Latest / Best of the NFL Podcast Network / The Season with Peter Schrager: Aaron Rodgers
Transcript
- 0:07Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
- 0:09Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody? Welcome to
- 0:24Speaker 1: the Season with Peter Schrager, a brand new episode here.
- 0:28Speaker 1: I'm joined by my wonderful producer, Aaron wang Kaufman. Aaron,
- 0:34Speaker 1: Welcome to week two of training camp. My friend.
- 0:37Speaker 2: It's pretty exciting getting lots of video seeing all these
- 0:41Speaker 2: rookies making big catches, and you know it's you had
- 0:46Speaker 2: your own little trip to training camp which made some
- 0:48Speaker 2: waves too.
- 0:50Speaker 1: Yes, good intro. That's what this podcast is going to
- 0:52Speaker 1: be about. If you listen to this podcast, you know
- 0:55Speaker 1: we try to get you behind the scenes stuff. We
- 0:57Speaker 1: try to bring in coaches and general managers. I don't
- 1:00Speaker 1: often bring in current players as guests because I feel
- 1:03Speaker 1: like they're usually pretty measured and we're not getting anything
- 1:06Speaker 1: that you're not going to get at the podium. And
- 1:08Speaker 1: in the rare instance that you do get one of
- 1:09Speaker 1: these all access interviews with a current player, it might
- 1:13Speaker 1: be with a former teammate of theirs. I honestly feel
- 1:15Speaker 1: like coaches and general managers and media guys and celebrity
- 1:19Speaker 1: fans that's my wheelhouse. Current players often are twenty years
- 1:23Speaker 1: younger than me. They're often in a pr restricted forum
- 1:29Speaker 1: where okay, i'll give you this guy, but you get
- 1:32Speaker 1: fifteen minutes with them, and you've got to either a
- 1:34Speaker 1: plug the foundation first and foremost that he's working with fine,
- 1:38Speaker 1: or be the product endorsement he is dealing with. Again,
- 1:42Speaker 1: I've got great relationships with a lot of these guys
- 1:44Speaker 1: around the NFL. I respect the players more anything. But
- 1:46Speaker 1: as podcast guests few and far between, would it be
- 1:51Speaker 1: a guy that I'm like, all right, let's go thirty
- 1:53Speaker 1: minutes deep and let's really bring out what makes you
- 1:56Speaker 1: what you are and tell us stories from current players?
- 1:59Speaker 1: Rare exceptions. George Kittle wants to come on, always welcome,
- 2:03Speaker 1: you know. And then there's one guy, one guy in
- 2:06Speaker 1: the league who I think is always unfiltered, He's always himself,
- 2:11Speaker 1: is always authentic, can be polarizing to many, can be
- 2:16Speaker 1: fascinating to all. And that's Aaron Rodgers. This podcast is
- 2:21Speaker 1: about my interview with Aaron Rodgers Sunday at Jets training camp,
- 2:25Speaker 1: and I wanted to set the stage. I wanted to
- 2:27Speaker 1: give you all the behind the scenes. I wanted to
- 2:29Speaker 1: give you the context because we're recording this on Tuesday morning,
- 2:32Speaker 1: and I was out at a local restaurant yesterday and
- 2:36Speaker 1: this doesn't happen. Ever. There's a little TV and ESPN's
- 2:42Speaker 1: on and PTI is on, and I look up to
- 2:44Speaker 1: PTI and it's not Tony and Mike's faces. It's my
- 2:47Speaker 1: mug with Aaron Rodgers. And the guy sitting at the
- 2:50Speaker 1: bar looked at me and kind of gave me that
- 2:52Speaker 1: weird look and I just kind of nodded and walked out.
- 2:55Speaker 1: NFL network stuff is not often used on ESPN, and
- 2:58Speaker 1: it was the lead story on ESPN, And this interview
- 3:02Speaker 1: was actually done on NFL Plus, which is the streaming
- 3:05Speaker 1: app that we were talking about last week on the
- 3:07Speaker 1: Gronk podcast that the NFL is putting a lot of
- 3:10Speaker 1: eggs into their basket to kind of push And I'd
- 3:13Speaker 1: like to think I had the first NFL Plus moment
- 3:16Speaker 1: and it had nothing to do really with me at all.
- 3:18Speaker 1: It was Rogers and it was Sean Payton. And as
- 3:22Speaker 1: much as I appreciate the many texts and tweet some
- 3:26Speaker 1: people saying that the way I crafted the question to
- 3:28Speaker 1: get to Aaron Rodgers's money quote was masterful, it was
- 3:32Speaker 1: really all Rogers, and I just gave him a runway.
- 3:35Speaker 1: So this is the story behind the story for Sunday's
- 3:40Speaker 1: bombshell Aaron Rodgers interview that I conducted at Jets Camp. Aaron,
- 3:45Speaker 1: let me first set it up a couple days earlier.
- 3:49Speaker 1: Thursday morning, I'm at Good Morning Football, hosting the morning show,
- 3:52Speaker 1: our first week back from a nice summer vacation, and
- 3:55Speaker 1: I get a text from my friend Adam Weinberg, who
- 3:58Speaker 1: is a football fan and does not work in the league,
- 4:00Speaker 1: and says, holy bleep, did you read these quotes from
- 4:05Speaker 1: Sean Payton in USA Today? And I'm like, USA Today,
- 4:11Speaker 1: Sean Payton. Peyton's a dear friend of mine. I spent
- 4:14Speaker 1: all last year with him at Fox. I know Sean Payton.
- 4:18Speaker 1: What quotes did Sean payn have that are bombshow? Quotes
- 4:20Speaker 1: in the USA Today? And I'm not dismissing the work
- 4:22Speaker 1: of Jared Bell, who's a Hall of favorite, Like usually
- 4:25Speaker 1: this comes from the Beat reporter if he's gonna have
- 4:28Speaker 1: some bombshell thing, or it's coming on McAfee's show, or
- 4:31Speaker 1: Jared Bell with a sit down in print that went
- 4:35Speaker 1: to the USA Today, I'm like, what are you talking about.
