October 6, 2024 • 22 mins
Aaron Rodgers joined Kyle Brandt for an exclusive wide-ranging interview for Good Morning Football. Aaron starts out expressing his gratitude to still be playing in the NFL at age 40. He then reflects on being the O.G. of QBs in the league, what it’s like to play with and against his idols, and his methods of connecting with the new generation of players. Aaron breaks down how he manages the scrutiny of playing in New York. And what are Aaron’s thoughts on the current political landscape in an election year? Tune in to find out!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good Morning Football is the production of the NFL in
partnership with iHeartRadio. Hey guys, this is Kyle Brandts. And
before the Jets went over to London to play the Vikings,
(00:28):
I got to go to New Jersey and talk to
Aaron Rodgers. I sat down with him the day after
the Jets had lost at home and that pretty miserable
loss in the rain to the Broncos. Less than twenty
four hours later, there I am sitting with him. And
I've known Aarin for a long time. I've interviewed him
several times. It's always fun, it's always challenging. It's always
(00:48):
unexpected with some of the things that he says. But
we tried to hit everything we could. Him battling father time,
how that fight's going, his memories of being a rookie,
what it's like having young quarterbacks come up to him
and say, I watch you growing up. We even got
into the election, and I'm not kidding, and we got
into everything. This is the full interview. Thank you for listening,
and thank you, as always for following us on Good
(01:09):
Morning Football. Aaron, great to see him. Man. Likewise, I
want to start with always what my favorite question is
to ask you how's the life.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's great, Yeah, I mean it's different in really beautiful ways.
Been a tough year, you know, to be off, to
be injured, to be rehabbing, but a lot of good
lessons in the meantime. Glad I'm still playing, Glad, I'm
still here. Glad I'm moving the way I want to move.
And you know, a lot of the older you get,
(01:39):
the more gratitude you have for people along with you
on the journey. And there's a lot of great people
that came alongside me during some tough times as I
was frustrated and are broken and disappointed, and it's kind
of kept my spirits alive. And you know, once I
kind of crossed the threshold of walking and moving and
being able to walk up steps, you know, life got better.
And I'm really enjoying Jersey. I'm enjoying my team. You know,
(02:01):
we got a great fan base. Hungry fan base for sure,
but it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's really cool this you're here. And I was thinking
on the drive here to Jersey about the first time
when I met and it was in California. I was
in my late twenties, you were in your mid twenties
and now somehow Aaron Rodgers this year is going to
turn forty one.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
How did that happen? Yeah, we both got old.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I know, it's nuts. We were babies.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It's weird, you know, I was telling him before we started, Yeah,
you know, having Bonnicks come up to me and say, man,
I watched you growing up, you know, and just thinking,
you know, sitting next to Braylen Allen who's twenty years old.
He's half my age. You know, I turned forty one
before he turns twenty one. He came in legally have
a drink, and I'm growing gray hair on my chin.
But I'm real thankful. You know. It's been a beautiful journey.
(02:53):
And it's not about how you start, how you finished.
It's about the you know, the time you spend in
it doing something you love, getting paid incredibly well, being
part of special group, special organizations, special group of men
and women all pulling in the same direction, trying to
inspire and entertain a fan base that's you know, so
invested in what you're doing. You know, it's the greatest
(03:15):
life I could ask for.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
So when someone like Nick says that too, during that
great life, you're having Is that fun for you or
has it become annoying?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
No? No, I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You like it?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Why I do because I didn't get that opportunity, you know,
if I have any you know, I kind of did,
but in a different sense. You know, I got to
play with after Montana and Young retired and various Sanator's
retire my favorite players, but far and day one, I'm
in the same locker room with them. So but it's
kind of weird with your teammate to be that yo,
bro and Bratt you know, you know Bret, It's like, yeah,
(03:48):
he's so laid back in southern like it wasn't a
time for that. But I got to play against, you know,
a lot of my favorite players growing up, which is awesome.
I got to walk the length of the field between
third and fourth quarter in two thousand and five, and
Dion Sanders, who you know played Fred Landa back then.
I was in San Francisco's the Vision. It's kind of
the hated Falcon, you know, the Rizon and Dion and
(04:08):
those guys and Jerry Glanville and then it comes over
to the good side and went to the Super Bowl.
And so Dion was always a favorite player in mine
and on the field at same time, it was Dale Carter.
And people forget about how good Dale Carter because he
was a fantastic player, but he played on the Chiefs team,
and while Montana got traded the Chiefs, I was naturally
a Chiefs fan. He didn't I understand, but you know,
I remember Dale Carter just how great he was. And
(04:29):
he's playing on the field. I'm getting to play. We're
getting blown out, and Deon Sanders is walking down the
field with me, and it's just so momentary. Pinch yourself
and go how special you're living out your dreams. So
many people have dreams and goals and aspirations and maybe
never reached him or only reach a part of them.
