An important thing to remember throughout this blog: Aaron Rodgers is a master manipulator. While the rest of the league plays checkers Rodgers plays chess, masterfully maneuvering himself through these final few years of his career with a deftness that only the greats possess. His third eye has been opened, and he with it he perceives the NFL landscape from a dimension that very few ever see. Just remember that.
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Now, as we head into the NFL's slow season, Rodgers' cunning gambit has entered its end game. The pieces are in place – he's set up the board exactly the way he wanted to, and we're mere days away from watching, slack-jawed, as the NFL's great power broker pulls off yet another stunning move that no one saw coming.
And the best news? We're not totally in the dark. Thanks to the intrepid work of the NFL Insiders, we got a little peek behind the scenes at what's brewing in the mind of football's only unique thinker. Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer recently went behind-the-scenes of the Vikings' QB "dilemma" this offseason, and in doing so, dropped some great nuggets about how Rodgers is playing the league for fools. Hate it all you want, Bears fans, but you have to respect it.
Aaron Rodgers' pitch to the Vikings sure comes across as desperate
"Which is where Rodgers entered the equation. When the four-time MVP reached out to the Vikings, with the idea of making a one-year run at a Lombardi and tying it to being a willing mentor for McCarthy, the team felt it had to listen. The proposition, of course, was different than the other two—they’d be jamming the pause button on the idea of playing McCarthy, rather than generating competition and multiple quarterback options ... So the Vikings passed on Rodgers, pushing their chips in on a 22-year-old."
Genius. No one drives a hard bargain like Rodgers, and the whole "don't start your franchise QB, start me," is textbook negotiating. This is what playing your hand perfectly looks like. Honestly, maybe the Vikings should sign him – do they seriously expect Brett Rypien to teach McCarthy these tricks of the trade?
Touché, Aaron. A tip of the cap to you. We've got to recognize greatness when it's staring us right in the face, and 'begging a team to throw their plans in the trash for one year of meh' might be his pièce de résistance. There's nothing more rewarding than watching a true thinking man's QB at the top of his game.