- 4:38Speaker 1: We finished the show and the article is published and
- 4:42Speaker 1: Aaron Sean Payton's comments in the USA today blew me away.
- 4:46Speaker 1: Let's go through some of them. This was from Sean
- 4:49Speaker 1: Payton last Thursday. Jared Bell, great, great reporter, legendary Hall
- 4:54Speaker 1: of Fame writer, and here's Peyton. Can I say this
- 4:58Speaker 1: to you. I'm gonna be pissed off if this is
- 5:00Speaker 1: not a playoff team. Winning is the salve for the
- 5:03Speaker 1: whole organization, makes everyone feel better. Okay, nothing crazy there yet,
- 5:08Speaker 1: I feel like that wasn't the quote that I was like, uh,
- 5:12Speaker 1: and then we keep going. It doesn't happen often where
- 5:16Speaker 1: an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed, and that happened here.
- 5:21Speaker 1: Part of it was their own fault relative to spending
- 5:24Speaker 1: so much expletive time trying to win the off season,
- 5:27Speaker 1: the pr the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and
- 5:32Speaker 1: all this stuff. Okay, that's a shot at the old regime,
- 5:37Speaker 1: but also some guys who still work there in Denver.
- 5:40Speaker 2: Yeah, getting a little muddy there, little muddy.
- 5:43Speaker 1: Next line, there's so much dirt around what happened to
- 5:47Speaker 1: Russell Wilson last year. There's twenty dirty hands for what
- 5:52Speaker 1: was allowed tolerated in the freaking training rooms, the meeting rooms,
- 5:55Speaker 1: the offense. I don't know Hackett. A lot of people
- 5:59Speaker 1: had dirt on their hands. It wasn't just Russell. He
- 6:02Speaker 1: didn't just flip. He still has it this bs that
- 6:06Speaker 1: he he hit a wall.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Shoot.
- 6:08Speaker 1: They couldn't get a play in. There were twenty ninth
- 6:10Speaker 1: in the league in pre snap penalties on both sides
- 6:13Speaker 1: of the ball. That was the parents who allowed it.
- 6:16Speaker 1: That's not an incrimination on him, but an incrimination on
- 6:20Speaker 1: the head coach, the GM by the way, Aaron George Peyton,
- 6:24Speaker 1: who's still there, the president, Demani Leach, former NFL league employee,
- 6:29Speaker 1: still there, and everybody else who watched it all happen. Oh,
- 6:35Speaker 1: all right, there's more now. A quarterback having an office
- 6:39Speaker 1: and a place to watch film is normal. But all
- 6:42Speaker 1: those things get magnified when you're losing and all that
- 6:46Speaker 1: other stuff. I've never heard of it. We're not doing that.
- 6:50Speaker 1: And and that was in regard to him having a
- 6:53Speaker 1: personal quarterbacks coach with him last year in Denver, who
- 6:56Speaker 1: would in addition to the coaching staff which was like
- 6:58Speaker 1: twenty five deep, they also had his personal guy on site.
- 7:03Speaker 2: Which is not totally unheard of, right, I mean, yes, it's.
- 7:05Speaker 1: Totally unheard that you wouldn't have your own personal quarterbacks
- 7:08Speaker 1: coach in the building all day. Yes, unheard of, Aaron.
- 7:11Speaker 1: You'd have your quarterbacks coach, you'd have your offensive coordinator,
- 7:14Speaker 1: your head coach. You wouldn't have this guy also there
- 7:17Speaker 1: in addition to the staff. You would have them in
- 7:19Speaker 1: the off season, or you can work with them on
- 7:21Speaker 1: your own time. That was a first for me, dude.
- 7:24Speaker 1: And then the last couple. Everything I heard about last season,
- 7:30Speaker 1: we are doing the opposite. And the last one. They
- 7:36Speaker 1: can only beat the blank out of you so much.
- 7:38Speaker 1: But everybody's got a little stink on their hands. It's
- 7:41Speaker 1: not just Russell. It was a poor offensive line. It
- 7:44Speaker 1: might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in
- 7:46Speaker 1: the history of the NFL. That's how bad it was.
- 7:53Speaker 1: H Okay, So let me unpack this a little bit
- 7:57Speaker 1: that happens on Thursday. My phone's blown up because A
- 8:00Speaker 1: it's just an unbelievably candid interview with a head coach. B.
- 8:04Speaker 1: You never never on the record here a coach talk
- 8:11Speaker 1: about the previous coach like this. It's almost like what
- 8:15Speaker 1: do they say, there's a code amongst thieves, and this
- 8:17Speaker 1: one there's just like there's a there's a code, you know,
- 8:20Speaker 1: Omerta almost like we're all in this together, We're all
- 8:24Speaker 1: gonna cross paths, We're all gonna know someone who knows
- 8:27Speaker 1: someone you don't do that. He did it, and he
- 8:31Speaker 1: did it at Nathaniel Hackett, who universally is beloved by
- 8:37Speaker 1: people who know him as a guy, like we've had
- 8:40Speaker 1: him on our podcast. I think, Aaron, you got a
- 8:42Speaker 1: feel for Hackett, right, like.
- 8:44Speaker 2: Just yeah, very nice guy and like sweetheart.
- 8:48Speaker 1: Like a good man with two kids, a wife. Hackett's
- 8:54Speaker 1: you know, uprooting his entire life. He's embarrassed as is
- 8:56Speaker 1: how this thing went down. And then I think a
- 8:59Speaker 1: lot of people were turned off by Peyton's comments on
- 9:02Speaker 1: the surface, and then you look at who he said
- 9:04Speaker 1: it about, Hackett, who's a good guy and as well
- 9:06Speaker 1: liked and around a lot of places, and people know
- 9:08Speaker 1: that he's already been through the crap of it, right
- 9:11Speaker 1: like he already was fired fifteen weeks into his season.
- 9:13Speaker 1: He already was the laughing stock last year. He still
- 9:16Speaker 1: got a career he wants to have, and here he
- 9:19Speaker 1: is starting a new season, and gosh, for it to
- 9:21Speaker 1: start off with these quotes coming out. I think that
- 9:24Speaker 1: rubbed a lot of people wrong. Then there was a
- 9:26Speaker 1: shot at the Jets. Here's Peyton in the article on
- 9:30Speaker 1: hard knocks. We're not doing any of that. The Jets
- 9:34Speaker 1: did that this year. You watch hard Knocks, all of it.