But I got to fulfill all of them. And now
you just kind of reopen the dream journal and you
(04:51):
get to do things you know were passed your wildest
imagination at twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And I've talked to a lot of your young teammates
and they like being around you, and they're really comfortable
being around you. It's a hard thing to do. You know,
you've seen the Steve Bushemi meme that how do you
do fellow kids with the skateboard, right. What is the
secret of hanging with a twenty one year old or
twenty year old and making them comfortable, like without going
full with shemy.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I think it's the remember and you have two ears
in one mouth, if you listen twice as much as
you speak, and I think we all want to be
heard and understood. You know that involves listening. So you
got to get to know your teammates and tee them up. Now,
the younger generation, you know, as I'm the older generation. Now,
you know, there's not a lot of questions coming back
(05:36):
to you. That's the way the conversation goes. You've got
to invest in them, get them comfortable, understand what they're
all about, figure out what makes them tick, what music
they like with movies. You got to be up to
date on your current events. You can have the conversations
and then create an environment like in the locker room
where that's the fun corner being we had it last year,
we got again this year where it's like there's some
old heads in the back corner and the conversation start
(05:59):
to see. The guys start to come over a little
bit going on a little bit. They're interested, you know,
they want to know what it's all about. They want
to know not just what we're talking about, but deep down,
they want to know how do you stick around the
league for a long time. So it's finding those fun opportunities.
I always tell guys in training camps, sit with a
different person that you know every lunch you have, like
just mix it up, like get to know your teammates,
because you get to miss out on a great opportunity
(06:21):
to connect if you just sit with the same guys
every week. And I love that. I mean, you have
your core guys and your team. It could be the
linemen sitting together, the tight ends or whatever it is,
guys from the same area. But I think there's a
lot to be said for just finding out that guy
who's sitting by himself. I mean, we got headphones on,
give him take his headphones off. We'll talk to them,
get to know them a little bit, and create a
environment where there's just a loose, free flowing conversation where
(06:43):
it's not hey, the you know, mean dads over there
in the corner, don't really stalk to them. You know,
it's like, oh, you get to start ribbing them a
little bit, find a nickname, find an insert to a
conversation that can like always just between you and I.
It's like Michael Scott says about inside jokes. He always
wants to be a part of one. You know, you
have to have those inside jokes with your teammates. Then
you walking down the hall and you can like mention
that every time, and it's just in passing. But it
(07:05):
creates this connection point between two people that thinks so important.
Whether you're number one on the roster, number sixty nine
on the roster and the pea squad, you gotta be
able to connect with our teammates.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, I like that. The Jets don't have a mean
dad corner, but they do have an old head corner.
You know, I lived for this stuff, So lay it
out for me. Is it like you and Morstead and
what movies side?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, he's he's on the other side. He's not tyrants.
Next to me, I got you know, I got Kindler
over there. I got last year we had, you know,
we had some of the older d line, but I
got some. I got some Lineman him, I got taxed
McKinley next to me. Attacks of fat Yeah really guy,
wild story. But it's just that's how you connect with
these guys. I mean, the beauty in the NFL locker
(07:46):
room is sixty nine guys from all over the country
with crazy backgrounds and crazy stories. Some guys come from privilege,
some guys come from the gravel from and everybody in between.
And how do you create these connection points with these guys.
You just got to get to know them. You got
to ask some questions, You got to stir it up.
You gotta start with the inside. Joe and I love it,
but yeah, the conversation starts getting going and then you
(08:10):
never know where it goes. Well.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I think you've become a hero to the forty something
set that I'm part of, because you now are like
our rock stars. We are still doing it better in
headfield and roll, and our guys staff like still selling
out arenas. They're silver haired too, still kicking ass. What
do you like about still rocking and still playing football
in your forties?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Like the football part of that, it's just the unexpected.
You know, they don't expect you to still be playing,
to be able to move a little bit, just fighting
against father time, you know, I think there's something beautiful
about that. Now. It changes the way you prepare for sure.
You know, like in my twenties, I could eat a
bag of Starbus jelly beans and you know, have you know,
(08:50):
a couple of cheeseburgers from five guys and ever think
twice about it. Now you gotta be a little bit
smarter about what's going in and how you spend your time.
You know, it's constantly like thinking about your body, working
on your body, make sure and you get stretched out
mercying some of the old heads. When I was younger,
always kind of like doing something in the training room
or the weight room. I was like, man, I'm good.
You know, I mounts around here, just roll off the current.
(09:12):
You know, there's years where I would need the ball
in pregame warm ups. Really, you know, I think the
pre pregame warm ups we just chat. I would just
be in locker room messing around and then go out
there through like ten balls. How do you do that?
I don't know, It's just seems natural. Now I gotta
get out, I gotta get loosened up, you know, I
gotta get the blood flow a little bit. But but
I love that. I love I love the chance to
(09:32):
like beat back father time and to continue on this
and play the way I want to play.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
How's that fight going? Like who's winning? Like, how do
you feel right now?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
With a stalemate? Right now?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Really?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Just training blows.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well just because of the way we started with three
games eleven days, Like I needed that three day weekend.
I needed that break because that was a lot on
the body. But no, we're we're throwing body blows right
now and the stalemate.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
What goodness is now you get to travel to London.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, and let's go.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
But what's really cool about it is you get to
go against your old buddies, the Vikings, and you guys
had so much hype preseason. You had so much hype
deservedly so they had none and Sam Donald had none.
And now they're probably the coolest story in the NFL.
What do you make of them?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I love it for Sam. I've got no Sam over
the years. He comes to my charity Flight Football event.
He's a great dude. He's been through a lot, you know,
top pick to a couple of different teams, and he
was here, you know, and things didn't work out, and
then sometimes it just takes that one season where you're
kind of I think San Francisco Depp for him, where
(10:37):
he was part of like a real good organization, a
great play call, that great offense, and started to feel
like his confidence was coming back. And then goes to
Minnesota and what they do. They draft the guy to
be the guy and then he's out for the year
and it's your shot. What are you gonna do with it?
