pundits, making it clear that he isn’t happy with how sports television hosts have changed.
Rodgers made the comments on the Pat McAfee show on December 10, which is aired on the same network, ESPN. DailyMail.com called Rodgers’ comments an “astonishing rant.”
Sports Illustrated noted that Rodgers took “shots at ESPN while appearing on ESPN.”
“There’s a lot of people talking about the game now,” Rodgers said. “Both non-former players and former players who are trying to stay relevant fame-wise. So the takes and the criticism are a lot different than they were maybe in the mid-2000s.”
His comment came after A.J. Hawk asked Rodgers to discuss how things have changed during his time in the NFL. Rodgers discussed players, but he then went into the rant about ESPN.
“I’m talking about these experts on TV who nobody remembers what they did in their career,” Rodgers said on the show..
Aaron Rodgers Said Sports Hosts Try to ‘Stay Relevant’
Rodgers said he believes that sports punditry has changed during his time in the NFL.
“So in order for them to stay relevant, they have to make comments that keep them in the conversation. That wasn’t going on in 2008, 2009. The SportsCenter of my youth, those guys made highlights so much fun,” Rodgers said.
“And that’s what they showed on SportsCenter. Now it’s all talk shows and people whose opinions are so important now and they believe they’re the celebrities now, they’re the stars for just being able to talk about sports or give a take about sports, many of which are unfounded or asinine, as we all know. But that’s the environment we’re in now,” he added on the show.
Rodgers said that “all of that stuff has helped the popularity of our game.”
Rodgers made it clear that he wasn’t talking about McAfee during the segment.
Aaron Rodgers Also Said He Believes Football Players Have Changed
GettyFormer Detroit Lions foe Aaron Rodgers is with the New York Jets now, so he’s not as much a rival. Now, he’s sending a message to the Lions.
Rodgers said that NFL players are “bigger, stronger, and faster,” but he believes “football IQ has dropped.”
From a football skillset, he believes it’s better, Rodgers said.
He also said it’s a “different social media world” than when he started in the NFL. “Now there’s a lot of emphasis on the brand,” Rodgers said, adding that there are more opportunities to make money “off the field.”
Rodgers said the game today is “less violent,” and the players are better athletes.
“We’re mirroring society a bit. The softer we get, the softer our game gets,” Rodgers added.
Shailene Woodley Opened Up in an Interview About Her Relationship With Aaron Rodgers
GettyShailene Woodley
Rodgers’ comments came just days after actress Shailene Woodley opened up about her relationship with him in an interview with Outside Magazine in December 2024.
“I had a really awful, traumatic thing happen in early 2022,” she said to Outside, which notes that her “engagement to NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers was called off that February.”
Woodley also said, in another point in the interview, “I haven’t shared much about my relationship with Aaron because it always makes me cry. It was not right. But it was beautiful.”
Woodley described the toll that the situation took on her in the interview with Outside.
“I felt like I lost my soul, my self, my happiness, my joy,” she told the publication. “I really understood depression and anxiety and, like, complete soul detachment.”
She described it as a “toxic situation,” in which she was “empathizing with ‘someone else.'”
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Aaron Rodgers Rips ESPN Hosts in ‘Astonishing Rant’