Aaron Rodgers still has a few NFL teams vying for his services. But if he wants to retire and move into sports media, the former Packers and Jets quarterback might find a chilly reception, Front Office Sports has learned.
With the 41-year-old Rodgers at a career crossroads, I spoke with sources at multiple NFL media partners, as well as agents, to gauge his prospects. I found surprisingly little interest in one of the league’s all-time great QBs.
Would NFL TV and streaming partners take a meeting with Rodgers? Of course. Ever since ex-Cowboys QB Tony Romo exploded for CBS Sports in 2017, NFL TV partners have scouted the next great White Whale broadcaster even during their playing careers.
Sources say Rodgers would get nowhere near the rapturous welcome given to QB contemporaries like Tom Brady, who signed a staggering 10-year, $375 million with Fox Sports in 2022. Peyton Manning was relentlessly pursued by ESPN and Fox for years before doing it his way with Omaha Productions’ ManningCast on ESPN2. Romo set the bar for NFL color commentator salaries with his 10-year, $180 million contract extension in 2020 before some of his contemporaries exceeded that number.
Rodgers, who will turn 42 in December, is smart, incisive, and highly quotable. Media outfits typically desire those qualities. So what’s the problem? None of the network executives or talent agents I talked to would go on the record. If asked publicly about Rodgers, they’d likely say they’re happy with their current broadcast teams and have no cast openings. Some might choose the all-purpose “If he wants to talk to us, we’d be happy to talk with him.”
Their main concern, under condition of anonymity, is that Rodgers comes off as a pompous know-it-all who would turn off viewers. His dalliance with COVID-19 conspiracy theories and public feuds with critics like Jimmy Kimmel on The Pat McAfee Show also concern some. With that in mind, the prospect of hiring Rodgers does not thrill executives.
“Yes, he could be a great analyst. But he’s insufferable,” said one source. Rodgers “needs an image rehab,” warned another.
Even if Rodgers declared today that he’s retiring and wants a media job, networks and streamers might not want him. Over the last few years, he’s rubbed many members of the press the wrong way. Even on-air personalities from networks who could potentially hire him have blasted him with both barrels.
In December, ESPN’s Ryan Clark called Rodgers “arrogant” and “tone-deaf” for his criticism of sports talk shows. “This dude is a fraud. He’s been a fraud. He can throw a football—and that’s where it stops. Once that talent ends, so does him and so does he.” After Rodgers was voted the “most annoying” NFL player in an Action Network poll, Colin Cowherd of FS1 agreed with the results: “He’s exhausting to everybody.”
Still, it’s surprising that a four-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, and future first-ballot Hall of Famer is not drawing major interest. Drew Brees landed a deal with NBC Sports before he even retired from the league.
There have been unlikeable personalities who got their shot on sports TV. Start with the late, great Howard Cosell, the NFL announcer who many fans loved to hate. Dan Dierdorf was a know-it-all. It didn’t stop him from calling ABC’s Monday Night Football for years. More recently, Fox hired the apathetic Jay Cutler to be its No. 2 game analyst in 2017—before the ex-Bears QB changed his mind and returned to the NFL. Even the late Bob Knight joined ESPN in 2008 after retiring from coaching. To paraphrase the late John Feinstein in A Season on the Brink, the irony of the media-hating Knight joining the media, in any capacity, was almost too funny for words. But it happened.
At this point, we don’t know whether Rodgers even wants to call NFL games or serve on a studio show. The superstar QB has earned a staggering $380.7 million during his 20 NFL seasons, according to Spotrac. He shouldn’t need the money.
Rodgers has earned a reputation for being thin-skinned. He has rabbit ears for criticism—and holds grudges like an elephant, according to Tyler Dunne of “Go Long,” who covered him in Green Bay. That’s not a good combination for somebody in a public-facing media job. Just ask Joe Montana, the four-time Super Bowl champion with the 49ers, who quit his analyst job with NBC, at halftime of Super Bowl XXX no less, when he felt disrespected by his colleagues.
Rodgers has shown he can be interesting and entertaining when he wants to be. His controversial weekly appearances helped make McAfee’s show a national success. McAfee is nothing if not loyal to his crew. If Rodgers wants it, he could likely talk football forever with McAfee & Co.
Of course, some media companies may not want to telegraph their interest in Rodgers. Circumstances could also change as commentators and analysts move around.
Right now, the chances of Rodgers landing a top game analyst or studio gig are not high. Certainly, not as high as they should be for a superstar of his caliber.