So I really like Sam. I think he's a great dude.
I'm really happy for him. They have like character guys.
(10:57):
It seems like, sure they got the guy from Miami
with the great hair, you know, who seems like one
of those like blue guys. Aaron Jones is the biggest
school guy and maybe I've ever been around, you know,
one of the best teammates ever, like a guy who
just loves ball, goes by his business. It's all about
the right stuff. Then you have, you know, superstars, the
Justin Jefferson's the world obviously he was fantastic player, and
(11:17):
then the right pieces. It looks like in between that
you got to Kevin O'Connell, my all workout buddy, you know,
seems to be figuring out on the offensive side. And
coach Flores, who's you know, a well respected decoordinated for
a long time in the league. So it's all coming together,
but it's it's the glue guys that make the thing go,
you know. So you can have the superstars and you
get the guys who just know their role, embrace their role,
(11:39):
and that's what elevates the entire team. So but I
will say, you know, selfishly, when I knew that we
would be playing against Sante North, you know, I was
watching that last week eighteen of the season to see
how it shake out, because at the time it could
have been Minnesota, Green Bay or Chicago, and I was thinking,
you know, it'd be fun to go back because there's
(12:00):
gonna be a real game for sure, to be able
to play in Chicago, Green Beer or Minnesota again. Obviously
played a lot in all those places, mostly in Lambo,
but a lot of great memories at Soldier Field, and
a lot of memories you know, good and bad at
the US Bank and the other two stadiums we played
at too. So although you know it's London International, was
great for our sport. It's exciting. We played Tottenham a
(12:22):
couple of years ago. It's great. Selfishly, I was hoping
it was going to be one of those stadiums.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well, what were you thinking if it would have been Lambo,
it would have been wild.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I mean I saw it in two thousand and nine,
when you know, we played one of the wildest games
ever as far as like pregame hype in the old
Metrodome the first time, and then they came to us
later in the season and they had a really good
team and we had both games were battles back and forth.
I just remember just the excitement was absolutely wild. I
know Jones, he just went back to Lambo and had
(12:52):
a good game, didn't score, but he say he was
an leap. I mean, that would have been wild. I've
been in that locker room. It's not the greatest visiting
locker room. I mean, I think we can all say that,
like has Green Bay, you know, lovers and also what
that is, you know done. You know, plenty of interviews
and different things in that locker room. Not the great
locker room. And then you walk down this real tight
corridor in the back of the South end zone. It
(13:13):
would have been a lot of wild emotions, for sure.
It would have been great emotions. Going back to Chicago
as well, place that we've had a lot of success
over the years, a lot of great memories, winning AFTY
Championship there, the Game of thirteen, the Game at sixteen.
You know, a lot of a lot of really fun
moments in US Bank. There's been some big highs and
some rough ones. I broke my collar bone there. We
(13:33):
beat there the first time that thing opened. You know,
we had a couple of winnesday. We want a University
of Minnesota. We won the old Metro, so a lot
of history there. But it'll be you know, it's a
lot of you know, see what the crowd's like, but
it won't be the same as being a US Bank.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Well, you're also going against a really tough team, you know,
so you didn't get any luck in that regard. The
thing that stuff about you is you have to continue
this fight against Spot a time, and there's all these
other fights and all these other things you have to
tend to. Right now, what is more challenging for you
You've been through so many things. Is it continuing to
develop chemistry with the are wide out or is it
maybe continue to develop trust with the head coach?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Oh, I think it's it's really neither of those. You know,
I don't worry about those things. You know, My focus
is on what it takes to win, and that's the preparation.
Each week. There's a lot of stories, naturally, because we're
in the New York market that most of the time
don't have any legitimate legs, and they're just talking points
outside the building, whether it's me pushing Sala, you know,
(14:31):
which is something he loves doing. He loves pushing his guys.
That was weird, But they didn't show the post game
hog it and I love you, and you know, I
think that's the way it goes. You know, when we're
up and I said it after San Fran we're gonna
wear next two and then everybody's gonna love us up.
And I love us up for ten days and then
we laid an egg. You know. Now the whole world's
come crashing down. That's this market. There's a lot of
(14:52):
ups and a lot of downs. It's the beauty in
it because there's so many lessons in that. But it's
also a challenge if mentally you're not able to stay
even killed and handle the ups and the downs of
the season. This is normal. There's adversity every single year,
no matter if you're playing in Green Bay, Jacksonville or
New York, New York. You know, we're New Jersey, but
(15:13):
we have to stay off of the roller coaster and
just ride that nice little even wave and not get
too high and too low with these ups and downs
that are going to happen naturally. I'm talking about myself,
the youngest player in the team, and our ownership and
fan base. You know, we got to stay the course.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
I heard from someone in New York media, and you
can tell you this is tuur or not. That Monday
morning you walked into Sala's office, cleared off his desk
and said, I love you, but you're gonna take my
cadence from my cold dead hands, Bob, and then.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
You walked out.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I heard that happen. I have sources, Aaron, Yeah, I
don't think that happened.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
No, might have been blacked out for that. I don't
think that happens. No.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Okay, did not confirm, actually did not put it on record.
