Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers explained that limited cell phone service at his home in California was at least partly to blame for the direct communication issues between himself and the Packers this offseason.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said last month he was unable to reach Rodgers during the process as the team was building out its plan at quarterback for 2023 and beyond. In response to the accusation, Rodgers said the use of Facetime (which uses local network connection instead of cell towers) is required to get ahold of him while he’s at his home, and no one from the Packers used the video service to call him.
“People that know me, I’m fortunate to live in a beautiful house. The only downside is I have very limited cell service. If you want to get ahold of me…you have to Facetime me,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers also claimed the Packers are using the communication issues as the primary reason for moving on to Jordan Love, and he said he would have preferred to hear the team’s plans to transition to Love earlier in the offseason. Unaware entering his darkness retreat early in the offseason, he explained his options after coming out were retire or move on to another team.
“That’s the direction they wanted to go, the story they couldn’t get ahold of me, which led to this being the case. My point was, if there was a change that was wanting to be made, why wasn’t that told to me earlier in the offseason?”
Here’s the full answer to the question from Matt Schneidman of The Athletic during Rodgers’ introductory press conference on Wednesday:
Full question by @mattschneidman and full answer by @AaronRodgers12 about what happened this offseason and the claim by #Packers GM Brian Gutekunst that he couldn’t get ahold of Rodgers👇
“I have very little cell service…you gotta FaceTime me.” -Rodgers pic.twitter.com/90c8DE0pMu
— Hunter Baumgardt (@hunterbonair) April 26, 2023
Later in the press conference, Rodgers posed with his new No. 8 Jets uniform.
Gutekunst will speak to the local Green Bay media at 4:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday. This story will be updated after he speaks.
