It’s a fair question whether the Green Bay Packers are properly building around Aaron Rodgers. Former NFL punter Pat McAfee thinks the answer is clearly no.
McAfee told Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post that he expects the Packers to make a “boring” pick that will work out down the road but do little to help Rodgers win now.
“If they would go in and get more weapons around (Rodgers) so if somebody gets injured they’re OK and they can make a run, or maybe bulking up that defense that seems to get beat whenever they have to make a stop,” McAfee said. “There’s a lot of things they could do, but with the Packers it seems like what they always do is they just prepare for the future and kind of mail it in.
“They’ll make some boring move that will end up being good for them as they get three years from now and the team will still be good, but Aaron Rodgers is the best in the game, the MVP. If they were just to make some moves and go all-in and think differently than they’ve chosen to do it would be great news for everybody, including Packers fans.”
Why is this notable? McAfee had Rodgers as a weekly guest on his radio show last season. While it would be a stretch to say McAfee is speaking for Rodgers, the ex-punter certainly knows better than most what Rodgers is thinking at the time. The Packers quarterback has made little secret of it, too, based on some subtle yet clear remarks he’s made on McAfee’s show.
Other people within the sport say the Packers have blamed Rodgers’ contract for the lack of big moves. With fixed salaries for draftees, that won’t be an excuse for the team if they make a pick similar to the one they did last year.