He didn't. You mentioned the fans. I want to talk
about Jets fans. You became the first player this year
to reference ASoP. Yeah, just love and his fables, and
you talk about Tortoise and the hair. I got some
brothers grimm for you.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Okay, chicken Little. Yeah, you know, Chicken Little. You know,
guys falling constantly.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
This guy's falling. That's the Jets fans. They're they're hardwired
for paranoia. They're addicted to misery. This guy was falling
after the Niners game. This guy's falling after the Broncos game.
Do you feel that stuff from the fan base.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I mean I sent it. Yeah, we just feel the
general attitude. You know. It's it's they're riding the roller coaster.
You know, they went to the top of the Grizzly
and uh, you know in Great America, and that at
some point it's going to crescendo, is going to get
to the crest. We got to ride that with a
happy face. Yes, you know, because roller coaster levers and
(16:49):
I'm not one of them. The best part of it
is that drop, right, is that you know, and you're
going up. I've been on this ride one time at
Great America.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
This is a Magic Mounta in California, Great America where
Great America Yeah, okay, six Flags Yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Just rickety and you're just like, what the hell am
I doing? Why am I on this thing? And it's
probably not having that bad because I'm terrified when you
get to the top, and that's the part where your
stomach drops. But then you realize it's all gonna be okay.
You know you're gonna be okay. There's actually no ups
and downs in that ride. I think it's just a
couple like big drops. That's the season. The season is
(17:26):
there's some high points and there's some point where you
feel like, am I going to be okay?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, but you're.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Gonna hit the bottom of that and start climbing again
and you're gonna be okay. I think it's a great
analogy for the season. But we can't get so excited
about the climb that we can't handle the initial hitting
our stomach from a tough outing. The adversity.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
That's a great, great one that is perfect because you
do feel great after the stomach drops.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
And I never went on that right again.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
No, you're done, one and done. However, I'll add to
your comparison on the roller coasters. There's also a photograph
that gets taken. Yeah, yeah, exactly, like a souvenir the
Broncos game. There's an image of you on the bench
in the game. You're very emotionally lost. You got a
toile of your head. And the number one Internet joke
about that is and that's the moment Aaron Rodgers officially
(18:16):
became a New York Jet. And those are from Jets fans,
like self loathing Jets fans. That's the picture on the
roller coaster. Can you cure that the same old Jets disease?
Do you think you personally can cure it?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I don't know. I think it takes a collective effort.
You know, it takes all of us, including the fan base,
to just have a little belief and understand the power
of manifestation is in the intention and the attention. So
the intention is the goal and the intention is the focus.
So we have to keep our eyes on the goal
and stay focused on that. That's how you manifest the
desires of your heart. And I think we all want
(18:50):
to get to a certain spot you know that we
know we can achieve, and that's players, that's coaches, that's
the organization, and that's the fans. So if we're all
having the right thoughts, I get it. I also understand
what this organizations went through, and we're going to have
to win consistently to kind of start to turn that side.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I have one more question for you, and I want
to shift gears dramatically, but I know you're one of
the few guys who can do that, and I'm serious.
One of the coolest ways to calibrate your career is
that this is going to be the fifth presidential election
that you will go through in your career.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Oh well, the fifth one.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Think about that if you started and the first one
was a W eight and twelve. Yeah, and obviously this
is a fiery election. How do you handle that as
a team and what is the best way, especially that week,
to stay united as a team through something that could
be so divisive.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I think one myth about the locker room is that
there is major divides, whether it's personality divides or political
beliefs or religious beliefs. There's a I think, an ingrained,
natural appreciation for all of the things you bring to
(20:06):
the table. And that's why you can get along with
the guy from you know, Po Dunk, Mississippi, Chico, California,
New York, New York, Columbus, So High or whatever it
might be. Naturally, there's some appreciation for the background. And
when there's a prayer in the locker room, it isn't
like a big deal for somebody who's atheist or a
(20:29):
Buddhist or Muslim, like I got to be away from this.
You know, where there's opinions about politics, people don't get
shut down. I think in society outside of the locker room,
if you disagree with me, immediately we have to have
a problem, and there's no way of going okayle, you
believe in this and I believe in this, and maybe
you don't agree on that, but it doesn't change the
(20:51):
fact that I can respect your character. You and I
can be friends in the locker room. There isn't that
same divide that's in society. An appreciation for all types
of beliefs, all types of thoughts, and guys aren't quickly
like shut down like society. It's like name call, cancel,
silence on both sides. Oh you're you were in this side,
(21:13):
Oh you're this and this and this, Oh you're in
this idea, this is this. In the locker room, it's
not like that. We all have each other's back, And
I think that's when a bad locker room gets divisive.
Good locker rooms appreciate all walks of life, where you
come from, what you believe in and maybe you and
I don't see II on that, but I don't say
the fact that I got your back. I'm gonna stand
by you. I'm gonna back you up in the locker room,
(21:35):
on the field, and the media. And I guess the
beauty in the team, especially a team that's really tight knit.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Do you think you have all those locker rooms here?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I think we do. I think we do. It takes
combination of the overall structure that's in place and then
releasing the control into the hands of leadership. And I
think we have good leadership on this team. We have
the right combination of the old heads who've kind of
been there, done that, the young guys who are real hungry,
and those middle guys who are so important were stepping
(22:04):
in their stardom and are starting to show that leadership
ability that's that's innate in anybody who's on the way
up into superstardom. So I like where we're at. We're
going through adversity, it's a long season and hopefully, you know,
we'll just take this thing one week at a time.
