For as much as Mike Florio jabs Aaron Rodgers for his bevy of conspiracy theories and against-the-grain beliefs, Florio loves putting the tin foil hat on himself. Despite weeks of non-news on the Rodgers front, Florio is hard at work drumming up more storylines. Appearing on Rich Eisen’s show Monday, Florio offered up his latest ideas.
The first revolved around the “story” of Rodgers being spotted wearing a wedding ring at Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
“I think the sociological experiment wouldn’t be, ‘let’s see if women are more attracted to me while wearing a wedding ring,'” he told Eisen. “It would be, ‘can I get the media to talk about it so I can go on McAfee show at some point in the future and complain about the fact that we’re talking about his wedding ring?'”
Offering Florio some fairness, he’s far from the first or only to analyze what Rodgers’ new jewelry means. In his lone media interview this offseason, Rodgers referenced being in a serious relationship with an unnamed and unknown person. Some have speculated it was part of his “personal life” delay that’s had him focus less on football, and if he’s engaged or married, he could be one step closer to deciding his playing plans. But Rodgers also noted personal difficulties close friends were going through as another element that had him thinking less about signing with Pittsburgh – for now, anyway.
But Florio’s comments weren’t done yet. After previously believing the reason for Rodgers’ wait was due to money, then due to the Minnesota Vikings, then due to testing for leaks, then due to Pat McAfee’s Live event, then the draft, now it’s because of the NFL’s schedule release on May 14th.
“If you’re Rodgers, don’t you just at this point wait until after the schedule is out?” Florio said. “Because it’s not like the Steelers are gonna get fewer primetime games than what they’d otherwise get. But if you drop Rodgers officially onto the Steelers, there’s a chance they’re gonna get more, especially early in the season.”
Why Rodgers would be concerned about potentially playing one more primetime game is anyone’s guess. Pittsburgh receives between four and the NFL maximum of six per season, and even with Rodgers, the NFL likely wouldn’t increase the total on his addition alone. Perhaps games against his former teams, the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers, would get shifted there, but there’s no reason to believe Rodgers would dislike or even care about that.
Mike Florio admits there’s a league-wide consensus that Rodgers will sign with Pittsburgh, meaning the schedule-makers are likely baking that into their schedule cake anyway. Putting the Jets and Steelers in primetime has its own headlines anyway, with Justin Fields facing off against his former team, and Steelers-Packers is always a quality market matchup.
Until Rodgers decides, Florio will keep himself busy as the “just asking questions” guy of what’s keeping Rodgers from making his choice.
