Tag: Green Bay Packers
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Report: Packers QB Jordan Love to have shoulder examined
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love will have his throwing shoulder examined Sunday, NFL Network reported.
The second-year signal-caller’s preseason debut Saturday night was cut short after he got “dinged” during a sack late in the second quarter, according to head coach Matt LaFleur.
Love, 22, completed 12 of 17 passes or 122 yards and one touchdown before being replaced by Kurt Benkert in a 26-7 loss to the visiting Houston Texans.
The Packers drafted Love in the first round in 2020 out of Utah State but he did not see any action as a rookie last season. He is expected to be the backup to three-time MVP Aaron Rodgers this season.
–Field Level Media
Packers WR Devin Funchess apologizes for Asian slur
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Devin Funchess apologized early Sunday for using an Asian racial slur during a press conference Saturday night.
“I want to apologize for the disparaging remark I used tonight,” Funchess posted on Twitter. “It was not ok. I have grown to develop deep personal and business relationships in the Asian community! I meant no harm, and those that know me, know I have love and respect for all cultures and people. I will learn from this and will continue to grow as a person. I’m forever sorry!”
Speaking with the media after Green Bay’s Family Night practice at Lambeau Field, Funchess said he was happy to see reporters in person after previously meeting only virtually via Zoom. Vaccinated reporters are still required to wear masks at press conferences.
“I can tell you were smiling when I see your face,” Funchess told a reporter. “I can see your face. Everybody goes (slur) and that’s when I know.”
Funchess, 27, simultaneously pointed to his eyes, an offensive gesture against Asians.
Funchess opted out of the 2020 season with the Packers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He missed most of the 2019 season with the Indianapolis Colts after breaking his collarbone in Week 1.
A second-round draft pick by Carolina in 2015, Funchess has 164 catches for 2,265 yards and 21 touchdowns in 62 games (41 starts) with the Panthers (2015-18) and Colts.
–Field Level Media
Reports: Packers, WR Davante Adams break off extension talks
Talks between wide receiver Davante Adams and the Green Bay Packers on a long-term extension reportedly have broken down on the eve of training camp.
NFL Network said Friday that the Packers have no plans to resume negotiations with the four-time Pro Bowl selection, who is entering his final season under contract in 2021.
Adams, 28, led the league with 18 touchdown receptions and broke his own franchise record with 115 catches for 1,374 yards in just 14 games last season. He was a First-Team All-Pro selection.
He signed a four-year, $58 million extension in December 2017. The average value of $14.5 million is currently the 18th-highest total in the league among receivers, according to OverTheCap.com.
Per NFL Network, the Packers’ proposals to Adams have not included making him the NFL’s highest-paid wideout.
DeAndre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals holds that spot at $27.25 million, followed by Julio Jones of the Tennesee Titans ($22 million), Keenan Allen of the Los Angeles Chargers ($20.02 million) and Amari Cooper of the Dallas Cowboys ($20 million).
Green Bay considers Hopkins’ salary an outlier, per multiple reports.
In an interview last month with Bleacher Report, Adams said his goal was to remain with the Packers beyond 2021. He also acknowledged that his future with the franchise will be impacted by the situation with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who reportedly rejected an extension offer this offseason that would have made the three-time MVP the league’s highest-paid player.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere,” Adams said. “That’s only one piece of it, though. Obviously the quarterback situation helps it, but the stars got to align across the board as far as contractually. We’ll figure all that stuff out and let it happen. I’ll be at training camp like I said regardless, we’re going to play the season, and we’ll see how all of that pans out.”
Adams, a second-round pick by the Packers in 2014, has 546 catches for 6,568 yards and 62 touchdowns in 100 games (93 starts).
–Field Level Media
Report: Aaron Rodgers declined Packers’ top-dollar offseason offer
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers declined a two-year contract extension in the offseason that would have made him the NFL’s highest-paid player, ESPN reported Tuesday.
Rodgers kept his distance from the Packers throughout the offseason, never touching down in Green Bay or entering the team facility since the season ended in a disappointing playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
ESPN reported the deal would have tied Rodgers to Green Bay for five more years and made him the “highest-paid player and quarterback” in the NFL.
The nine-time Pro Bowl selection is not on good terms with the Packers’ front office or individual decision-makers in the personnel department.
Rodgers, 37, took issue with multiple instances of what he considers failed communication from the team, including trading up in the 2020 draft to select quarterback Jordan Love in the first round.
But Rodgers said in May that “it’s never been about the draft pick.”
“I love Jordan; he’s a great kid,” he told ESPN. “(It is) a lot of fun to work together. Love the coaching staff, love my teammates, love the fan base in Green Bay. An incredible 16 years. It’s just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.”
The Packers open training camp next week but team president Mark Murphy said in a question and answer session last week he had no new information on the Rodgers situation.