I cliches, but the fact is, you've got to be
tunnel vision in this league and I know our fans
(22:27):
and organizations sometimes can get away from that, but the players,
we got to stay tight and stay televisioned. You're to
do a cliche everyone while one.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Is fine, dude, it's I really mean it. It's awesome
to see you and thank you for doing this.
Good Morning Football is the production of the NFL in
partnership with iHeartRadio. Hey guys, this is Kyle Brandts. And
before the Jets went over to London to play the Vikings,
(00:28):
I got to go to New Jersey and talk to
Aaron Rodgers. I sat down with him the day after
the Jets had lost at home and that pretty miserable
loss in the rain to the Broncos. Less than twenty
four hours later, there I am sitting with him. And
I've known Aarin for a long time. I've interviewed him
several times. It's always fun, it's always challenging. It's always
(00:48):
unexpected with some of the things that he says. But
we tried to hit everything we could. Him battling father time,
how that fight's going, his memories of being a rookie,
what it's like having young quarterbacks come up to him
and say, I watch you growing up. We even got
into the election, and I'm not kidding, and we got
into everything. This is the full interview. Thank you for listening,
and thank you, as always for following us on Good
(01:09):
Morning Football. Aaron, great to see him. Man. Likewise, I
want to start with always what my favorite question is
to ask you how's the life.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It's great, Yeah, I mean it's different in really beautiful ways.
Been a tough year, you know, to be off, to
be injured, to be rehabbing, but a lot of good
lessons in the meantime. Glad I'm still playing, Glad, I'm
still here. Glad I'm moving the way I want to move.
And you know, a lot of the older you get,
(01:39):
the more gratitude you have for people along with you
on the journey. And there's a lot of great people
that came alongside me during some tough times as I
was frustrated and are broken and disappointed, and it's kind
of kept my spirits alive. And you know, once I
kind of crossed the threshold of walking and moving and
being able to walk up steps, you know, life got better.
And I'm really enjoying Jersey. I'm enjoying my team. You know,
(02:01):
we got a great fan base. Hungry fan base for sure,
but it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's really cool this you're here. And I was thinking
on the drive here to Jersey about the first time
when I met and it was in California. I was
in my late twenties, you were in your mid twenties
and now somehow Aaron Rodgers this year is going to
turn forty one.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
How did that happen? Yeah, we both got old.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I know, it's nuts. We were babies.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It's weird, you know, I was telling him before we started, Yeah,
you know, having Bonnicks come up to me and say, man,
I watched you growing up, you know, and just thinking,
you know, sitting next to Braylen Allen who's twenty years old.
He's half my age. You know, I turned forty one
before he turns twenty one. He came in legally have
a drink, and I'm growing gray hair on my chin.
But I'm real thankful. You know. It's been a beautiful journey.
(02:53):
And it's not about how you start, how you finished.
It's about the you know, the time you spend in
it doing something you love, getting paid incredibly well, being
part of special group, special organizations, special group of men
and women all pulling in the same direction, trying to
inspire and entertain a fan base that's you know, so
invested in what you're doing. You know, it's the greatest
(03:15):
life I could ask for.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
So when someone like Nick says that too, during that
great life, you're having Is that fun for you or
has it become annoying?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
No? No, I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You like it?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Why I do because I didn't get that opportunity, you know,
if I have any you know, I kind of did,
but in a different sense. You know, I got to
play with after Montana and Young retired and various Sanator's
retire my favorite players, but far and day one, I'm
in the same locker room with them. So but it's
kind of weird with your teammate to be that yo,
bro and Bratt you know, you know Bret, It's like, yeah,
(03:48):
he's so laid back in southern like it wasn't a
time for that. But I got to play against, you know,
a lot of my favorite players growing up, which is awesome.
I got to walk the length of the field between
third and fourth quarter in two thousand and five, and
Dion Sanders, who you know played Fred Landa back then.
I was in San Francisco's the Vision. It's kind of
the hated Falcon, you know, the Rizon and Dion and
(04:08):
those guys and Jerry Glanville and then it comes over
to the good side and went to the Super Bowl.
And so Dion was always a favorite player in mine
and on the field at same time, it was Dale Carter.
And people forget about how good Dale Carter because he
was a fantastic player, but he played on the Chiefs team,
and while Montana got traded the Chiefs, I was naturally
a Chiefs fan. He didn't I understand, but you know,
I remember Dale Carter just how great he was. And
(04:29):
he's playing on the field. I'm getting to play. We're
getting blown out, and Deon Sanders is walking down the
field with me, and it's just so momentary. Pinch yourself
and go how special you're living out your dreams. So
many people have dreams and goals and aspirations and maybe
never reached him or only reach a part of them.
But I got to fulfill all of them. And now
you just kind of reopen the dream journal and you
(04:51):
get to do things you know were passed your wildest
imagination at twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And I've talked to a lot of your young teammates
and they like being around you, and they're really comfortable
being around you. It's a hard thing to do. You know,
you've seen the Steve Bushemi meme that how do you
do fellow kids with the skateboard, right. What is the
secret of hanging with a twenty one year old or
twenty year old and making them comfortable, like without going
full with shemy.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I think it's the remember and you have two ears
in one mouth, if you listen twice as much as
you speak, and I think we all want to be
heard and understood. You know that involves listening. So you
got to get to know your teammates and tee them up. Now,
the younger generation, you know, as I'm the older generation. Now,
you know, there's not a lot of questions coming back
(05:36):
to you. That's the way the conversation goes. You've got
to invest in them, get them comfortable, understand what they're
all about, figure out what makes them tick, what music
they like with movies. You got to be up to
date on your current events. You can have the conversations
and then create an environment like in the locker room
where that's the fun corner being we had it last year,
we got again this year where it's like there's some
old heads in the back corner and the conversation start
(05:59):
to see. The guys start to come over a little
bit going on a little bit. They're interested, you know,
they want to know what it's all about. They want
to know not just what we're talking about, but deep down,
they want to know how do you stick around the
league for a long time. So it's finding those fun opportunities.