- 9:37Speaker 1: I can see it coming. Remember when former Washington owner
- 9:40Speaker 1: Dan Snyder put that dream team together. I was at
- 9:42Speaker 1: the Giants in two thousand. I was a young coach.
- 9:44Speaker 1: I thought, how are we going to compete with them?
- 9:47Speaker 1: Dion's there now? Well that team won eight games or whatever,
- 9:50Speaker 1: So listen, just put the work in on that like
- 9:54Speaker 1: the Jets. The Jets didn't. They didn't ask for hard knocks.
- 9:57Speaker 1: Like the league asked the Jets to do hard on.
- 9:59Speaker 1: That's resisted. The League pushed harder, the Jets resisted. I
- 10:03Speaker 1: don't think the ownership group of the Jets were looking
- 10:05Speaker 1: for a Hall of Game and hard knock. So like
- 10:08Speaker 1: Sean suggesting that that was the case is whatever. And
- 10:11Speaker 1: then Sala obviously had his comments if they're not hating,
- 10:14Speaker 1: you ain't popping, which I'd never heard that line before.
- 10:17Speaker 1: I also liked it so now you've got Hackett, you've
- 10:21Speaker 1: got the Jets. Jets being compared to the two thousand
- 10:24Speaker 1: Washington Redskins, which was a team in infamy that was
- 10:27Speaker 1: like a dream team that went bust, and for twenty
- 10:30Speaker 1: four hours, everybody is a buzz. So then Sean gets
- 10:34Speaker 1: to the podio. I mean, I think everyone's expecting this
- 10:36Speaker 1: grand apology or him doubling down, and he kind of
- 10:39Speaker 1: goes in between. This is what Sean Payton says. Listen,
- 10:42Speaker 1: I had one of those moments where I still had
- 10:44Speaker 1: my Fox hat on and not my coaching hat on.
- 10:47Speaker 1: I said this to the team. We've had a great
- 10:49Speaker 1: offseason relative to that. I've been preaching that message and
- 10:52Speaker 1: here I am the veteran stepping in it. It was
- 10:55Speaker 1: a learning experience for me, a mistake. Obviously. I needed
- 10:58Speaker 1: a little bit more filter. I needed a bit more restraint.
- 11:01Speaker 1: I regret that end quote. So he's apologizing, but he's
- 11:04Speaker 1: not apologizing to Nathaniel Hackett. He's not apologizing to Robert
- 11:09Speaker 1: Salah so much as to saying I'm annoyed that I
- 11:13Speaker 1: said too much. I went over the line when I
- 11:14Speaker 1: was talking on the record, and I should have kept
- 11:17Speaker 1: that in house or I shouldn't have said any of
- 11:20Speaker 1: that stuff publicly because it started this whole thing. It's
- 11:23Speaker 1: a distraction. Fine, But as of now, I don't I've
- 11:27Speaker 1: got no indication that he's apologized to Hackett. I don't
- 11:31Speaker 1: like I said, I don't think Sean Mines is being
- 11:34Speaker 1: out there. I don't think that Seawan minds. Hey cause
- 11:36Speaker 1: a little chaos here, cause a little something. Take take
- 11:39Speaker 1: a bat to that pinata and just whack it or
- 11:42Speaker 1: the beehive, whatever you want, and wake this team up.
- 11:45Speaker 1: We're going to be a relevant team, like this is
- 11:47Speaker 1: Peyton Okay, but there's a human element to this that
- 11:52Speaker 1: that this impacted a lot of people. So lead up
- 11:55Speaker 1: to Sunday. Aaron Rodgers might be the most difficult interview
- 11:59Speaker 1: to secure in that I think he sort of operates
- 12:03Speaker 1: on his own as far as who he talks to,
- 12:05Speaker 1: when he talked to them, what he wants to get
- 12:08Speaker 1: out there, and in what forum. So if you see
- 12:11Speaker 1: historically he's done Pat McAfee every week, he'll do the
- 12:15Speaker 1: podium for the team, He'll do Aeron Andrews. He's great
- 12:19Speaker 1: with Aaron. He did a Kyle Brandt interview one time
- 12:22Speaker 1: on a podcast he does. He did PMT with Big
- 12:26Speaker 1: Cat and PFT commenter and they were hilarious last summer.
- 12:31Speaker 1: And he's done Good Morning Football with US super Bowl
- 12:34Speaker 1: in Minnesota, and then when he was doing Jeopardy tryouts
- 12:39Speaker 1: for the host for Trebek, he did our show and
- 12:41Speaker 1: was awesome. But I'll be honest, completely candid, I personally
- 12:45Speaker 1: haven't had any interactions with Aaron Rodgers and probably since then,
- 12:49Speaker 1: so I don't, you know, I do my show and
- 12:52Speaker 1: you know, since since the Jeopardy stuff, like we've had
- 12:55Speaker 1: a ton of things happen with Rogers, whether it be
- 12:58Speaker 1: off the field, on the field, whatever, But like, I
- 13:00Speaker 1: don't have this relationship with Rogers that I do with
- 13:03Speaker 1: others around the league. So I'm just wondering we're coming
- 13:07Speaker 1: to Jets camp. I'm on behalf of NFL plus, it's
- 13:10Speaker 1: a big thing for us. It's NFL Network. I got
- 13:12Speaker 1: the NFL Network logo on me. They're sending me out there.
- 13:16Speaker 1: I can probably get Sauce Gardner, Quinnin Williams or Sala
- 13:22Speaker 1: to come speak with me, and those will all be
- 13:24Speaker 1: great and I would love those guys and they're awesome,
- 13:27Speaker 1: and Alan Lazard and Randall Cobb would be great guests
- 13:29Speaker 1: to have. I was like, but I'm here for the
- 13:32Speaker 1: big fish. I want Rogers. So I start playing the
- 13:36Speaker 1: seed with not only the PR staff, but with some
- 13:38Speaker 1: coaches on that staff, saying like, hey, I'm coming Sunday.
