Green Bay Packers legend fires back at Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers’ impending breakup with the Green Bay Packers has LeRoy Butler feeling a certain way about their soon-to-be former franchise quarterback.

Green Bay Packers legend LeRoy Butler had some thoughts about the Aaron Rodgers situation.

You can certainly argue for Butler being the Packers’ greatest ambassador out there. He played his entire NFL career in Green Bay, he invented the Lambeau Leap and won a Super Bowl with the Packers. Not only is he a Pro Football Hall of Fame safety, but Butler has long been a popular sports talk radio host in Milwaukee. So what Butler has to say about the Packers carries weight.

Butler spoke with Tyler Dunne of Go Long about all that has gone into this Rodgers’ breakup.

“I can’t say it enough, that ‘G’ will never change. Sometimes, players — especially the quarterback, the last two quarterbacks to go to the Jets — forget about that. Those guys in the locker room deserve better than this,” he said.

Although Butler is an incredibly team-first guy, another comment of his is truly telling here.

“This is one of the best quotes my Mom gave me: ‘Don’t tell me you love me. Show me you love me’. If I tell you I love you, but treat you terrible, then why are you even telling me? But if I show you every single day that I love you, then you really get away without even saying it,” Butler said.

Green Bay is a special place in the NFL world, but we have to understand that this is a business.

LeRoy Butler is critical of Aaron Rodgers’ divorce with the Green Bay Packers

While I think there is merit to what Butler is saying, it does feel like he is carrying water for general manager Brian Gutekunst. Rodgers is a different cat. He is captivating, brilliant, mysterious and just a different dude. He is not for everyone, and that’s totally fine. But we do need to recognize that Gutekunst and the rest of the Packers brass traded up to draft his replacement prematurely.

Rodgers may have grown to love and appreciate Jordan Love as his teammate, but don’t fool yourself, he was pissed when the Packers traded up to draft a project quarterback out of Utah State instead of getting him some help offensively. It will go down as the definitive move made by Gutekunst in his front office career. Sadly, he and the rest of the Packers are paying big for it now.

Frankly, I think Rodgers did about as good of a job of being a Wisconsinite as he could have been having been a NorCal kid. Playing for the Packers brought him and everyone involved a ton of joy. Simply put, he grew up in Green Bay. However, it became readily apparent over the last few seasons that this marriage was on the brink of ending, as both parties were growing apart fast.

Guess what? That is totally okay!

Yes, it would have been amazing for Rodgers to have played out his entire professional career in Green Bay, won every Super Bowl under the sun and became the greatest quarterback of all time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards, and this relationship has reached its expiration date. The Packers want to move on and he wants to keep playing. We don’t need to point fingers anymore.

Should the trade go through, will Rodgers have success with the New York Jets? Probably, but he is not winning a Super Bowl there. Could the Packers have success with Love under center? That remains to be seen. Love has a lot of talent, but eventually that talent needs to become something greater: Production. Not all divorces are equal and you have to accept the other will find happiness.

Ultimately, we can’t really be surprised Butler injecting his small-market energy into this equation, well, because that’s all he knows. He can continue to be the Packers’ goodwill ambassador as Love tries to find himself in a slew of sub-.500 seasons, hoping to not finish below the hated Chicago Bears in the NFC North standings. It’s been one helluva run, but Green Bay should be pulling back.

Here is to Love being able to take the baton from Rodgers gracefully and start winning prolifically.