One of the goofiest stories of the offseason arrived out of nowhere in March, when independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said that he was considering making Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers his running mate.
Rodgers, in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, shared his reaction to the news from Kennedy.
“Are you serious?” Rodgers said, via Yahoo.com. “I’m a fucking football player.”
Hinting at an eventual if not inevitable political career after football, Rodgers said he would “love to be a part of bringing [America] back to what she used to be.”
(What did “she used to be,” Aaron? And what is it with all these people who think America necessarily is no longer great because it isn’t what it once was? What do they miss that, you know, progress has added to our society? Please, be specific.)
Rodgers confirmed that he “thought about” accepting the assignment.
“I definitely thought about it because I love Bobby, and I just wanted to hear what he had to say about it,” Rodgers said.
Kennedy reportedly shied away from Rodgers because donors weren’t happy with the idea. Nor should they be.
Unlike certain politicians who currently have somewhere to be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, Rodgers does not have a sizable group of passionate followers. At this point, the prevailing attitudes toward Rodgers aren’t “love” or “hate” but “no opinion” or “hate.”
Still, if Rodgers had done it, he would have had to decide whether to stop playing until the campaign ended or to try to do both. It would have been very hard for him to do both, especially since he emphasized in his final press conference of the 2023 season that, moving forward, everyone with the team should avoid doing anything that distracts from the goal of winning football games.