"He's not obsessed" - NFL analyst questions Aaron Rodgers' passion towards playing football

Another day, another criticism of Aaron Rodgers provided courtesy of Colin Herd. The Super Bowl-winning Green Bay veteran is a favorite target for the Fox analyst and host of The Herd. On this occasion, it was AR12's passion for the game that came under the microscope, triggered by his failure to participate in voluntary workouts.

Rodgers missed the entire Packers off-season last year while deciding whether he would be playing in 2021. In the end, he did take the field, leading Green Bay to the NFC number one seed and picking up his second consecutive regular season MVP award.

But Herd continued his tirade by highlighting that the Packers have several new receivers that would benefit from their QB1's presence at voluntary workouts. Herd was reacting to comments by Green Bay quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, who dismissed the significance of AR12 missing off-season work.

Is Colin Herd justified in his Aaron Rodgers' assessment?

Herd disagreed with Clement’s opinion and suggested that Rodgers had lost his passion for the game. He went on to contrast Rodgers' approach to Tom Brady's. Herd said:

If they want to believe that, that's like saying you know, at this point, I don't need to do any prep for my show, you know. I just know when I'm ready, if you want to believe that. I mean, here's a guy, last year, we know he doesn't work with young receivers. We know he has trust issues. They got a young receiver last year. He threw him four catches all year. Then, you have Tom Brady. He was at Jesuit high school in Tampa during a pandemic illegally working on relationships with stars Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

Herd's agrument seems fair but does neglect to mention that Brady himself has recently missed off-season work. And Rodgers has thrown for over 60,000 yards, despite the Packers having never drafted him a first-round WR.

Ultimately, the Green Bay signal caller will be judged by his results on the field. Has he lost some passion for the game? If he has, it does not appear to be affecting his play, as he displays a level of consistancy that few QBs can match.

Rodgers is far from the only QB to skip voluntary off-season workouts, but he is such a polerizing figure that he will always draw attention. If he leads the Packers to the Super Bowl next year, no one will be mentioning his apparent lack of passion.