- 13:41Speaker 1: If you can speak to Rogers, I would love to
- 13:43Speaker 1: do it with you. Whatever. I don't hear anything back
- 13:45Speaker 1: about Saturday night. I check in with the Jets PR
- 13:48Speaker 1: staff and I say, I know it's a hail Mary,
- 13:51Speaker 1: but is Rogers willing to sit with me for ten
- 13:54Speaker 1: fifteen minutes on NFL Network? And the response I got
- 13:58Speaker 1: was we'll see tomorrow. But he certainly didn't say no.
- 14:01Speaker 1: So I'm like, all right, we're in the game, you know,
- 14:03Speaker 1: like we're in the game. I'm not looking to curry
- 14:06Speaker 1: favorite of Rogers at all. I just want to get
- 14:08Speaker 1: the interview and all along, I'm thinking, all right, Hackett's
- 14:12Speaker 1: biggest supporter is Aaron Rodgers, like biggest supporter, and those
- 14:16Speaker 1: guys are best best friends. And Rogers is also candid.
- 14:20Speaker 1: So if you get Rogers to talk about Hackett, you're
- 14:23Speaker 1: gonna get a great defensive Hackett. And that's gonna not
- 14:27Speaker 1: only rally his teammates in New York, but also send
- 14:31Speaker 1: a message around the league and I'm sure we'll, you know,
- 14:33Speaker 1: make news. But I also didn't want to position it
- 14:37Speaker 1: as hey talk about Sean Payton because that could just
- 14:40Speaker 1: shut it down right away. That is the journalism in
- 14:42Speaker 1: this thing. I wanted to let him take it wherever
- 14:46Speaker 1: he wanted, and if he doesn't address it, that's cool,
- 14:48Speaker 1: but I want to give him the opportunity to write.
- 14:51Speaker 1: So practice is going on and it's awesome, Aaron, like,
- 14:55Speaker 1: the Jets are clicking and the fans are vibing and
- 14:58Speaker 1: it's really cool scene and the hard Knocks cameras are there,
- 15:02Speaker 1: and Rogers hits Lazard in the back of the end
- 15:04Speaker 1: zone and it's it's fantastic. It's a touchdown and everyone's
- 15:08Speaker 1: rather than whistle blows. Practice over and then I see
- 15:12Speaker 1: Rogers and we make eye contact and it gives me
- 15:14Speaker 1: the nod, and I'm like, all right, I think I'm in.
- 15:16Speaker 1: And I have an amazing producer at NFL Network that
- 15:20Speaker 1: does these things on remote with me. Christine Martin is
- 15:22Speaker 1: her name. I think Christine's the best at what she
- 15:25Speaker 1: does as far as field producing goes. And she's never
- 15:27Speaker 1: in my way. She's never the story, She's never she
- 15:30Speaker 1: just it's already for me. Whenever I get to wherever
- 15:33Speaker 1: I'm working with Christine, she handles all the logistics and
- 15:35Speaker 1: she like lets me do my thing. I'm not like
- 15:37Speaker 1: every reporter when I get to these things, I'm looking
- 15:40Speaker 1: to be alone. I like to mingle with a coach
- 15:43Speaker 1: and have an off conversation. I like to talk to
- 15:45Speaker 1: an owner. I like to talk to Jonn manager. I
- 15:48Speaker 1: don't like being in a gaggle of reporters. I don't
- 15:50Speaker 1: need to be with other media guys. I am solo mission.
- 15:53Speaker 1: Let me get what I need to get and get
- 15:54Speaker 1: conversations done. Christine lets me do that. She knows that.
- 15:58Speaker 1: And when I have to be on air in one minute,
- 15:59Speaker 1: She's like, Peter, you got one minute. I come in
- 16:01Speaker 1: the chair and we go. Not a lot of downtime.
- 16:04Speaker 1: So Christine's like looking at me, and she's like, I
- 16:07Speaker 1: think we got it. We got the two chairs set up,
- 16:10Speaker 1: and from what might have been Mars, I swear mors
- 16:14Speaker 1: as Rogers is coming over right in front of me.
- 16:17Speaker 1: Jason Garrett stops Rogers. I didn't know Jason Garrett was there.
- 16:20Speaker 1: I didn't see Jason Garrett. Jason Garrett, the old Cowboys
- 16:23Speaker 1: and Giants coach, and Jason Garrett now on NBC, and
- 16:28Speaker 1: Rogers starts dapping him up and they're talking, and it's
- 16:30Speaker 1: ten minutes, it's twenty minutes, thirty minutes, and I'm like,
- 16:36Speaker 1: oh my god, oh my god, Jason Garrett, Jason Garrett
- 16:39Speaker 1: better have six hours worth of air time on Thursday
- 16:41Speaker 1: Night's same game, because he just talked to Aaron Rodgers
- 16:44Speaker 1: longer than anyone has in the history of time.
- 16:46Speaker 3: You know.
- 16:46Speaker 1: I remember this another time. I was at a Bears
- 16:48Speaker 1: Packers game one time and Rogers spent most of the
- 16:52Speaker 1: pregame not working. Oh he was hurt, and it was
- 16:54Speaker 1: Brett Hunley playing quarterack and he's just talking to Kenny
- 16:56Speaker 1: Maine the whole time. So I'm like, Rogers will do this,
- 16:58Speaker 1: like if he respects you, he will talk to you
- 17:00Speaker 1: off camera, off mike, he will get to know you.
- 17:02Speaker 1: So there he is talking with Jason Garrett, and I'm like,
- 17:06Speaker 1: this might be done. Rogers finishes up, and then who
- 17:09Speaker 1: as he's coming over. Tim Boyle's Family's there. Who's Tim Boyle?
