Eyebrows were raised when Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports shared in an article published on Wednesday that NFL media partners currently have “surprisingly little interest” in hiring quarterback Aaron Rodgers as an on-air personality, in part because he’s seen as “insufferable” and has “rubbed many members of the press the wrong way” over the past handful of years.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is among noteworthy members of the NFL community who are skeptical Rodgers wouldn’t receive at least some calls from networks whenever he retires from playing.
“I don’t buy the notion that no one would want him,” Florio said about Rodgers on Wednesday evening. “The networks desire ratings, and Rodgers is interesting, even if he’s insufferable. Frankly, I’d rather hear him speak candidly about what he sees than listen to the vast majority who tiptoe around telling the truth about the players, the coaches, the teams and/or the league because they don’t want to p— anyone off.”
History shows Florio is right about networks craving the reactions Rodgers would spark during studio segments or as an in-game analyst. By all accounts, Fox has zero regrets about giving Tom Brady a 10-year, $375M deal to serve as a lead in-game commentator even though fans and media insiders routinely ripped his performances this past fall. Truth be told, Brady generating headlines and attracting attention from September through February via his calls of games is exactly what Fox executives wanted.
For an article updated in January 2024, Richard Deitsch of The Athletic noted that Rodgers had already made over $1M total from just his appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show” as of that time. This past February, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand speculated that a big name such as Rodgers could “be the next $100M NFL TV analyst.”
Perhaps earning such a salary would help convince Rodgers to stay away from certain topics such as his views on COVID-19 vaccines, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and American politics while speaking during NFL broadcasts.
“If one of the traditional broadcast partners won’t hire Rodgers, someone will — if he decides that he wants to talk about football after he’s done playing it,” Florio added.
Rodgers seemingly wants to keep playing through at least the 2025 season, but it sounds like the 41-year-old could receive an opportunity to become a full-time NFL media personality as soon as next year.