I always tell guys in training camps, sit with a
different person that you know every lunch you have, like
just mix it up, like get to know your teammates,
because you get to miss out on a great opportunity
(06:21):
to connect if you just sit with the same guys
every week. And I love that. I mean, you have
your core guys and your team. It could be the
linemen sitting together, the tight ends or whatever it is,
guys from the same area. But I think there's a
lot to be said for just finding out that guy
who's sitting by himself. I mean, we got headphones on,
give him take his headphones off. We'll talk to them,
get to know them a little bit, and create a
environment where there's just a loose, free flowing conversation where
(06:43):
it's not hey, the you know, mean dads over there
in the corner, don't really stalk to them. You know,
it's like, oh, you get to start ribbing them a
little bit, find a nickname, find an insert to a
conversation that can like always just between you and I.
It's like Michael Scott says about inside jokes. He always
wants to be a part of one. You know, you
have to have those inside jokes with your teammates. Then
you walking down the hall and you can like mention
that every time, and it's just in passing. But it
(07:05):
creates this connection point between two people that thinks so important.
Whether you're number one on the roster, number sixty nine
on the roster and the pea squad, you gotta be
able to connect with our teammates.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, I like that. The Jets don't have a mean
dad corner, but they do have an old head corner.
You know, I lived for this stuff, So lay it
out for me. Is it like you and Morstead and
what movies side?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, he's he's on the other side. He's not tyrants.
Next to me, I got you know, I got Kindler
over there. I got last year we had, you know,
we had some of the older d line, but I
got some. I got some Lineman him, I got taxed
McKinley next to me. Attacks of fat Yeah really guy,
wild story. But it's just that's how you connect with
these guys. I mean, the beauty in the NFL locker
(07:46):
room is sixty nine guys from all over the country
with crazy backgrounds and crazy stories. Some guys come from privilege,
some guys come from the gravel from and everybody in between.
And how do you create these connection points with these guys.
You just got to get to know them. You got
to ask some questions, You got to stir it up.
You gotta start with the inside. Joe and I love it,
but yeah, the conversation starts getting going and then you
(08:10):
never know where it goes. Well.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I think you've become a hero to the forty something
set that I'm part of, because you now are like
our rock stars. We are still doing it better in
headfield and roll, and our guys staff like still selling
out arenas. They're silver haired too, still kicking ass. What
do you like about still rocking and still playing football
in your forties?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Like the football part of that, it's just the unexpected.
You know, they don't expect you to still be playing,
to be able to move a little bit, just fighting
against father time, you know, I think there's something beautiful
about that. Now. It changes the way you prepare for sure.
You know, like in my twenties, I could eat a
bag of Starbus jelly beans and you know, have you know,
(08:50):
a couple of cheeseburgers from five guys and ever think
twice about it. Now you gotta be a little bit
smarter about what's going in and how you spend your time.
You know, it's constantly like thinking about your body, working
on your body, make sure and you get stretched out
mercying some of the old heads. When I was younger,
always kind of like doing something in the training room
or the weight room. I was like, man, I'm good.
You know, I mounts around here, just roll off the current.
(09:12):
You know, there's years where I would need the ball
in pregame warm ups. Really, you know, I think the
pre pregame warm ups we just chat. I would just
be in locker room messing around and then go out
there through like ten balls. How do you do that?
I don't know, It's just seems natural. Now I gotta
get out, I gotta get loosened up, you know, I
gotta get the blood flow a little bit. But but
I love that. I love I love the chance to
(09:32):
like beat back father time and to continue on this
and play the way I want to play.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
How's that fight going? Like who's winning? Like, how do
you feel right now?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
With a stalemate? Right now?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Really?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Just training blows.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Well just because of the way we started with three
games eleven days, Like I needed that three day weekend.
I needed that break because that was a lot on
the body. But no, we're we're throwing body blows right
now and the stalemate.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
What goodness is now you get to travel to London.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, and let's go.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
But what's really cool about it is you get to
go against your old buddies, the Vikings, and you guys
had so much hype preseason. You had so much hype
deservedly so they had none and Sam Donald had none.
And now they're probably the coolest story in the NFL.
What do you make of them?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I love it for Sam. I've got no Sam over
the years. He comes to my charity Flight Football event.
He's a great dude. He's been through a lot, you know,
top pick to a couple of different teams, and he
was here, you know, and things didn't work out, and
then sometimes it just takes that one season where you're
kind of I think San Francisco Depp for him, where
(10:37):
he was part of like a real good organization, a
great play call, that great offense, and started to feel
like his confidence was coming back. And then goes to
Minnesota and what they do. They draft the guy to
be the guy and then he's out for the year
and it's your shot. What are you gonna do with it?
So I really like Sam. I think he's a great dude.
I'm really happy for him. They have like character guys.