- 17:13Speaker 1: He's one of the backup quarterbacks of the Jets. He
- 17:14Speaker 1: was with the Packers. Rogers loves that family. I want
- 17:17Speaker 1: to say, Boyle's grandma or his wife's grandma was sitting there,
- 17:22Speaker 1: so he's talking to her. At another ten minutes. Finally
- 17:25Speaker 1: Rogers comes over and he's like, we doing this. I'm like, hell, yeah,
- 17:28Speaker 1: we're doing this. We dap each other up and he's like,
- 17:33Speaker 1: let's do it. And he apologized like I'm sorry for
- 17:34Speaker 1: all that. I'm like, dude, it's all good. In the
- 17:37Speaker 1: minutes leading up to it, I was talking with Eric Gelfand,
- 17:40Speaker 1: who's the pr guy of the Jets, and a Gail
- 17:43Speaker 1: fan had told me he had just seen Oppenheimer and
- 17:47Speaker 1: I was talking to him about it and I'm like,
- 17:48Speaker 1: I want to see it, and I'm like, you think
- 17:49Speaker 1: Rogers has seen it. He's like, I don't know if
- 17:52Speaker 1: he's seen it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did.
- 17:55Speaker 1: And I know that Rogers is a sinophile. This guy
- 17:58Speaker 1: loves movies. He has thoughts and takes on movies. And
- 18:02Speaker 1: I also thought that would be a great way to
- 18:05Speaker 1: start the conversation. So, with no further ado, here is
- 18:08Speaker 1: the Aaron Rodgers interview from Sunday afternoon at Jets Camp.
- 18:16Speaker 1: Thrilled to have Aaron Rodgers here with me after Jets practice.
- 18:19Speaker 1: Aaron I said it on the air, the vibes are immaculate,
- 18:23Speaker 1: Like I don't know what the kids say these days,
- 18:24Speaker 1: but that's what I felt like.
- 18:25Speaker 3: It just feels great.
- 18:27Speaker 1: Do you feel that energy when you're out there at
- 18:30Speaker 1: this practice field?
- 18:31Speaker 3: I do.
- 18:31Speaker 4: I mean the first day that we walked out with fans,
- 18:34Speaker 4: I heard a nice ovation over there, and it's been
- 18:38Speaker 4: the same every day.
- 18:40Speaker 3: It's exciting.
- 18:40Speaker 4: There's a lot of energy around here, a lot of
- 18:42Speaker 4: people proud to wear their Jets apparel, which is awesome.
- 18:46Speaker 4: But we got a good thing going. I think we're
- 18:48Speaker 4: progressing on offense. Our defense has definitely been ahead of
- 18:50Speaker 4: us to start camp. But it's fun. I love the
- 18:54Speaker 4: whole process. You gotta love the journey if you've been
- 18:56Speaker 4: doing as long as I have, and I definitely do.
- 18:58Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 18:59Speaker 1: And you look at the last few weeks, it's been football.
- 19:02Speaker 1: Of course before that, though, you got a chance to
- 19:03Speaker 1: kind of do New York a little bit. And I
- 19:05Speaker 1: love that everyone's talking about the Nixon raided. I love
- 19:08Speaker 1: that you're at the Tony's. You go to the Tony.
- 19:10Speaker 1: They're like, what's your feeling of just New York City
- 19:12Speaker 1: and you've always just been there a million times. But
- 19:15Speaker 1: to be living so close to the market and enjoying
- 19:17Speaker 1: the fruits of that as.
- 19:18Speaker 3: Well, I love it. I'm having a blast.
- 19:20Speaker 4: I grew up in a small town, A lot of
- 19:22Speaker 4: small towns in northern California. I've dreamt since I was
- 19:25Speaker 4: a kid of being in a big city. I moved
- 19:28Speaker 4: to La and San Diego, and so I've been to
- 19:30Speaker 4: some of those on the West Coast, but I'm loving
- 19:32Speaker 4: the East Coast. I'm really loving the city. I'm loving Jersey.
- 19:35Speaker 4: Where I'm at. I met a lot of great people
- 19:37Speaker 4: being out and about done a lot of incredible things
- 19:39Speaker 4: from uh, you know, hockey game at MSG, a couple
- 19:43Speaker 4: of Knicks games, Taylor Swift.
- 19:44Speaker 3: Concert at Sharing concert.
- 19:46Speaker 4: We've been to Wicked and now Back to the Future
- 19:49Speaker 4: is the Future because that is a must watch.
- 19:51Speaker 3: Yeah, if you're a fan, oh come on, and I'm
- 19:53Speaker 3: a fan.
- 19:54Speaker 1: I got the Loria and you can go deep.
- 19:55Speaker 3: I'm a one three too, though it's my order. I'm
- 19:57Speaker 3: a big fan of three. A lot of people are.
- 19:59Speaker 3: I love three. The Western it's the second best one.
- 20:01Speaker 3: Three too. That's for me.
- 20:02Speaker 1: See two was my one with the hoverboards.
- 20:04Speaker 3: I was a kid.
- 20:05Speaker 1: I was like, oh, the.
- 20:05Speaker 3: Cups been a timeline though is I don't know.
- 20:08Speaker 1: Have you seen it Barbie or Oppenheimer in a dual
- 20:12Speaker 1: Barbenheimer yet.
- 20:14Speaker 3: I have not.
- 20:14Speaker 4: I heard about you know this some stuff going on,
- 20:17Speaker 4: the Adam bomb going off. Yes, d're in some parts
- 20:20Speaker 4: in the movie. I haven't seen it, but I've seen
- 20:22Speaker 4: I've seen Appenheimer.
- 20:23Speaker 1: You've seen it.
- 20:24Speaker 3: Yeah, I loved it. I thought it was great.
- 20:26Speaker 4: If I would have watched it at maybe six o'clock, yeah,
- 20:29Speaker 4: an the evening, I would probably would have loved it
- 20:31Speaker 4: because it was nine o'clock.
- 20:32Speaker 3: Yeah, I really really liked it. Christopher Nolan ted I'm
- 20:36Speaker 3: a huge Yeah. I'll tell you what. My favorite Christopher
- 20:38Speaker 3: Nolan movie though, is The Prestige. The Magicians in incredible.
- 20:43Speaker 1: I thought you were gonna go like Momento.
- 20:45Speaker 4: No no, no, no, no, tenant which I'm Christian Bale and
- 20:47Speaker 4: Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson.
- 20:49Speaker 3: I love it.