“I would just say there’s nothing new to update on the issue that you raised,” Murphy said.
Rodgers won his third Most Valuable Player award in 2020 after leading the NFL and setting franchise records for both completion percentage (70.7) and touchdown passes (48).
–Field Level Media
Report: Aaron Rodgers to skip Packers’ mandatory minicamp
Aaron Rodgers is expected to skip the Green Bay Packers’ mandatory minicamp when it gets underway Tuesday, according to a report from ESPN.
The Packers could fine Rodgers $93,085 for not reporting, or they could mark the absence as excused and not levy a fine.
Regardless, ESPN reported, the veteran quarterback has no plans to join his teammates for the session.
The tension between Rodgers and the Packers’ front office has simmered throughout the offseason. Rodgers reportedly requested a trade, which the Packers have not granted, and now both sides appear headed toward a standoff as training camp approaches.
Rodgers, 37, has played with the Packers for his entire 16-year career. He has passed for 51,245 yards and 412 touchdowns, and he won a Super Bowl ring with the franchise at the end of the 2010 season.
Quarterbacks Jordan Love, Blake Bortles and Kurt Benkert are listed behind Rodgers on the team’s depth chart.
–Field Level Media
Packers don’t know if Aaron Rodgers will show for minicamp
A week away from mandatory minicamp, the Green Bay Packers have no clue if star quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be in attendance or not. The team’s head coach, Matt LaFleur, admitted as much on Wednesday to Packersnews.com.
“It’s important that we have all our guys and certainly we’d love him to be here and hopefully we’ll see him Tuesday,” LaFleur said.
Rodgers has skipped voluntary workouts with the Packers — atypical from his usual behavior — after the world became aware of his desire to leave Green Bay on Draft Day.
The Packers have continued to insist they have no plans to cut or trade Rodgers, and Rodgers risks fines of $93,000 if he bails on mandatory workouts.
Just last week, the reigning NFL MVP told ESPN’s “SportsCenter” that his issue with the organization is more about philosophy and less about the team drafting his presumed replacement, Jordan Love, a year ago.
“It’s just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go,” Rodgers said. “It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.”
Last year Rodgers, 37, threw for 4,299 yards and a career-best 48 touchdowns with just five interceptions in leading the Packers to the best record in the NFC (13-3) and an NFC Championship Game appearance.
Packers minicamp begins June 8.
–Field Level Media
Brett Favre doesn’t expect Aaron Rodgers to play for Packers again
Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre believes the reported schism between Aaron Rodgers and the franchise is real, and big enough that it is a long shot Rodgers will ever suit up for the legendary franchise again.
Reports leaked on the first day of the NFL Draft that Rodgers was miffed with the Packers, specifically their front office, and told some within the organization he’d never play for them again. In a radio interview with ESPN Wisconsin, Favre said he wasn’t optimistic Rodgers would return.
“I think I know Aaron fairly well,” Favre said, “and honestly I just don’t see him coming back and just saying, ‘All right, let’s just bury the hatchet, whatever caused the rift, and I’m just going to come back and play because I love the guys, I love the Green Bay fans’ — I assume he does — but his rift isn’t with the fans or the players. It’s with the front office. Will he just swallow his pride and come in? Maybe. But I don’t see that happening.”
Favre even envisioned how the situation will unfold.
“If there’s not a trade, my gut tells me that he’d rather sit out than play. That’s just my gut,” Favre said. “There’s no reason for me to say that other than that’s what my gut’s telling me, and I think you guys know Aaron fairly well enough to sort of feel the same way.”
Publicly, the Packers have committed to Rodgers being their quarterback in 2021 and beyond. The reigning league MVP led the Packers to a Super Bowl XLV victory in February 2011, but they haven’t been back to the title game since.
Among Rodgers’ reported grievances are that the Packers selected a quarterback, Jordan Love, in the first round of the 2020 draft rather than a wide receiver, and that he felt slighted that the team released receiver Jake Kumerow one day after he praised Kumerow in an interview.
Favre was in a similar situation with Rodgers waiting to take over behind him. Green Bay now has Love waiting in the wings. Three years after Rodgers was drafted, Favre was pushed out in a trade to the New York Jets as the Rodgers era began.
Favre said he hopes Rodgers can deliver another Super Bowl to Green Bay before the end of his time there.
“But the thing is, life’s too short,” he added. “I want him to be happy. He’s been there as long as I was there, and I know what that means, and he’s put up unbelievable numbers. Win another Super Bowl and then do what you want to do, whether it’s keep playing, play somewhere else, whatever. But win one more in Green Bay and go out the way you want to go out.”
Favre said he sent a text to Rodgers on Thursday when the news of him wanting out first broke.
Rodgers told Favre, “‘Thanks for checking on me. I’ll touch base with you after all this is over.’”
“And that was it,” Favre added. “We haven’t talked since.”
–Field Level Media