Ryan Clark has had enough of Aaron Rodgers.
The former NFL player and now media personality was appearing on ESPN’s “First Take” Friday when he said the four-time MVP, who once played for the Green Bay Packers and now plays for the New York Jets, is “arrogant to a point that’s almost sickening.”
Clark, who was appearing with former NFL MVP Cam Newton and longtime ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, was prompted by Rodgers’ weekly appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show,” also on ESPN, earlier this week.
Rodgers was critical of “both non-former players and former players who are trying to stay relevant fame wise” by appearing in media.
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“I’m talking about these experts on TV who nobody remembers what they did in their career,” Rodgers said. “So in order for them to stay relevant, they have to make comments that keep them in the conversation. That wasn’t going on in 2008, 2009. The ‘SportsCenter’ of my youth, those guys made highlights so much fun. And that’s what they showed on ‘SportsCenter.’
“Now it’s all talk shows and people whose opinions are so important now and they believe they’re the celebrities now, they’re the stars for just being able to talk about sports or give a take about sports, many of which are unfounded or asinine, as we all know. But that’s the environment we’re in now.”
Clark was quick to jump on the irony that Rodgers appears on an ESPN program weekly that replaced “SportsCenter” during the day and gained success by developing once great former NFL players into popular media personalities with large followings. Rodgers give takes on anywhere from football to science on the program.
“I find it extremely funny that he’s saying this on a show with a man, who as great as he was as a punter, is far more famous as a pundit in Pat McAfee,” Clark said.
The former safety who won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009, but also lost to Rodgers’ Packers in the Super Bowl two years later, finds it “hypocritical” that Rodgers is “doing the exact same thing” that he is critical of and is also reportedly paid at least $1 million per year on “Pat McAfee.”
“Actually, Aaron Rodgers you’re being paid to be on that show to give your thoughts and opinions as a personality,” Clark said. “And don’t get me wrong, he is not just to me a first-ballot Hall of Famer, he is one of the best and most talented quarterbacks to ever play this game and he ain’t no more.
“And his problem is … people are willing to say it.”
It’s hasn’t been pretty in Rutherford, New Jersey, for the 41-year-old quarterback and the Jets in his two first seasons there. The Jets are 3-10 this season and eliminated from playoff contention, while the team went 7-10 last year in a season where Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury in the opener.
Nothing like his younger days with the Packers, essentially always having them in championship contention and leading them to a Super Bowl victory once.
“Are people not supposed to be able to do their jobs? And do their jobs in unbiased way and be honest about who you are as player because you feel like you had a better career than them? I don’t agree to that,” Clark said.
“The reason that you’re getting this opportunity to say these asinine things is because someone is paying you, (which) is exactly the same thing that you are now speaking out against. This dude is once again tone deaf. This dude is once again unaware. This dude is once again arrogant to a point that’s almost sickening because he says these things and he talks tough and he behaves in this way, but he ain’t.
“He has all of this cachet because he’s a good player but there ain’t people around here that come around that talk about what type of leader you are. There ain’t people that come around here talk about wanting to follow you because of the type of man you have been.
“This dude is a fraud, right, he’s been a fraud. And he can throw a football and that’s where it stops. Once that talent ends so does him and so does he. And so to sit up there … and to be just blatantly hypocritical it’s funny and sickening at the same time.”
This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.
