Blake Baratz, the agent for Packers tight end Jermichael Finley, uses his Twitter account to voice his opinions about the NFL, but he’s receiving attention for questioning the leadership of Aaron Rodgers in a recent tweet.
Baratz was tweeting on Friday morning about Thursday’s Packers-Bears game when the leadership subject came up. It started with a tweet from Baratz criticizing Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
“Jay Cutler, u serious in ur press conf last night?U sound like a 6 yr old who just had his animal crackers taken. Quit being a b— (edited for profanity), own up,” Baratz tweeted.
“There’s a major difference & drop off in leadership from Manning, Brees, Brady, to the next best QB’s in the league. Cutler doesn’t get it,” he later wrote.
When someone asked him why he didn’t include Rodgers on the list, he elaborated.
@joe_smith07 ARod is a great QB he isn’t a great leader. There’s a major difference. Leaders take the blame & make every1 better. He doesn’t
— Blake Baratz (@the_ifa) September 14, 2012
Yes, that is the agent for tight end Jermichael Finley saying openly on Twitter that the man who feeds his client the ball isn’t a great leader because he doesn’t take the blame and make everyone better. What would make him say such a thing? Is that what other Packers players have said about Rodgers, or is that just his own opinion? It could be a little bit of both.
Baratz may have been prompted to say that in response to Rodgers’ reaction to a fourth quarter interception against the Bears. Rodgers threw a pass intended for James Jones that was picked off. He was livid about the turnover and could be seen yelling at Jones immediately after the play. Rodgers thought Jones was going to come back after running his route, but Jones started to go deep, allowing cornerback Tim Jennings to step in front of him for the interception (video here).
Baratz’s comments were noted by ESPN Milwaukee’s Jason J. Wilde, and also picked up by WTMJ. He began hearing from Packers fans for criticizing Rodgers, and he defended himself throughout the day Monday without backing off his opinion.
I think it’s somewhat strange for someone who represents NFL players to criticize many of them because it might not be the best way to attract clients, but I’m not going to tell him how to run his Twitter account. Maybe some NFL players might respect his honesty. But the other side is that he needs to recognize his opinions are tied to his clients, so when he writes that, it could cause disruption in the Packers’ locker room.
Even if that’s overstating things, I just think he’s really nitpicking because I don’t see many flaws in Rodgers’ game, and I find him to be a better quarterback than the ones he considers to be better leaders. It’s just a bad opinion.
