The NFL wants to bring fans closer to the game through the use of on-field technology, and Aaron Rodgers hates it.
The Packers quarterback even went so far as to blame one of the player mics for injuring receiver Randall Cobb in the playoffs in an appearance on A.J. Hawk’s “The Hawk Cast.”
“Randall Cobb had a serious injury last year in a playoff game and I believe, as I think he would as well and the team, that that was caused from him being mic’d up,” Rodgers said of Cobb’s punctured lung, via Curtis Crabtree of ProFootballTalk. “Because he fell on his mic pack and he had an injury to his insides that kept him out of the game and probably would have kept him out of the rest of the playoffs. The puncture spot, or the injury spot, was directly adjacent to his mic pack.”
Rodgers believes that the prevalence of field mics is “too much information” and gives defenses a competitive edge by picking up everything the quarterback says.
“I think being mic’d up, when I’m mic’d up, it takes away from the authenticity of the game for me,” Rodgers said. “I don’t feel comfortable mic’d up.”
Rodgers even joked that he’d rather retire than be mandated to wear a microphone or a helmet camera.
“Might have to call it a career,” Rodgers laughed.
Maybe Rodgers doesn’t like the mics because they make it tougher to fool people on hard counts, although this Packers fan would probably approve of that.