(10:57):
It seems like, sure they got the guy from Miami
with the great hair, you know, who seems like one
of those like blue guys. Aaron Jones is the biggest
school guy and maybe I've ever been around, you know,
one of the best teammates ever, like a guy who
just loves ball, goes by his business. It's all about
the right stuff. Then you have, you know, superstars, the
Justin Jefferson's the world obviously he was fantastic player, and
(11:17):
then the right pieces. It looks like in between that
you got to Kevin O'Connell, my all workout buddy, you know,
seems to be figuring out on the offensive side. And
coach Flores, who's you know, a well respected decoordinated for
a long time in the league. So it's all coming together,
but it's it's the glue guys that make the thing go,
you know. So you can have the superstars and you
get the guys who just know their role, embrace their role,
(11:39):
and that's what elevates the entire team. So but I
will say, you know, selfishly, when I knew that we
would be playing against Sante North, you know, I was
watching that last week eighteen of the season to see
how it shake out, because at the time it could
have been Minnesota, Green Bay or Chicago, and I was thinking,
you know, it'd be fun to go back because there's
(12:00):
gonna be a real game for sure, to be able
to play in Chicago, Green Beer or Minnesota again. Obviously
played a lot in all those places, mostly in Lambo,
but a lot of great memories at Soldier Field, and
a lot of memories you know, good and bad at
the US Bank and the other two stadiums we played
at too. So although you know it's London International, was
great for our sport. It's exciting. We played Tottenham a
(12:22):
couple of years ago. It's great. Selfishly, I was hoping
it was going to be one of those stadiums.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well, what were you thinking if it would have been Lambo,
it would have been wild.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I mean I saw it in two thousand and nine,
when you know, we played one of the wildest games
ever as far as like pregame hype in the old
Metrodome the first time, and then they came to us
later in the season and they had a really good
team and we had both games were battles back and forth.
I just remember just the excitement was absolutely wild. I
know Jones, he just went back to Lambo and had
(12:52):
a good game, didn't score, but he say he was
an leap. I mean, that would have been wild. I've
been in that locker room. It's not the greatest visiting
locker room. I mean, I think we can all say that,
like has Green Bay, you know, lovers and also what
that is, you know done. You know, plenty of interviews
and different things in that locker room. Not the great
locker room. And then you walk down this real tight
corridor in the back of the South end zone. It
(13:13):
would have been a lot of wild emotions, for sure.
It would have been great emotions. Going back to Chicago
as well, place that we've had a lot of success
over the years, a lot of great memories, winning AFTY
Championship there, the Game of thirteen, the Game at sixteen.
You know, a lot of a lot of really fun
moments in US Bank. There's been some big highs and
some rough ones. I broke my collar bone there. We
(13:33):
beat there the first time that thing opened. You know,
we had a couple of winnesday. We want a University
of Minnesota. We won the old Metro, so a lot
of history there. But it'll be you know, it's a
lot of you know, see what the crowd's like, but
it won't be the same as being a US Bank.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Well, you're also going against a really tough team, you know,
so you didn't get any luck in that regard. The
thing that stuff about you is you have to continue
this fight against Spot a time, and there's all these
other fights and all these other things you have to
tend to. Right now, what is more challenging for you
You've been through so many things. Is it continuing to
develop chemistry with the are wide out or is it
maybe continue to develop trust with the head coach?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Oh, I think it's it's really neither of those. You know,
I don't worry about those things. You know, My focus
is on what it takes to win, and that's the preparation.
Each week. There's a lot of stories, naturally, because we're
in the New York market that most of the time
don't have any legitimate legs, and they're just talking points
outside the building, whether it's me pushing Sala, you know,
(14:31):
which is something he loves doing. He loves pushing his guys.
That was weird, But they didn't show the post game
hog it and I love you, and you know, I
think that's the way it goes. You know, when we're
up and I said it after San Fran we're gonna
wear next two and then everybody's gonna love us up.
And I love us up for ten days and then
we laid an egg. You know. Now the whole world's
come crashing down. That's this market. There's a lot of
(14:52):
ups and a lot of downs. It's the beauty in
it because there's so many lessons in that. But it's
also a challenge if mentally you're not able to stay
even killed and handle the ups and the downs of
the season. This is normal. There's adversity every single year,
no matter if you're playing in Green Bay, Jacksonville or
New York, New York. You know, we're New Jersey, but
(15:13):
we have to stay off of the roller coaster and
just ride that nice little even wave and not get
too high and too low with these ups and downs
that are going to happen naturally. I'm talking about myself,
the youngest player in the team, and our ownership and
fan base. You know, we got to stay the course.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
I heard from someone in New York media, and you
can tell you this is tuur or not. That Monday
morning you walked into Sala's office, cleared off his desk
and said, I love you, but you're gonna take my
cadence from my cold dead hands, Bob, and then.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
You walked out.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I heard that happen. I have sources, Aaron, Yeah, I
don't think that happened.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
No, might have been blacked out for that. I don't
think that happens. No.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Okay, did not confirm, actually did not put it on record.
He didn't. You mentioned the fans. I want to talk
about Jets fans. You became the first player this year
to reference ASoP. Yeah, just love and his fables, and
you talk about Tortoise and the hair. I got some
brothers grimm for you.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Okay, chicken Little. Yeah, you know, Chicken Little. You know,
guys falling constantly.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
This guy's falling. That's the Jets fans. They're they're hardwired
for paranoia. They're addicted to misery. This guy was falling
after the Niners game. This guy's falling after the Broncos game.
