Report: Rodgers wants new contract (Update: May not want to return in 2021)

[nodakfan17]

I’ve never been a fan of Mark Murphy.

 

When he took over in 2007, the Packers already had TT, MM, and Aaron Rodgers. The wheels were all ready in motion and Bob Harlan deserves as much credit for Super Bowl XLV as Mark Murphy (if not more).

 

I was a long time TT/MM apologist, but it was obvious to fans that TT wasn’t well, but Murphy held on to him. Ted should have received the gold watch treatment at least two years earlier. I put their mid-decade slump on Murphy for not making a tough decision when one was warranted.

 

Now do I think he has an excellent business acumen as a lawyer and former Big Ten AD? Of course. As a former NFL player, I think he also has the respect of the players and staff. That doesn’t mean he’s done everything right.

[homer]

I would rather not trade the reigning MVP even if he's complicated. I'd rather dump Murphy if that's what it came down to.

 

Murphy is kind of a tool, but dumping the team president to appease an employee is a terribly slippery slope.

 

If this was Davante Adams they'd never do it. But a HOF QB? Yeah you do it. There is no single player in football that has a bigger impact on the outcome of a game.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

You really think they should fire the team president over some vague, mysterious dispute with a QB in his late 30s? The same guy that doesn't talk to his family or any ex-teammates that mildly displease him? I also think Murphy is a bit of a tool, I am just surprised to hear that. I suppose anyone could do Murphy's job.

[CheezWizHed]

Personally, you only fire someone for being incompetent, not because one person in your organization doesn't like another person and/or can't get along. Maybe Murphy (possibly) or Gute (little doubtful) deserve it on their own merit, but that has to be clear and not because a player called them out.

 

I don't care how good Rodgers is, that just leaves a bad legacy.

[homer]

You really think they should fire the team president over some vague, mysterious dispute with a QB in his late 30s? The same guy that doesn't talk to his family or any ex-teammates that mildly displease him? I also think Murphy is a bit of a tool, I am just surprised to hear that. I suppose anyone could do Murphy's job.

 

Murphy can be replaced by several thousand different people. Rodgers cannot. And I didn't say they "should" fire the team president. I said if that's what it came down to, I'd choose Rodgers 100 times out of 100.

[xisxisxis]

You really think they should fire the team president over some vague, mysterious dispute with a QB in his late 30s? The same guy that doesn't talk to his family or any ex-teammates that mildly displease him? I also think Murphy is a bit of a tool, I am just surprised to hear that. I suppose anyone could do Murphy's job.

 

Murphy can be replaced by several thousand different people. Rodgers cannot. And I didn't say they "should" fire the team president. I said if that's what it came down to, I'd choose Rodgers 100 times out of 100.

The only way it comes down to that is if Lord Aaron continues his childish behavior. If the Packers wanted to even consider getting rid of Murphy, the first person with an opinion is the general counsel who would point out the $ such a decision would cost the organization when there are no clear grounds for dismissal would be huge. Sure, losing Rodgers would be bad, but the Packers don't have $50M to throw away on a wrongful termination. And the publicity for that would be significant because every single thing that went down between the two of them would be out in the open. The Packers are well run and make a profit, but writing a huge check to the former CEO just to make the HOF QB not mope is the epitome of what a stupid organization would do. Many people on this board don't remember how ****** the Packers were from SB2 until Bob Harlan was hired. I do. I have no problem losing the battle with Lord Aaron and taking a hit as long as the organization and team continues to be successful (wins the war). I'm not a big fan of Murphy because I think he was too slow in reacting to the issues with TT and with MM, but the people he has put into place from LaFleur to Gute have shown they were the right choice and are very good at what they do. And faulting someone for being too loyal is probably the weakest criticism that can be levied against someone. I'd rather have Murphy there making the decisions on who to hire for the leadership positions than another few years of the biggest prima donna this side of alpha centauri. Especially when sir pouty pants will be gone at some point anyways.

[adambr2]

It's not like Rodgers has any say in the matter, Murphy can only be "fired" by the board of directors for the Packers and if the board of directors chooses to replace Mark Murphy he doesn't have a case to claim wrongful termination.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The case for dismissing Murphy has already been half-made by him needlessly disclosing info and commenting publicly on stuff. It would seem easy to just say he's doing a bad job in managing a crisis and let go of him.

