Aaron Rodgers: Brief preseason appearances ‘waste of time’
The Green Bay Packers are undecided about whether to have Aaron Rodgers take some preseason snaps, but the two-time reigning MVP knows where he stands on the issue.
Rodgers told reporters Tuesday that he sees no benefit to playing in the preseason, something he has not done since 2018.
“I think it’s kind of a no-win situation to the outside of the building,” Rodgers said. “If somebody gets hurt: ‘I can’t believe they played our guys.’ But if we go out and have a stinker (to start the season): ‘I can’t believe they didn’t play them.’
“You’ve just got to do what’s best for the squad, and (head coach) Matt (LaFleur) is going to do that. He’s going to lean on the leaders of the football team and if he feels like we need to go out and play, we’ll go out and play. But I don’t want to just go out and play three plays. That, to me, is a waste of time.”
The Packers will start Jordan Love in their preseason opener Friday against the San Francisco 49ers, LaFleur announced, adding that a decision about Rodgers’ playing time had yet to be made.
The star quarterback said he was not speaking about it Tuesday in order to “send a message to” LaFleur, because he’d already communicated his opinion to the coach.
“I definitely don’t see any benefit to playing one series,” Rodgers said. “If we’re going to play, we should play a quarter, a couple of series, two to three series. Just suiting up for four plays, to me, is a waste.”
LaFleur said Rodgers’ stance “stimulates conversation” among the staff about how to approach the preseason. He added that Rodgers won’t play Week 2 of the preseason against the New Orleans Saints, leaving open the possibility he gets in some work in the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“We’ll probably look at it after New Orleans,” LaFleur said. “So don’t ask me for a couple weeks.”
–Field Level Media