Do you feel that stuff from the fan base.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I mean I sent it. Yeah, we just feel the
general attitude. You know. It's it's they're riding the roller coaster.
You know, they went to the top of the Grizzly
and uh, you know in Great America, and that at
some point it's going to crescendo, is going to get
to the crest. We got to ride that with a
happy face. Yes, you know, because roller coaster levers and
(16:49):
I'm not one of them. The best part of it
is that drop, right, is that you know, and you're
going up. I've been on this ride one time at
Great America.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
This is a Magic Mounta in California, Great America where
Great America Yeah, okay, six Flags Yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Just rickety and you're just like, what the hell am
I doing? Why am I on this thing? And it's
probably not having that bad because I'm terrified when you
get to the top, and that's the part where your
stomach drops. But then you realize it's all gonna be okay.
You know you're gonna be okay. There's actually no ups
and downs in that ride. I think it's just a
couple like big drops. That's the season. The season is
(17:26):
there's some high points and there's some point where you
feel like, am I going to be okay?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Yeah, but you're.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Gonna hit the bottom of that and start climbing again
and you're gonna be okay. I think it's a great
analogy for the season. But we can't get so excited
about the climb that we can't handle the initial hitting
our stomach from a tough outing. The adversity.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
That's a great, great one that is perfect because you
do feel great after the stomach drops.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
And I never went on that right again.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
No, you're done, one and done. However, I'll add to
your comparison on the roller coasters. There's also a photograph
that gets taken. Yeah, yeah, exactly, like a souvenir the
Broncos game. There's an image of you on the bench
in the game. You're very emotionally lost. You got a
toile of your head. And the number one Internet joke
about that is and that's the moment Aaron Rodgers officially
(18:16):
became a New York Jet. And those are from Jets fans,
like self loathing Jets fans. That's the picture on the
roller coaster. Can you cure that the same old Jets disease?
Do you think you personally can cure it?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I don't know. I think it takes a collective effort.
You know, it takes all of us, including the fan base,
to just have a little belief and understand the power
of manifestation is in the intention and the attention. So
the intention is the goal and the intention is the focus.
So we have to keep our eyes on the goal
and stay focused on that. That's how you manifest the
desires of your heart. And I think we all want
(18:50):
to get to a certain spot you know that we
know we can achieve, and that's players, that's coaches, that's
the organization, and that's the fans. So if we're all
having the right thoughts, I get it. I also understand
what this organizations went through, and we're going to have
to win consistently to kind of start to turn that side.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I have one more question for you, and I want
to shift gears dramatically, but I know you're one of
the few guys who can do that, and I'm serious.
One of the coolest ways to calibrate your career is
that this is going to be the fifth presidential election
that you will go through in your career.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Oh well, the fifth one.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Think about that if you started and the first one
was a W eight and twelve. Yeah, and obviously this
is a fiery election. How do you handle that as
a team and what is the best way, especially that week,
to stay united as a team through something that could
be so divisive.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I think one myth about the locker room is that
there is major divides, whether it's personality divides or political
beliefs or religious beliefs. There's a I think, an ingrained,
natural appreciation for all of the things you bring to
(20:06):
the table. And that's why you can get along with
the guy from you know, Po Dunk, Mississippi, Chico, California,
New York, New York, Columbus, So High or whatever it
might be. Naturally, there's some appreciation for the background. And
when there's a prayer in the locker room, it isn't
like a big deal for somebody who's atheist or a
(20:29):
Buddhist or Muslim, like I got to be away from this.
You know, where there's opinions about politics, people don't get
shut down. I think in society outside of the locker room,
if you disagree with me, immediately we have to have
a problem, and there's no way of going okayle, you
believe in this and I believe in this, and maybe
you don't agree on that, but it doesn't change the
(20:51):
fact that I can respect your character. You and I
can be friends in the locker room. There isn't that
same divide that's in society. An appreciation for all types
of beliefs, all types of thoughts, and guys aren't quickly
like shut down like society. It's like name call, cancel,
silence on both sides. Oh you're you were in this side,
(21:13):
Oh you're this and this and this, Oh you're in
this idea, this is this. In the locker room, it's
not like that. We all have each other's back, And
I think that's when a bad locker room gets divisive.
Good locker rooms appreciate all walks of life, where you
come from, what you believe in and maybe you and
I don't see II on that, but I don't say
the fact that I got your back. I'm gonna stand
by you. I'm gonna back you up in the locker room,
(21:35):
on the field, and the media. And I guess the
beauty in the team, especially a team that's really tight knit.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Do you think you have all those locker rooms here?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I think we do. I think we do. It takes
combination of the overall structure that's in place and then
releasing the control into the hands of leadership. And I
think we have good leadership on this team. We have
the right combination of the old heads who've kind of
been there, done that, the young guys who are real hungry,
and those middle guys who are so important were stepping
(22:04):
in their stardom and are starting to show that leadership
ability that's that's innate in anybody who's on the way
up into superstardom. So I like where we're at. We're
going through adversity, it's a long season and hopefully, you know,
we'll just take this thing one week at a time.
I cliches, but the fact is, you've got to be
tunnel vision in this league and I know our fans
(22:27):
and organizations sometimes can get away from that, but the players,
we got to stay tight and stay televisioned. You're to
do a cliche everyone while one.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Is fine, dude, it's I really mean it. It's awesome
to see you and thank you for doing this.
Host
Kyle Brandt
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