 

That said, I'm also sick of Lord Aaron. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he is only mildly upset and went through this whole circus just to come back and enjoy a "Thank you Aaron!" moment from the fans. You know, the kind of thing a kid does.

[PeaveyFury]

Murphy can be replaced by several thousand different people. Rodgers cannot. And I didn't say they "should" fire the team president. I said if that's what it came down to, I'd choose Rodgers 100 times out of 100.

 

I'm betting a lot of people said the same thing about Favre, and the Packers were able to replace him. If the Packers are willing to move on from Aaron as it appears they may be, it's because they believe they also have found their guy to replace him in Love.

 

Also, though I fully agree that Murphy doesn't and shouldn't feel the need to say anything on this, and that it's better that he doesn't, but let's not act like what he said was insulting/demeaning/rift-building like some seem to WANT it to be. If Aaron is offended by 'complicated fella', he's even more of a sensitive diva than I already thought he was.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Complicated fella is code for 'difficullt'. There is no other thing that could have meant. It was just dumb. I'm sure there are people who would let it roll right off their back, but Aaron is not one of those people.

[PeaveyFury]

Complicated fella is code for 'difficullt'. There is no other thing that could have meant.

 

I mean, it could have meant that he's complicated, which is a fair and accurate statement. But so is difficult.....

 

I took it more to mean that Brett Favre, etc. was a guy whose situation was pretty straightforward, and Aaron isn't that.

 

But yeah, didn't need to say it and shouldn't have.

[xisxisxis]

Also, though I fully agree that Murphy doesn't and shouldn't feel the need to say anything on this, and that it's better that he doesn't, but let's not act like what he said was insulting/demeaning/rift-building like some seem to WANT it to be. If Aaron is offended by 'complicated fella', he's even more of a sensitive diva than I already thought he was.

I disagree that he shouldn't say anything. He's the CEO. He routinely represents the Packers during meetings with groups. He routinely writes updates to the owners that are public (because 1 of the 300,000 owners is likely to send it to a member of the press.) It's Murphy's job to be the face of the corporate Packers. It would be unreasonable to say he can't speak publicly because Aaron is throwing a fit.

 

That being said, what he has said is the problem. He doesn't need to make a joke about Aaron being "complicated". He could simply say that the organization is working to address Rodgers concerns. Period. It's likely that Murphy is really pissed that he can't say what he wants to say and that Rodgers is free to leak everything to the media and only present his POV. But that's why Murphy get's paid the big bucks (relatively). It's his job to not let his feelings interfere with his job, which is to always put the best of the Packers over his own personal viewpoint. So if he has to eat some crap so that they can have the best outcome with Rodgers holdout then that's what he needs to do. He shouldn't stop doing his job. He can complain to his therapist about what a complicated guy Aaron Rodgers is...

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Murphy has an ego. I've brought this up several times, but the first warning shot of this was when they fired McCarthy, or hired MLF, I can't remember, but he felt it necessary to rattle off his career accolades in front of the media. It's important to him that we know how smart he is. He doesn't have the silent confidence of Ted Thompson.

[PeaveyFury]

Murphy has an ego. I've brought this up several times, but the first warning shot of this was when they fired McCarthy, or hired MLF, I can't remember, but he felt it necessary to rattle off his career accolades in front of the media. It's important to him that we know how smart he is. He doesn't have the silent confidence of Ted Thompson.

 

Ted Thompson wasn't the President of the Franchise, he was the GM. Bob Harlan is Murphy's equivalent, and he often put on the necessary dog-and-pony show in front of the shareholders.

 

I agree with xis- you can take issue with what he said, but not that he's not going about his business quietly. He's the 'ownership' face of the franchise, and routinely HAS to be in front of people and the media.

 

EDIT: Again I'll note though, my firm belief is that he shouldn't have said what he said, but that again if Aaron is upset about it, meh. The twitter-verse trying to spin this as some franchise-level mega slam is absurd.

