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Packers GM Brian Gutekunst: Conversations with Aaron Rodgers about his future 'never transpired'

Aaron Rodgers never communicated with the Packers about his desire to play elsewhere in 2023, the GM says, despite telling Pat McAfee otherwise.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — A trade between the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets involving future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers has yet to come to fruition, although it remains clear that Rodgers ending up in New York is preferred for all parties involved.

A little communication at the end of the season may have prevented this outcome, with Rodgers expressing frustration with the lack of communication on a recent episode of the Pat McAfee show, even going as far as to say, "I love direct communication."

The problem? Well, according to Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst, the Packers attempted to contact Rodgers multiple times following their end of the season meeting in January, and that meeting "never transpired."

"I was really looking forward to the conversations with Aaron to see how he fit into that," Gutekunst said Monday. "Those never transpired. So there came a time where we had to make some decisions, so we went through his representatives to try to talk to him [about] where were we going with our team. At that point, they informed us that he would like to be traded to the Jets."

Locked on Packers host Peter Bukowski is over the high school drama between the Packers and Rodgers, specifically these antics by Rodgers to try to reframe the situation into something other than what it is: his desire to play somewhere else in 2023.

"For him to go on Pat McAfee and gaslight us, like we don't see what's going on," Bukowski said. "This is not hard to understand. Aaron Rodgers wants this to look a certain way. It is not that way."

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Gutekunst went on to praise Rodgers for how much he means to the organization, and stated he and Jets general manager Joe Douglas have been in regular contact but have not set any kind of deadline to execute a trade.

At this point compensation seems to be the primary hangup, with the Jets unwilling to part with the 13th overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

Regardless, a deal is expected to come together at some point, and Rodgers will play the upcoming season in a new uniform for the first time since 2005 - and he can tell the story of how it came together however he wants.

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