ESPN’s Adam Schefter is now explaining what led to his brief conversation with Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers over a text message.
Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show last week that Schefter reached out about a potential trade to the New York Jets, but he fired back and told him to “lose my number.” Schefter then showed the message.
NBC Sports’ Peter King spoke with Schefter this week to gain more insight into what exactly happened. The NFL insider said he’s had Rodgers’ number “for a while” but “never once used it.”
He decided to finally use it. Schefter told King he hoped to present Rodgers with an opportunity to correct any inaccurate information that was making the rounds.
“We’re on the air for two hours. I call the Jets, I call the Pack, I call Rodgers’ advisers. No one’s saying anything,” Schefter explained. “So, I’m sitting there on the set with Dianna Russini. ‘Should I text Rodgers?’ She said, ‘Yeah, text him.’ At 3:35, I texted him. I say, basically: ‘Have you informed the Jets that you’d like to play there? I wanted to open it up to you.’ He didn’t respond for maybe 10 minutes. So then I called the number, got sent to voice mail. Then he texts me, ‘Lose my number. Good try tho.’ That’s all.
“He’s the one who says the media’s getting it wrong. I wanted to go to source and get it right. That’s all. I was just trying to do my job.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
Rodgers was obviously in no mood to chat with him.
Rodgers has not been shy about his lack of respect for the industry’s main news breakers.
“There’s an inner circle and in my inner circle, nobody talks to Ian Rapoport to Adam Schefter or to any of those people,” Rodgers said. “Just stop with the fake news. I speak for myself and I will continue to do that. I have no problem with Ian Rapoport, Schefter, I think they’re really good at their jobs. When it comes to me, they don’t know (expletive). They really don’t. They don’t have people in my inner circle who are sources. I can promise you that. Anybody who would talk to them is not in my inner circle. It’s that simple. So I’ve had this plan on the books for four months, for the same time. When someone like that goes on and says something that’s not true it creates a story that’s (expletive).
“How many (expletive) narratives can come from one (Pat McAfee Show last week) where they didn’t even actually listen to what I said?” Rodgers said. “Or the intent? Or the tone? And again, nothing against Rapoport, but he doesn’t have anybody who knows legitimately what’s going on in my life. So for him to say something, ‘Monday through Thursday I was supposed to be in there,’ that was never the plan. It hasn’t been the plan for four months. So don’t make (expletive) up. I don’t have your number, you’re not gonna have my number, you do a great job, but not when it comes to my life, so stop talking about it.”
As it turns out, Rodgers had already informed the Jets and Packers of his plans and that he was not the one holding up anything as the two sides work on compensation.
The four-time NFL MVP seems destined to join the Jets, who hired former Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator.