[MrTPlush]

I’m still not exactly sure the setting when Murphy made his Rodgers comments, but it certainly seemed like it wasn’t necessary to even talk about Aaron Rodgers at all let alone say something dumb. Seems like he decided to go down that road all by himself.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Take this for the TMZ piece of information that it is, but I have a source that says Rodgers renewed his membership at the Green Bay Country Club for another year.

 

Edit: seeing this was on Twitter this morning, but I got it from the same person that tipped me off on Brewers GM change and Bucks uniform/fiserv name.

[nodakfan17]

Yahoo carried the Rodgers’ country club membership story yesterday.

 

I’m not getting too excited. Is it possible it just auto renewed? For someone earning $30 million per year, this might be equivalent to me forgetting to cancel Hulu after the teaser price expired and getting dinged a whopping $7.99 for an extra month.

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/aaron-rodgers-renews-membership-green-172929728.html

 

FWIW, this isn’t even the ‘nice’ country club in Green Bay. That would be Oneida.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Yeah lol, I don't think he's too worried about paying the dues.

[MrTPlush]

I saw the suggestion maybe he did it to just troll the Packers. That seems far fetched (he didn’t), but this thing is such a circus and Murphy is so annoying I hope he hops on a plane to Green Bay for the day of training camp just to not show up. Maybe have his equipment duffel bag, eat breakfast by the stadium, drive past the player entrance, and then go golfing before hopping on a plane back out of town. That would be kinda funny.

[PeaveyFury]

I saw the suggestion maybe he did it to just troll the Packers. That seems far fetched (he didn’t), but this thing is such a circus and Murphy is so annoying I hope he hops on a plane to Green Bay for the day of training camp just to not show up. Maybe have his equipment duffel bag, eat breakfast by the stadium, drive past the player entrance, and then go golfing before hopping on a plane back out of town. That would be kinda funny.

 

I’m a little perplexed at the apparent belief here that what Murphy did was annoying but that nothing Aaron has done is…..

[nodakfan17]

I saw the suggestion maybe he did it to just troll the Packers. That seems far fetched (he didn’t), but this thing is such a circus and Murphy is so annoying I hope he hops on a plane to Green Bay for the day of training camp just to not show up. Maybe have his equipment duffel bag, eat breakfast by the stadium, drive past the player entrance, and then go golfing before hopping on a plane back out of town. That would be kinda funny.

 

I’m a little perplexed at the apparent belief here that what Murphy did was annoying but that nothing Aaron has done is…..

The bar for professionalism is higher for a Team President than it is for any player, including a franchise QB (especially considering the former has a law degree and has been a Big Ten AD).

[PeaveyFury]

I saw the suggestion maybe he did it to just troll the Packers. That seems far fetched (he didn’t), but this thing is such a circus and Murphy is so annoying I hope he hops on a plane to Green Bay for the day of training camp just to not show up. Maybe have his equipment duffel bag, eat breakfast by the stadium, drive past the player entrance, and then go golfing before hopping on a plane back out of town. That would be kinda funny.

 

I’m a little perplexed at the apparent belief here that what Murphy did was annoying but that nothing Aaron has done is…..

The bar for professionalism is higher for a Team President than it is for any player, including a franchise QB (especially considering the former has a law degree and has been a Big Ten AD).

 

How about a franchise QB who is supposedly angling to be the host of Jeopardy, the gold standard or TV professionalism and integrity? And yet, he’s acting like a high schooler who was jilted at the prom.

[nodakfan17]

Peavey - I’m not a fan of of either right now and I’ve waffled back and forth on who deserves the bulk of the blame for this situation (Rodgers or Management); however, I’m certain the President of the Green Bay Packers should be held to a higher standard of professionalism than any player (including franchise QBs with TV aspirations). This isn’t most franchises where the owner’s relatives run the team because they lack suitable career prospects outside of the family bubble. This is a man who was hand-picked to lead the Green Bay Packers because of his unique combination of education and experiences (NFL player, lawyer, AD, etc.).

[PeaveyFury]

And you feel that "complicated fella" crossed the boundary between professional and unprofessional?

[DuWayne Steurer]

I feel like if the statement came out unprovoked, it was unprofessional.

 

I think a person can think that Murphy is being unprofessional and Rodgers is also handling this in the wrong way. Both can be true at the same time.