The Green Bay Packers are in the middle of a painfully mediocre season, and Aaron Rodgers is the only player apparently keeping the franchise from sinking. Don’t let that fool you, warns former teammate Jermichael Finley, who has never been shy about blasting the quarterback and who did so again in an interview with Tyler Dunne of Bleacher Report.
In a stark contrast to what Rodgers’ current teammates have to say about their leader, Finley believes the quarterback is too “scared” to be a vocal leader and that he cares more about his own stats and achievements than what happens with the team.
“I didn’t really know how he showed his leadership,” Finley said. “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.”
Finley hasn’t played since 2013 due to a neck injury. He was cleared to play the next year but never caught on with any team.
It’s worth pointing out that he had some pretty darn good seasons with Green Bay as the top tight end in Rodgers’ offense. He finished his six-year career — all played with the Packers — with 223 catches for 2,785 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Yet Finley and Rodgers were never good friends.
This was highlighted last year when Jordy Nelson went down with an ACL injury during the preseason. Finley used that as an opportunity to throw some shade at his former quarterback.
With Nelson out. Let's see how good @AaronRodgers12 really is. #Packers 👀
— Jermichael Finley (@JermichaelF88) August 23, 2015
And now he’s taking his shade-throwing game to the next level. Rodgers, to Finley, is not a leader and will never be a leader.
“But Aaron Rodgers is so scared of what guys are going to say that he doesn’t say nothing at all,” Finley said. “He doesn’t get vocal. He goes into his little shell. He’s not a guy who hangs out with the fellas. He’s real self-centered.”
There is safety in saying things of this nature when one is out of the game and doesn’t have to remain accountable to his teammates. It’s worth mentioning that his current teammates all back Rodgers as a fiery competitor who is just “human,” per Dunne.
Finley has had an ax to grind against Rodgers for a long time now. So it’s not surprising that he has such pointed remarks that aim to assassinate Rodgers’ character as a person. He’s not the only person to question Rodgers’ leadership of late, either, as NFL legend Brett Favre did so after the team’s latest loss.
We’ve all seen Rodgers bark at his teammates on the field when they make mistakes. We’ve all seen him carry his team to victory and we’ve seen him call out his team when it hasn’t lived up to expectations. But leadership comes in all shapes and sizes.
Clearly, Finley never liked the way Rodgers does it, and he’s not alone. Will history remember Rodgers in the same light, or will it remember him as a Hall of Famer who won at least one Super Bowl?