- 20:50Speaker 4: Michael Caine, fantastic movie. I've seen it like fifty times.
- 20:54Speaker 4: I love that movie. I love it all right.
- 20:57Speaker 1: So then you get here with the Jets, got young guys,
- 20:59Speaker 1: got old guys. I see you talking to the defensive backs.
- 21:02Speaker 1: I see you talking to the running backs, and I
- 21:04Speaker 1: was talking to some folks here. I'm like, that's not
- 21:06Speaker 1: every quarterback. Do you feel that responsibility of all right?
- 21:10Speaker 1: I know I'm the quarterback, but I'm also held in
- 21:12Speaker 1: a certain regard, and I'm also the veteran guy in
- 21:14Speaker 1: this building.
- 21:16Speaker 4: That's just how I go about business. I mean, I
- 21:17Speaker 4: enjoy the conversations across the line. There's been a lot
- 21:21Speaker 4: of great communication between the offense and defense. I want
- 21:23Speaker 4: to keep encouraging that. Part of that's me leaning by
- 21:25Speaker 4: example and going to talk to those guys. We ran
- 21:27Speaker 4: an adjustment play down at the goal line. They passed
- 21:30Speaker 4: it off really nice, and I just want to know, hey,
- 21:31Speaker 4: what do you see there? Yeah, so complimenting them on
- 21:34Speaker 4: what they're doing, starting a conversation, and then that leads
- 21:36Speaker 4: into another conversation about a different play from the drive.
- 21:39Speaker 3: So that's how you get better.
- 21:40Speaker 4: You know, we want to beat each other up on
- 21:41Speaker 4: the field and practice field, but we.
- 21:42Speaker 3: Also want to grow together.
- 21:44Speaker 4: How were we going to do is communicating, So let's
- 21:45Speaker 4: make it as hard as possible on each other. So
- 21:48Speaker 4: if we're giving some away, if we're tipping something off,
- 21:50Speaker 4: if something that we're doing give somebody else a problem,
- 21:52Speaker 4: let's communicate that maybe after practice if you don't want
- 21:55Speaker 4: to get the end game competitive advantage. But that's how
- 21:57Speaker 4: we're going to grow as a team. And I just
- 22:00Speaker 4: got to be a part of that, leading by example.
- 22:01Speaker 4: And that's just honestly how I practice. You know, I
- 22:03Speaker 4: love talking to defense, I love hanging around the D line.
- 22:06Speaker 4: I got a great spot in the locker room right
- 22:08Speaker 4: next some of the funniest guys on the team. I
- 22:10Speaker 4: got our Woods over here. I got the kind of offensive
- 22:13Speaker 4: guys over here. We had our woods over here. Quentin
- 22:15Speaker 4: Jefferson comes over every single day and sits down and
- 22:17Speaker 4: talks Dwayne Brown.
- 22:18Speaker 3: Here.
- 22:18Speaker 4: It starts this big conversation I like just listening to
- 22:21Speaker 4: because those guys some of the funniest guys on the team.
- 22:23Speaker 4: And and JFM to John Franklin Myers, he's hilarious. So
- 22:28Speaker 4: I got a good group of guys to just kind
- 22:30Speaker 4: of just eavesdrop on those conversations every day.
- 22:32Speaker 1: Yeah no, and it's you guys, now have a stretch
- 22:35Speaker 1: coming up where it's not only the Hall of Fame game,
- 22:37Speaker 1: it's also going to Spartanburg. Did you joint practice with
- 22:40Speaker 1: the Panthers. You're gonna get on the road a little
- 22:41Speaker 1: bit here. This is where a team kind of gels
- 22:44Speaker 1: August time. Have you prepped these guys at all? What
- 22:47Speaker 1: this is all about? Or is it just let's just
- 22:48Speaker 1: go and see how it goes, or is it, Hey,
- 22:50Speaker 1: this is the start of the season. Now we're stepping
- 22:52Speaker 1: it up a notch because we're getting on the road together.
- 22:53Speaker 4: Well, I think naturally the energy kind of picks up
- 22:56Speaker 4: a little bit once it's real. Now a lot of
- 22:59Speaker 4: the starters probably won't play a whole lot in the preseasons,
- 23:01Speaker 4: so our preseason is gonna be those joint practices, which
- 23:05Speaker 4: are always interesting as there can be some fights and some.
- 23:09Speaker 3: Some intensity going up.
- 23:10Speaker 4: But I think that's the good part about it is
- 23:12Speaker 4: because everything every step is in a ramp up throughout
- 23:14Speaker 4: the season, from OTA's to training camp, to preseason to
- 23:18Speaker 4: the regular season to playoff time, playoff prep to being
- 23:22Speaker 4: into the playoffs. Just there's always just a little bit
- 23:24Speaker 4: of a notch that goes up. It's not like, hey,
- 23:26Speaker 4: now we got to play a little more. It's just
- 23:28Speaker 4: like the focus kind of Titans a little bit, the uh,
- 23:32Speaker 4: the intensity is is is heightened slightly, and the awareness
- 23:36Speaker 4: about how important each step and the journey is kind
- 23:38Speaker 4: of goes up a little bit more as we get
- 23:40Speaker 4: onto this this part.
- 23:41Speaker 3: Of the journey.
- 23:42Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you about Sean Payton's comments directly,
- 23:44Speaker 1: but I will ask you to maybe address Nathaniel Hackett
- 23:47Speaker 1: as a coach and what he means to you and
- 23:50Speaker 1: what he can bring to this Jets team. That story
- 23:53Speaker 1: goes out there. I had about a million texts from
- 23:54Speaker 1: people in the coaching community saying that was out of line?
- 23:57Speaker 3: Was there?
- 23:57Speaker 1: Yet you see Hocket out here.
- 23:58Speaker 3: He's still pumped out.
- 23:59Speaker 1: I don't think it affects him as much as maybe
- 24:01Speaker 1: it affects everyone on the outside. And yet you and
- 24:03Speaker 1: him have this great bond in Union together. We've always
- 24:06Speaker 1: had his back, he's always had yours.
