Brett Favre on Aaron Rodgers: 'My gut tells me that he'd rather sit out than play' for Packers again

If Brett Favre had his way, he’d get to watch Aaron Rodgers lead his former team to another Super Bowl before Rodgers retires.

Yet with all the drama in Green Bay, Favre said Wednesday on ESPN Wisconsin that he is “not very optimistic” that the two sides will be able to work things out before the season starts this fall.

"Boy it's a good question; that's the million-dollar question," Favre said, via ESPN. "I think I know Aaron fairly well, and honestly I just don't see him coming back and just saying, 'All right, let's just bury the hatchet, whatever caused the rift, and I'm just going to come back and play because I love the guys, I love the Green Bay fans' — I assume he does — but his rift isn't with the fans or the players. It's with the front office. Will he just swallow his pride and come in? Maybe. But I don't see that happening.

"If there's not a trade, my gut tells me that he'd rather sit out than play. That's just my gut. There's no reason for me to say that other than that's what my gut's telling me, and I think you guys know Aaron fairly well enough to sort of feel the same way."

Favre reached out to Rodgers amid Packers beef

News broke hours before the NFL draft kicked off last week that Rodgers was reportedly unhappy with the Packers’ front office and that he wanted to play elsewhere this fall.

He is reportedly extremely upset with general manager Brian Gutekunst and the personnel moves that he has been making — and even apparently started referring to Gutekunst as “Jerry Krause,” the former Chicago Bulls general manager that Michael Jordan despised, in texts with teammates.

Rodgers, 37, has been with the Packers since 2005 when they selected him with the No. 24 overall pick. The reigning league MVP would carry a cap hit of more than $37 million should the Packers cut him. He has yet to speak publicly on the feud, though the Packers have said multiple times that they have no plans to trade him.

Favre — the Hall of Famer who played 16 seasons with the Packers before he was eventually replaced by Rodgers in Green Bay — said he did text Rodgers on Thursday after the story first broke, and said he heard back. That response, however, was brief.

“Thanks for checking on me. I'll touch base with you after all this is over,” Rodgers wrote Favre.

“And that was it,” Favre said, via ESPN. “We haven’t talked since.”

As an obvious Packers fan, Favre not only wants the franchise to do well but wants to see Rodgers take them to another title. More importantly, though, Favre said he wants Rodgers to be happy — as long as that means he doesn’t have to sit out a season to get what he wants.

"I'd like to see him win a Super Bowl in Green Bay, another one," Favre said, via ESPN. "But the thing is, life's too short, I want him to be happy. He's been there as long as I was there, and I know what that means, and he's put up unbelievable numbers. Win another Super Bowl and then do what you want to do, whether it's keep playing, play somewhere else, whatever. But win one more in Green Bay and go out the way you want to go out.

"You don't want to go out this way, whether it's sit out or play somewhere else."

Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers smiles with former quarterback Brett Favre in 2019
Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers smiles with former quarterback Brett Favre in 2019 in Green Bay, Wis. (AP/Mike Roemer) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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