A-aron Rodgers can be one of the most volatile players in the NFL. No one holds a grudge like Rodgers. There are many people he loathes, Matt Lafleur and his own family are probably atop that list. His disdain isn’t all used on coaches and family members though … he saves plenty for his fellow NFL players.
With the arrival of Jordan Love, there is some new blood on Rodgers’ shit list. In honor of the Packers selecting an heir-apparent to their quarterback slot, let us explore 10 players who Aaron Rodgers truly hates.
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10. Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Valdez-Scantling has been talked up by everyone from talking-heads to that annoying guy named Dave in your fantasy league. Each of the past two years, he’s supposed to be the next big receiver on the Frozen Tundra. However, he’s the only receiver who has been targeted more than 100 times by Rodgers to have caught less than 50% of their targets.
Rodgers is the kind of fierce competitor who demands perfection. A receiver who has worse odds of catching the ball than a coin toss will not cut it for him. Valdes-Scantling has underperformed year after year and game after game.
9. Russell Wilson
In 2015, all that stood between A-aron and a second Super Bowl appearance was 30 minutes of football and maintaining a 16-0 lead over Seattle. All looked good until a young upstart named Russell Wilson got to work. Wilson and the Seahawks clawed their way back into the game one score at a time. Thanks to 15 fourth-quarter points, Wilson got to overtime and won the game with a deep strike.
Rodgers had been to the mountaintop once already and was poised to head back there before Russell Wilson stole his glory.
8. Shea McClellin
2013 was going to be the Packers’ year. They were 5-2 heading into a Week 8 showdown with division rival Chicago. Shortly into the first quarter, Shea McClellin put Rodgers’ season on ice as he drove him into the turf shattering his collarbone. That 2013 Packers team still managed to make the playoffs despite being quarterbacked by Seneca Wallace, Scott Tolzien, and Matt Flynn.
Rodgers was denied a deep playoff run by McClellin’s hit in Week 8.
7. Colin Kaepernick
Kaepernick and the 49ers were the toast of the NFC in the mid-2010s. Rodgers was the victim of that buzzsaw in the 2013 and 2014 Playoffs. In 2013, Kap ran over the Packers to the tune of 181 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, leading the 49ers to 45 points en route to the Super Bowl.
In 2014, Rodgers and the Packers hosted the upstart 49ers and it was more of the same. Kaepernick milked five minutes off the clock to end the game and the Packers’ season with a game-winning field goal as time expired.
6. Antwan Odom
One fine Sunday in September 2009, the Cincinnati Bengals came strolling into the *insert Boomer voice* Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field. On the Bengals’ bus that day was a fifth-year defensive end out of Alabama by the name of Antwan Odom. No one had heard of or read about Antwan Odom. NO. ONE. However, on this fateful day, Antwan Odom made A-aron his bitch.
Odom sacked Rodgers five times and hit seven times total. Much like many great QBs, Rodgers does not like to get hit, much less seven times in the same game.
5. Brett Favre
Brett Favre is the man who just would not retire in Green Bay and denied Rodgers the ability to see the field for three years. Favre’s constant will-he-won’t-he act had to frustrate Rodgers.
4. Baccari Rambo
Why is Rambo a player Aaron Rodgers hates? Similarly to Odom, Rambo was a one-hit-wonder. But boy was it hit. Rambo was cut by Washington after a lackluster start to the 2014 season before Doug Marrone and the injury-ravaged Bills came calling. Rambo played sparingly before Rodgers and the Packers came to visit in Week 14.
Rodgers and the Pack should have stayed home. A-aron completed 40% of his passes, his lowest career total in a game he started. In addition, he fumbled the ball once and threw two interceptions to Rambo. Kyle “Uncle Rico” Orton turned the ball over less and Dan Carpenter drilled five field goals as Rambo led the Bills to a win.
3. Jared Allen
As previously said, Aaron Rodgers hates getting hit. Allen has sacked Rodgers 14.5 times and hit him 21 total times as well. No one has taken Rodgers to the turf more than Jared Allen. Considering how Rodgers reacted to the hit the next entrant put on him, imagine how he has to feel about the guy who sacked him 14.5 times.
2. Anthony Barr
He really hates Anthony Barr after he put a vicious and potentially dirty hit on him in 2017. Looking at how hard Rodgers went at Barr the season after the hit, there is nothing but bad blood here.
Rodgers has a nasty temper, but he normally keeps it in check on the field. Running into the man who ended his 2017 season early and denied him the ability to finish a season he had started hot with 13 touchdowns and leading the Pack to a 4-1 record before Barr’s hit in Week 6 ended another potential big season.
1. Jordan Love
Aaron Rodgers is familiar with the situation of a rookie quarterback being brought in to replace an aging veteran. He was the younger man earlier in his career when he was brought in to “learn from” Brett Favre. The Packers and Rodgers had to suffer through three years of Favre waffling between retirement and returning.
Fast-forward to Thursday, April 23, 2020, the night that Aaron Rodgers was put on notice by Green Bay. The Packers selected a big-armed QB out of Utah State named Jordan Love. Post-draft Rodgers has apparently said and done everything to make it sound like he is welcoming Love. However, given Rodgers’ frosty relationship with Favre and his attitude towards Coach Matt LaFleur and others he feels have kept him from greatness, Jordan Love is in for a cold reception on the Tundra.
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