- 24:08Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 24:08Speaker 4: I love Nathaniel Hackett and those comments were very surprising
- 24:14Speaker 4: for a coach to do that to another coach. My
- 24:17Speaker 4: left rat goes deep. You know, we had some great
- 24:20Speaker 4: years together in Green Bay. Captain touch love him and
- 24:24Speaker 4: his family. He's an incredible family man, incredible dad, and
- 24:27Speaker 4: on the field, you know, he's arguably my favorite coach
- 24:30Speaker 4: I've ever had in the NFL. Just his approach to it,
- 24:33Speaker 4: how he makes it fun, how he cares about the guys,
- 24:37Speaker 4: just how he goes about his business with respect, with leadership,
- 24:41Speaker 4: with honesty, with integrity.
- 24:43Speaker 3: And it made.
- 24:45Speaker 4: Me feel bad that someone who's accomplished a lot in
- 24:48Speaker 4: the league is that insecure that they have to take
- 24:51Speaker 4: another man down to set themselves up for some sort
- 24:54Speaker 4: of easy fall if it doesn't go well for that
- 24:57Speaker 4: team this year. Thought it was way out of line, inappropriate,
- 25:00Speaker 4: and I think he needs to keep my coaches names
- 25:02Speaker 4: out of his mouth.
- 25:04Speaker 1: Respect that respect, that that's fair. In closing, you've got
- 25:08Speaker 1: all these guys from the Green Bayers with Hackett, but
- 25:10Speaker 1: obviously Mazard and I see Cobb and Billy turned all
- 25:12Speaker 1: these guys. Does it feel like, Hey, we're getting the
- 25:15Speaker 1: band back together a little bit and let's go do
- 25:17Speaker 1: something special right now.
- 25:19Speaker 3: I'm excited about all those guys.
- 25:21Speaker 4: I'm excited about the new guys that we got as well,
- 25:23Speaker 4: and just everybody's new to me. Really, it's just getting
- 25:26Speaker 4: all these personalities. It's nice you know, being able to
- 25:28Speaker 4: sit sit down, and you know my locker and there's Alan,
- 25:31Speaker 4: you know, who I've known for a long time now,
- 25:33Speaker 4: and Billy's just down the way, and Billy and I
- 25:35Speaker 4: have a really close relationship going back to his first
- 25:37Speaker 4: couple of years in Lee, and just so much respect
- 25:39Speaker 4: for the man that he is. And he stood up
- 25:42Speaker 4: for Nathaniel because he played for him last year and
- 25:45Speaker 4: he's a warrior. It's played through some injuries and never complains.
- 25:49Speaker 1: Uh.
- 25:50Speaker 4: Incredible locker room guy. And I think that's what you know,
- 25:54Speaker 4: what Joe and his staff and Robert have really put
- 25:56Speaker 4: together is a lot of really high character guys. And
- 25:59Speaker 4: I think that's important when the going gets tough and
- 26:02Speaker 4: also when the going is really really good. So we
- 26:06Speaker 4: got to stand how to handle the success when everybody's
- 26:08Speaker 4: praising us, and the low points when things aren't going
- 26:12Speaker 4: as well as we wanted to. And it's those in
- 26:13Speaker 4: those moments where the character can come through. And I
- 26:15Speaker 4: like the makeup of the squad. I think we're really
- 26:18Speaker 4: a high character group and we'll be tested throughout the season,
- 26:20Speaker 4: but I trust it we'll stick together.
- 26:23Speaker 1: I'm going to close with this, what you did last week.
- 26:25Speaker 1: Financially with your contract, it's a testament and not only you,
- 26:28Speaker 1: but also your belief in this team. It was rare,
- 26:32Speaker 1: It was a surprise to many, and yet if you
- 26:36Speaker 1: know Aaron Rodgers, this has been your.
- 26:38Speaker 3: Story all along.
- 26:39Speaker 1: I want to win and I want to get a chip.
- 26:42Speaker 1: The reaction amongst your teammates when that news came out,
- 26:45Speaker 1: and hey, I'm in this not just for one thing,
- 26:47Speaker 1: but maybe for two and who knows from their point on.
- 26:51Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I appreciate the support for sure, and
- 26:53Speaker 4: I understand what the contract was and now what it is.
- 26:57Speaker 4: I'm paid extremely well and I feel great about the contract.
- 27:01Speaker 3: I felt like.
- 27:04Speaker 4: I could alleviate some app stuff also free up some
- 27:08Speaker 4: cash in order to keep getting some players. Joe and
- 27:11Speaker 4: I have been in constant dialogue about the roster and
- 27:14Speaker 4: any ideas I have and what he's thinking about, what
- 27:18Speaker 4: the moves he wants to make. And it's been a
- 27:20Speaker 4: great relationship with with Joe, and I felt great about it.
- 27:24Speaker 4: You know, there's been times over the years where I've
- 27:27Speaker 4: you know, helped to lower my cap number. There's some
- 27:30Speaker 4: times I've signed at the top of the market and
- 27:32Speaker 4: known in three or four years it's going to be
- 27:33Speaker 4: more in the middle of the market. Green Bay was
- 27:36Speaker 4: extremely financially supportive for me and generous, and I appreciate that.
- 27:43Speaker 4: And I feel really fortunate to be making the money
- 27:45Speaker 4: I'm making. And I think everybody's happy from a cap standpoint,
- 27:49Speaker 4: from a cash flow standpoint, and I'm really happy to.
- 27:52Speaker 1: Okay, hard knocks not so bad.
- 27:54Speaker 3: Huh No, No, they've been great. They've been they've been great.
- 27:57Speaker 1: I like that.
- 27:58Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers awesome.
- 27:59Speaker 1: I know this was longer than probably expected, but I
- 28:01Speaker 1: always love catching up with you.
- 28:03Speaker 3: I like you, so I give you not a latitude.
- 28:05Speaker 3: I'll take it.
- 28:07Speaker 1: On behalf of the NFL plus NFL Network everybody, Good
- 28:09Speaker 1: morning football. We just love having you on. Man. Good
- 28:11Speaker 1: luck with everything this season.
