Davante Adams Says Aaron Rodgers Wants Teams 'to Roll Out the Red Carpet for Him'

Al Bello. Getty Images.

With the NFL Draft now just over 48 hours away, it just occurred to me that one of the biggest questions of the 2025 offseason remains unanswered. Somehow in everything else going on the world, with free agency, draft prep, MLB, NBA playoffs, real astronauts, fake celebrity astronettes, and popes dying, I'd completely forgot about Aaron Rodgers. In fact this, the last time I'd given him any real thought, was from over a month ago:

Confirming that what Rapsheet said in mid-March was spot on. Every personnel department across the entire league by now has - to use the tired, lazy, shopworn cliche - all the hay in the barn by now, you'd think there'd be some sense of urgency on Rodgers' part if he expects to be anything other than some team's Plan B if the draft doesn't fall their way. 

But there hasn't been much word coming from his end. Until now. Until Davante Adams, who has to be among the guys in the league closest to Rodgers, gave his assessment of what his guy is looking for to The Athletic's Mike Silver, who relayed it on Dianna Russini and Chase Daniel's podcast:

Source - NFL insider Mike Silver believes Rodgers needs to feel like the Steelers - or any prospective team - really wants him in the building. And according to Silver, that's not his own speculation. That's coming from Rodgers' long-time teammate and friend Davante Adams. …

Adams told Silver what it'll take to get Rodgers inside another team facility on something more than just a visit.

“The second thing Davante told me was, I think Aaron wants someone to roll out the red carpet for him. That is what he is looking for. I’m not sure if he would consider the Steelers doing that right now. I’m not positive how Aaron perceives that or how the Steelers perceive that."

Let me pause here to point out I know how metaphors work. But I'm not about to let the words "Aaron Rodgers" and "red carpet" just hang out there and not use them as an excuse to post an old Olivia Munn photo:

Kevin Mazur. Getty Images.

OK. My due diligence is taken care of. Done and dusted. Now I can renew my Blogger License for another year. Moving on …

You've got to give Rodgers credit. It's a bold move indeed to be willing to sit back and wait for teams to give him the royal treatment when he's 41 years old and coming off the worst stretch of his career. It sure seems like hubris to me. Arrogance, even. A guy way more confident in what he's got left than everyone else seems to be. But willing nevertheless to have a big staring contest with the few GMs in the league who are still looking for a QB1, with the end of his career riding on the outcome. As Scott Glenn's sub captain says in Hunt for Red October (one of my Desert Island movies), "The hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch." Rodgers has refused to. And as reckless and insane as that may be, I kind of admire him for it. 

I guess it could work. Who knows? Maybe Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin will realize they can't go forward with Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson. That whoever they can land in the draft, Jalen Milroe or Will Howard or whomever, are not the answer. That all their hopes of a Super Bowl parade in Pittsburgh depend on swallowing their pride, rolling out the red carpet, dropping to their knees on it, and promising Rodgers they'll wine him, dine him, and 69 him to his heart's content, just as long as he'll sign with the Steelers and solve all their problems. 

That just feels like the longest of longshots. That's the treatment you give a Shohei Otani. Sam Darnold. Josh Sweat. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Someone still in their prime or just entering it. Someone who promises to have a future so bright, the nine figures you sign them to will look like a bargain. For That Guy, giving up your dignity to get him is a small price to pay. Not for Aaron Rodgers as he's kneeling in retirement's On Deck circle and just posted a passer rating below the league average. For him, you take this as a sign he's going to be wildly high-maintenance, way out of proportion to his actual value. 

That said, if it pays off, and some team does come along and kiss the ring, I'll be even more impressed than I am right now.