When the Green Bay Packers traded Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets, two of his top wide receivers, Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, went with him (Lazard was actually signed by New York before the trade, but his signing was a major indicator that the Jets were going after Rodgers). That left Green Bay with Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Samori Toure, Bo Melton, and three 2023 NFL Draft picks as their wide receiver group.
In other words, the Packers were going to be relying on first and second year players as their only weapons for first year starting quarterback Jordan Love. This was certainly a change from the way things had been with Rodgers under center. Green Bay always had at least one or two established veterans for the four-time NFL MVP, even when he first took over for Brett Favre in 2008.
Over the years, Rodgers had a tendency to favor these veteran pass catchers, oftentimes overlooking younger and less experienced players during games in order to target his favorite receivers who may or may not have been open.
Aaron Rodgers Seemed Like a Different Person When He Joined the New York Jets
By many accounts, Rodgers is a fantastic teammate. However, it apparent that he did not prefer throwing to rookie wide receivers. When the Packers drafted Watson, Doubs, and Toure in the 2022, Rodgers skipped all offseason activities until mandatory training camp.
To be fair, his beef was with the front office, not the young pass catchers themselves. That being said, Rodgers and his rookies did not start to build chemistry until late in the regular season.
After being traded to the Jets, Rodgers participated in all offseason programs, even the ones that were voluntary. He also was seen on many occasions hanging out with the team’s younger players such as Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson.
This year, Rodgers has reportedly invited 2024 NFL Draft pick Malachi Corley to stay at his guest house in New York while he finds a place of his own.
This gesture, apparently, rubbed one former Packers wide receiver the wrong way.
Former Green Bay Packers Wide Receiver Amari Rodgers Slams Aaron Rodgers in Deleted Tweet
The Amari Rodgers saga in Green Bay is not a positive one. He was selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft as a much needed slot receiver. The Packers had released Cobb, one of Aaron’s best friends, after the 2018 season and had not yet found a quality slot receiver to take his place.
As fans may recall, Rodgers won his third NFL MVP Award after the 2020 season and “held out” during the 2021 offseason, leading many to wonder if he would force a trade. While the Rodgers trade was still two years away, one deal the Packers made to appease Rodgers was to bring Cobb back to Green Bay in a deal with the Houston Texans.
As a result, Amari did not get much playing time due to a seasoned veteran being ahead of him on the depth chart. Eventually, the 2021 third round pick was released midway through the 2022 season.
When news broke of Rodgers’ gesture to Corley in New York, the former Packers wide receiver posted the following in a since deleted post on X (formerly Twitter):
amari rodgers deleted this tweet pic.twitter.com/0JeNfY9D9x
— zach jacobson (@itszacharyj) May 4, 2024
The problem with Amari’s claim here is that he was released because he could not hold onto the ball, not because his quarterback didn’t invite him to stay at his house.
Before being cut by the Packers in 2022, he fumbled the ball five times on punt returns. In 2021, he had two fumbles. To put this in perspective, he had three first down receptions as a receiver and seven fumbles as a returner.
The fact of the matter is that Cobb was hurt for a quarter of the games Green Bay played after he came back in that trade with Houston. If Amari was any good, he could have gotten playing time.
But he didn’t because he was a liability with the football in his hands.
Too bad he didn’t delete the post before hundreds of screenshots were taken of it. It rings of a player just making excuses.
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