In simple terms, Aaron Rodgers hasn’t hasn’t looked very ‘Aaron Rodgers’ like this season.
From statistics showing he’s one of the worst quarterbacks in the league right now, to the Packers 4-5 record through 9 games, there is something off.
According to the NY Daily News, the problem isn’t in Rodger’s arm, nor the locker room or at home, but rather 2,100 miles away.
According to a former friend of the Packers quarterback, his family is where his issues right now focusing on football stem from.
“He completely, abruptly, 360 degrees changed into somebody else,” the person, who requested anonymity, told Bleacher Report. “Think about it: He put himself on an island where he has no family. And you wonder why the dude can’t do his job like he used to.”
Much has been made of the decline of Rodgers and the Packers over the last 18 weeks, dating back to last season. Since the 2015 bye, Green Bay is 9-12 (including playoffs) and Rodgers, one of the most accurate quarterbacks in NFL history, career completing just 59.7 percent of his passes. Other advanced metrics illustrate and attempt to explain his drop off, but a source told Bleacher Report that number-crunching alone doesn’t add up.
As crazy as it seems, Rodgers’ family issues became public on the hit TV show, the Bachelor of all places, with one of Aaron’s brothers winning the season.
During hometown dates, Jordan Rordgers expressed the awkward rift between his brother and their family, whom he doesn’t talk to any longer.
The source told Bleacher Report that Rodgers hasn’t spoken to his family in Chico, Calif., since 2014 and he didn’t attend his grandfather’s funeral. He reportedly returned Christmas gifts sent by his parents and, when his father wants to attend a Packers game, he has to buy his own ticket.
“There’s no explanation for him playing any worse. People are trying to figure it out. He’s a f–king head case,” the source said of Rodgers. “He knows he’s doing the wrong thing, and he’s so arrogant and prideful that he thinks he can separate his personal life from his professional life, even though all of us know that’s impossible. You can’t do that.”
“You can’t live like that, man. The people who live like that end up getting f–ked over,” the source added. “That’s kind of what’s happening here, but he’s so prideful and will never admit he’s wrong. Ever.”
“But Aaron Rodgers is so scared of what guys are going to say that he doesn’t say nothing at all,” Finley told BR. “He doesn’t get vocal. He goes into his little shell. He’s not a guy who hangs out with the fellas. He’s real self-centered.”