There was a time where Michael Wilbon was fine with ESPN covering Aaron Rodgers like he matters, but that time passed several years ago.
Aaron Rodgers is back. After insisting his decision of whether to play or retire wouldn’t drag into June like it did last year, Rodgers only waited until May to officially sign his contract to play a second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now that we’ve endured another offseason of ‘will he, won’t he’ surrounding Rodgers’ future, Wilbon is wondering why ESPN bothered to cover it.
“He’s irrelevant. He’s overstated,” Wilbon ranted Tuesday morning on First Take. “And by the way, I’m not talking about his career. No. Aaron Rodgers is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, a great quarterback for years. He’s irrelevant now. What makes him relevant now? This network talking about him every day, day in, day out as if they’re hanging on waiting for Patrick Mahomes three years ago. He’s irrelevant at this point. He’s not LeBron James, he’s not Tom Brady, he’s not playing that way into his 40s. I knew when I saw ‘breaking news,’ what breaking news? “
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At this point, the only “breaking news” Michael Wilbon wants to see pertaining to Aaron Rodgers is the announcement that he’s retiring. He’s an old quarterback on a mediocre team, and should be covered as such. Wilbon doesn’t believe Rodgers deserves the coverage about his future that he commanded when he left Green Bay for the New York Jets three years ago.
“All this breathless waiting on Aaron Rodgers…I’m blaming this network,” Wilbon continued of ESPN. “Cause every time I turn on all of our shows, except one, I hear about Aaron damn Rodgers. It makes it sound like I’m criticizing Aaron Rodgers. I’m not. I’m criticizing us. I’m criticizing ‘breaking news!’ I’m criticizing every day we gotta talk about Aaron Rodgers. No we don’t! He’s irrelevant.”
It’s worth noting, Wilbon is a Chicago Bears fan, so maybe his opinion of Rodgers is a little skewed. But he’s largely right in noting Rodgers is commanding attention in name only, and not because of his ability to impact a team on the field. Because at 42 years old, and now a half-decade removed from being an MVP-caliber quarterback, Rodgers doesn’t warrant incessant coverage based on what he still is as a football player.
But while Michael Wilbon might not like it, this is basically the ESPN model. The Lakers and Cowboys don’t have to be championship contenders to dominate ESPN’s daytime programming. Similarly, Aaron Rodgers doesn’t need to be an MVP quarterback to garner coverage.
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