Report: Rodgers hasn't spoken to family in 2 years
Aaron Rodgers' performance has come under fire this season as the Green Bay Packers have slumped to a 4-5 record. Now his personal life is coming under scrutiny, too.
Bleacher Report's Tyler Dunne published a long feature about Rodgers on Friday that paints the Packers passer as a man who has isolated himself from some of his teammates and, more notably, his family.
According to Dunne, Rodgers hasn't spoken to his immediate family in two years. We first heard about the schism when Rodgers' brother, Jordan, was a contestant (and eventual winner) on "The Bachelorette."
Dunne writes:
One source, who was close to Rodgers for years but is among the many who have since been cut off by Rodgers entirely, said the quarterback has not spoken to his family since December 2014. Don't feel too bad, J-Mike. Immediate family members don't even have his cellphone number. When Mom and Dad sent Christmas presents to the quarterback and his girlfriend that year, the source said, those gifts were mailed back in February. He was set to be the groomsman in the wedding of one of his closest friends, the source said, and texted the day before he couldn't attend.
He didn't attend his grandfather's funeral - the same grandfather he once called before every game.
He fired a business manager he's known since high school.
The family was told they were no longer welcome in Green Bay. If Dad wants to attend a game now, he buys tickets on StubHub or goes through another player's family.
Nowhere in Dunne's reporting is an explanation for why Rodgers has chosen this route. No one, outside Rodgers himself and perhaps his family, seems to know why this has happened.
Rodgers' former teammate, tight end Jermichael Finley, criticized Rodgers as a locker-room leader, too.
"In my opinion, he's a different guy," Finley said. "I didn't really know how he showed his leadership. He wasn't a vocal guy. He really wasn't a hands-on guy. To tell you the truth, it was all about his game and his stats in my opinion. … He was a guy that kept it all in. He kept grudges close to his chest. If you did something, he never really let it go. He always kept it close to his heart.
"I just don't think he was a natural-born leader. He wasn't put on Earth to lead."
It's unclear if Rodgers' disposition and approach to relationships has changed since his NFL MVP seasons in 2011 and 2014, so it's impossible to say whether it has affected his play on the field. The Packers certainly have more problems than just Rodgers - in fact, his level of play may not rank among the team's 10 biggest issues.