By Adam Roberts – 5/17/2021
It’s the story that we already know will dominate the rest of the month of May in this state until the Bucks either advance to June playoff basketball or falter in the first round. And everyone wants to get their two cents in, from the little guys like myself all the way up to the top names close to the situation. We’ve also heard from big football names not immediately involved in the decision-making process.
One of those names was on ESPN La Crosse 105.5 earlier today as part of The Wendy’s Big Show.
Former Packer general manager Ron Wolf, the architect of one of the biggest deals in league history acquiring Reggie White and by extension leading Green Bay to two Super Bowl appearances, was speaking on Rodgers and other top league quarterbacks trying to leverage for better deals. In Wolf’s mind, it’s a “kids these days” sort of situation.
The full Wolf quote, tweeted earlier today by Big Show executive producer Dan Plocher, reads thus:
“There is a huge change, and it started with Russell Wilson, then went to (DeShaun) Watson, and now it went to (Aaron) Rodgers. It appears that today’s quarterbacks want to be more than quarterbacks. In my time, they were hired to play the position of quarterback. That’s what they are being paid to do. These guys, they want to pick the coach, pick the players, it’s an interesting dilemma. All three of these guys have signed long-term contracts, and they are under contract. I’m sure at that time there wasn’t anyone holding a gun to their head saying that you have to sign. Now, they’re not happy. They’re not happy with the team they signed a contract with…We’ve got a lot of divas playing in the league right now… The thing that I fail to understand is, all these guys that are doing this (Watson, Rodgers, Wilson) have long-term deals. I can’t believe the game has changed that remarkably.”
We’ve heard this take before, and will likely hear it again before this situation is resolved one way or another. A reminder that nothing will in all likelihood be decided until after June 1st, and while the court of opinion seems to be slightly swaying towards a resolution between the two parties being reached, anything could happen.