Adam Schefter has expanded on his side of the story after Aaron Rodgers told him to “lose my number” in a text exchange.
Longtime NFL insider Peter King touched on the pseudo-controversy in his weekly “Football Morning In America” column, reaching out to Schefter to elaborate following Rodgers’ comments on “The Pat McAfee Show” last week.
“I’ve had his number for a while,” Schefter told King. “I never once used it. Trey Wingo reported [last Monday] he was ‘hearing’ that Rodgers to the Jets was done.
“The day he did it, ESPN was going live from 3 to 5 on free agency. Everyone was saying Aaron Rodgers to the Jets is done. We’re on the air for two hours. I call the Jets, I call the Pack, I call Rodgers’ advisers. No one’s saying anything.
“So, I’m sitting there on the set with Dianna Russini. ‘Should I text Rodgers?’ She said, ‘Yeah, text him.’ At 3:35, I texted him. I say, basically: ‘Have you informed the Jets that you’d like to play there? I wanted to open it up to you.’ He didn’t respond for maybe 10 minutes. So then I called the number, got sent to voice mail. Then he texts me, ‘Lose my number. Good try tho.’ That’s all.
“He’s the one who says the media’s getting it wrong. I wanted to go to the source and get it right. That’s all. I was just trying to do my job.”
Rodgers said on “The Pat McAfee Show” last week that Schefter texted him pining for information about his impending move to the Jets.
Around the time Rodgers did his McAfee appearance, Schefter shared a screengrab of his conversation and confirmed that Rodgers did, in fact, tell the insider to “lose” his number.
On multiple occasions, Rodgers has complained about NFL insiders, such as Schefter and Ian Rapoport, making up “fake news” and reporting on his career using sources outside of his inner circle.
Schefter’s most notable Rodgers news drop came in 2021, when, on the eve of the NFL Draft, the ESPN insider reported that the quarterback wanted out of Green Bay after the team had drafted Jordan Love the season prior.
The fact that “lose my number” came in response to the first text the two ever exchanged seems to confirm that Schefter has been getting his information about Rodgers from other sources.
The 2021 bombshell proved to be accurate as Rodgers ultimately took his gripes with the Packers public and held out of training camp to force the franchise to trade him.
The two sides eventually reached a compromise on how to exist together — that lasted up until this offseason.
Source link
