The Green Bay Packers are coming off a lackluster season that saw longtime head coach Mike McCarthy lose his job amid a deteriorating relationship with Aaron Rodgers.
And the drama hasn’t exactly cooled since the season came to an end with ex-teammates taking shots at Rodgers’ leadership in recent weeks. Jordy Nelson, though, came to his former teammate’s defense.
After hearing critical comments from Jermichael Finley (during Super Bowl week) and former defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila who called Rodgers “arrogant,” Nelson shut down the criticism in an interview with ESPN Wisconsin. Former Packers player LeRoy Butler, who never played with Rodgers, also took aim at the Packers quarterback this season.
Nelson said he considered the criticism comical and claimed that the former teammates were spreading negativity for headlines.
Via madison.com:
“Everyone knows negativity sells. People don’t want to hear (the good). People feel better about themselves when they hear bad things about other people. And that’s why that gets more pub.
“I mean, no one wants to hear that Aaron’s not only obviously a great quarterback but a great leader and does everything right. All right, there’s your story. What fun is that? So whenever they can, they go back to the well and get the same people to say the same stuff.”
Nelson played nine years alongside Rodgers in Green Bay before joining the Raiders last season.
He continued:
“I think if you look, there’s two guys — now three (with Gbaja-Biamilia) — saying it, compared to the hundreds that are saying the opposite. It doesn’t make sense. I think it’s comical when I read those comments.”
Nelson continued to defend Rodgers’ leadership qualities, saying that Rodgers’ expectation that players practice well was part of being a leader. He found it curious that these ex-teammates were taking issue with that.
You can listen to the full interview here.
