Aaron Rodgers takes a $35 million dollar pay cut so the Jets can add talent to their roster.

As a Packer fan, whatever your opinion of this move is, you’ve got to admit: No one, and The Rock means, NO ONE, carries a chip on his shoulder better than Aaron Charles Rodgers. We’d known that for basically his entire career in Green Bay, but this move might be his opus.

For YEARS Packer fans asked why Rodgers wouldn’t do what Tom Brady did in New England, and take a pay cut to help the team supplement their roster with the extra cap space a pay cut would generate. And for YEARS Rodgers just kept on signing contracts that made him the highest paid player in the NFL*. Cut to yesterday and the news that Rodgers signed a restructured contract in New York in which he took a $35 million dollar pay cut. Why would he do that? Easy:

Now in the interest of fairness, there were plenty of times during his career in Green Bay that Rodgers pushed money to the future. Which probably did help the team maneuver a bit in the short term. But he never took an outright pay CUT, especially one of that size. It’s no secret that Rodgers and Gutey didn’t get along while they were both in Green Bay, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Rodgers makes this move during his first season in New York. Never change, Aaron. Never change.

*For the record: As a Packer fan, I’m not bitter at all that Rodgers did what he did yesterday. I never thought it was his job to take a pay cut so that the front office could make moves that would essentially cover up for bad drafting. Would it have been nice? Sure. But not his job or responsibility. And after Gutey spent the first round pick in 2020 on Rodgers’ successor instead of getting him a weapon, any SHRED of a chance that he’d take a pay cut to help out the front office disappeared. It’s his money and his life, he can do whatever he wants. I just had to chuckle at the story and the timing.

PS: It was a BIG week in the state for football moves that had a little bit of spite to them:

That picture was TOUGH to see on Twitter a few days ago. Look, when Leonhard took the reigns as the interim coach last season, I was pulling for him to get the job. Most Badger fans were. It seemed perfectly logical. Hometown kid, highly regarded defensive coordinator, one of the up-and-coming coaches in college football who was bound to get a head coaching gig. And when the Badgers pivoted to Luke Fickell, I was shocked. Reports were that Leonhard was as well. Now everything that has happened since that move has done nothing but reinforce that the Badgers probably made the right move. We haven’t seen it on the field yet, but all of the 4-star and 5-star commits and transfers have injected this program with an energy level that it probably hasn’t had since those halcyon days of the early 90’s when Barry started his reign. I don’t know anyone not pumped for the upcoming Badger season. For that reason, I’m not upset that Jimmy decided to join Bert in Illinois. It hurts a little seeing him in those colors, but I get it.