Reigning back-to-back NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers has been brutally labelled the 'epitome of a diva' after the Green Bay Packers quarterback defended himself after a media report.
A report from The Athletic suggested that Rodgers uses hand signals - the same ones that he has used for years - but has not spoken to the younger and newer receivers on the team, and that they would have to learn them on the go with coaches not making them aware, nor are they even written down.
Rodgers was quick to defend himself against the report, stating that it was 'complete horse****', adding that every hand signal he uses is ran in practice during the week prior to a game.
But when discussing it on his FOX Sports show Undisputed, host Skip Bayless was quick to rip into Rodgers.
He said: "Since Day 1, even when Aaron Rodgers is riding at his highest MVP level, he is still the all-time finger pointing, blame defecting diva I’ve ever witnessed in football. He is the epitome of diva."
Bayless mockingly added: "He is above it all, he is too cool for everybody around him, he is the smartest man in the room... and that bites him in the butt in the post-season because there's no bond between him and his teammates. This team in Green Bay does not care about Aaron Rodgers because they know that he does not care about them."
The report from The Athletic suggested that a number of offensive players on the Packers team in 2021, even naming them, Equanimeous St-Brown (now Chicago Bears), Amari Rodgers (Houston Texans) and Kylin Hill (free agent) admitted that they did not feel comfortable around Rodgers.
More damningly, Rodgers' current back-up and the man expected to take over from him once he leaves, Jordan Love, reportedly admitted that the signal meetings are 'uneasy'.
In their most recent game against the Los Angeles Rams, rookie Christian Watson rang the wrong route after Rodgers changed the play at the line of scrimmage with a hand gesture. Rodgers threw the ball to Watson, but Watson had been instead run blocking, clearly unsure of the call made by Rodgers, who joked after the game that Watson 'would have had a touchdown if he ran the right route'.
Bayless added: "It looked like late in the game that Christian Watson was baffled by Rodgers hand signal. Did Aaron just pull it out from three years ago?".
Speaking on the article released by The Athletic, Rodgers told Pat McAfee: "It is by far the dumbest nothingburger article that I have read in the entire season. Ninety-five percent of that article is absolute complete horses--t.
"The other five percent is exaggerated nothingness that, I don't know. Having guys go through the signals each week and understand what the possible signals could be."
