Aaron Rodgers has seemingly wielded all the power he has over the Green Bay Packers in recent weeks. From his lengthy standoff from joining the team until the last minute, to his testy press conference upon his arrival, Rodgers has flexed his proverbial (and probably his literal) muscles at the Packers brass he's been at odds with.
Rodgers was even behind the team's decision to trade for former Packers favorite Randall Cobb. Last week, it seemed as though the QB was trying to get the band back together as he and Cobb took to Instagram to seemingly lobby for a Clay Matthews reunion.
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst responded to the speculation, claiming they were by no means in contact with the former All-Pro linebacker.
The online buzz their post generated eventually drew a response from the Packers QB himself. Rodgers clarified that it was all in good fun stemming from a FaceTime call between friends one night.
Via Zach Kruse of Packers Wire:
“Friday night, I was with Dave (Bakhtiari) and his lovely fiance, Frankie, and the Cobbs. And we had a question about Clay that came up, because Clay just moved from California. So we got Clay on FaceTime. Those conversations turned into a social media post. There hasn’t been, I don’t think, a big push from any of us to sign him. We didn’t even talk ball. We were just BS-ing with him. Having a good conversation. He’s a big farmer now, kind of like Jordy. He’s probably got that strength to play but I don’t think he’s thought about football for a while.”
I'm not saying Aaron Rodgers is making up a story to cover up anything, but the Packers store more than likely knew what he was doing when he put up that Instagram story. He may not have actually wanted Matthews back, but there's a good chance he partly wanted to mess with the Packers once again. Rodgers, after all, is all too familiar with just how quick the media pounces on any potential news bit.