- 28:11Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 28:17Speaker 1: And from that point on, when you heard getting my
- 28:20Speaker 1: coach's name out of your mouth, it was headlines everywhere,
- 28:25Speaker 1: and I'll tell you what it was. It's one of
- 28:28Speaker 1: those things when you're on the clip and your face
- 28:32Speaker 1: is on ESPN and it's your name and all things.
- 28:34Speaker 1: You get a thrill, but you also start thinking about, Okay,
- 28:37Speaker 1: do I have to reach back out to Peyton, Do
- 28:41Speaker 1: I have to talk to anyone else, and I'm just like,
- 28:43Speaker 1: you know what, I served it up. Rogers took it
- 28:46Speaker 1: from there. All is fair in love and war. I
- 28:50Speaker 1: haven't heard from Sean Payton since the interview. I'm sure
- 28:53Speaker 1: he's fine. I haven't heard from Rogers since the interview.
- 28:56Speaker 1: I'm sure he's fine with how it went. But this
- 28:58Speaker 1: is two days later on recording this, it's still the
- 29:00Speaker 1: number one story in football news. Maybe Jonathan Taylor a
- 29:03Speaker 1: second or is up there with him Jimmers, But I
- 29:07Speaker 1: got to say it was a rush. Football's back and Aaron,
- 29:10Speaker 1: that's the anatomy of an interview. I'll tell you, it's
- 29:13Speaker 1: a thrill. And I immediately thought of the podcast, and
- 29:16Speaker 1: I'm like, I gotta tell the full story on the
- 29:17Speaker 1: podcast quickly. Your reactions to not only the story leading
- 29:22Speaker 1: up to it, but the interview itself. I loved it.
- 29:25Speaker 2: I'm a little shocked there was no other mention of
- 29:28Speaker 2: Rogers back to the future choices with his movies, But
- 29:33Speaker 2: I did love him talking movies with you. And you know,
- 29:36Speaker 2: as I watched it, I was texting you and I
- 29:38Speaker 2: was like, wow, you know you brought up the Tony's
- 29:40Speaker 2: and going to Broadway shows and it opened him right up.
- 29:43Speaker 2: That was so well done and I loved hearing him
- 29:46Speaker 2: talk about that for a bit too. And you know,
- 29:48Speaker 2: it's it is exciting to see a coach fight for
- 29:54Speaker 2: a player. It's kind of more exciting to watch a
- 29:58Speaker 2: player back for their coach too, right, like.
- 30:00Speaker 1: You have, dude. The response has been so overwhelmingly positive
- 30:06Speaker 1: towards Rogers for having his guys back. You know, to
- 30:10Speaker 1: have his guys back. You don't talk bleep about my guy,
- 30:14Speaker 1: I think, you know when everyone is so toxic, and
- 30:17Speaker 1: that's what Rogers has his guys back, and I respect it.
- 30:21Speaker 1: They play Week five, October eighth, Jets versus Broncos. I'm
- 30:26Speaker 1: sure this interview will get brought up. I'm sure Peyton's
- 30:28Speaker 1: comments will get brought up. It's an unlikely adversary like
- 30:33Speaker 1: Jets Broncos. You go back the an AFC Championship game
- 30:36Speaker 1: in ninety eight, I believe, or ninety nine. But this
- 30:39Speaker 1: this came out of nowhere. I think. I don't think
- 30:42Speaker 1: anyone thought two weeks ago that Jets Broncos would be
- 30:44Speaker 1: a game you circle on the schedule. But here we
- 30:47Speaker 1: are real quick on the journalism side of it, Like
- 30:50Speaker 1: because my question where I say, I'm not going to
- 30:55Speaker 1: bring up Sean Payton's comments. I'm not going to harp
- 31:00Speaker 1: on that, but I did want to give you the
- 31:01Speaker 1: opportunity to talk about Nathaniel Hackett is so much different
- 31:06Speaker 1: than and can you respond to Sean Payton's credence? Yeah,
- 31:10Speaker 1: or worse off, talk about Sean Payton's comments. It was
- 31:15Speaker 1: defend your guy. Let us know at home, you're on
- 31:17Speaker 1: a big platform right now, who this Hacket is. And
- 31:20Speaker 1: he did that. He mentioned his family, he mentioned that
- 31:22Speaker 1: he's argualy with and then you see as he's getting
- 31:26Speaker 1: momentum going, he's like, you know what, screw it, I'm
- 31:28Speaker 1: gonna I'm going, Yeah, I'm going in and he did. Gosh,
- 31:32Speaker 1: I come out of this thing. I respect the hell
- 31:34Speaker 1: out of Rogers, and I thank the Jets for giving
- 31:36Speaker 1: me that opportunity. And I think all you, the listeners
- 31:40Speaker 1: of the podcast and those who are at home and
- 31:41Speaker 1: who tweet and all that stuff, for being supportive of
- 31:44Speaker 1: the interview, because again, it's not every day that your
- 31:47Speaker 1: interview is the one that blows up. And it's been
- 31:49Speaker 1: pretty cool to watch. That's the episode, Aaron. We're just
- 31:52Speaker 1: gonna do that. I figured that was a cool different
- 31:54Speaker 1: way to do it. I don't think we're gonna get
- 31:55Speaker 1: bigger guest in Aaron Rodgers. So we'll take it till
- 31:58Speaker 1: next week where we all have another guest, and we'll
- 32:01Speaker 1: have more out of you, and we'll have more out
- 32:02Speaker 1: of me, and we'll have more football to talk about.
- 32:04Speaker 1: Because the preseason is starting. We have a Hall of
- 32:07Speaker 1: Fame game Thursday, and guess what, Aaron Rodgers will probably
- 32:10Speaker 1: be interviewed on the sideline, So players open for that.
- 32:13Speaker 1: But on behalf of you, Aaron, Wan Kaufman, Me, Peter Schreger,
- 32:18Speaker 1: the Great Jason English, and all the folks back at
- 32:20Speaker 1: the NFL studios out there in LA and iHeart in
- 32:24Speaker 1: New York. Thanks for listening to this Season with Peter Schreeger.
- 32:29Speaker 1: We got another one up ahead next week. The Season
- 32:47Speaker 1: with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL in
- 32:50Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
- 32:54Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.