Aaron Rodgers: ‘I think guys who are making too many mistakes shouldn’t be playing’

On The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made it clear that he believes the team needs to start shaking up their lineups. After discussing the mental errors the team had against the Washington Commanders, who he claimed gave them no issues from a schematic standpoint, Rodgers stated, “I think guys who are making too many mistakes shouldn’t be playing. You know? Gotta start cutting some reps and maybe guys who aren’t playing, give them a chance.”

It’s uncertain who he was talking about, specifically. According to Andy Herman of Packer Report, who has been doing week-by-week grades of the Packers for the last four seasons, the lowest-graded units on the team through Week 6 were the offensive line, cornerback and quarterback rooms.

The offensive line has already made wholesale changes as center Josh Myers was the only player to start in Week 6 and Week 7 at the same position. Jon Runyan Jr. was moved from left guard to right guard so that Elgton Jenkins, previously the right tackle, could play left guard. Yosh Nijman, who had been spelling David Bakhtiari at left tackle, got the start at right tackle and Zach Tom, in place of Bakhtiari, got the nod at left tackle. This left the struggling Royce Newman, who had started at right tackle and right guard this season, on the bench.

It’s also not feasible to make a change at cornerback, as Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas just received new contracts and Eric Stokes was drafted in the first round of the 2021 draft.

Rodgers’ receivers haven’t been great this season, but they also haven’t been on the field consistently. Randall Cobb (ankle) is on the injured reserve. Sammy Watkins (hamstring) was just taken off of the injured reserve. Second-round pick Christian Watson (hamstring) has had a knee surgery and two hamstring flare-ups this year. Allen Lazard (shoulder) was playing through an early-season ankle injury, recently got healthy and now is in an arm sling. Unless he’s advocating for practice squad receiver Juwann Winfree to play over rookie Romeo Doubs, it’s hard to pin down exactly who he intended to single out.

Another option is punt returner Amari Rodgers, who muffed a punt against Washington and gave the Commanders an easy scoring opportunity. Rodgers has four fumbles and three receptions on the season and six fumbles and seven receptions for his NFL career. On Monday, head coach Matt LaFleur stated that the team was evaluating the punt return position and if Rodgers should remain as the starter there.

Later on in the interview, Aaron Rodgers joked that quarterback coach Tom Clements graded him with the best game of his 2022 season against Washington. Rodgers threw for 5.54 yards per pass attempt in the loss, a season-low. He completed all of one pass, the touchdown to running back Aaron Jones on a broken play, beyond 10 yards against the Commanders before the end-of-game attempts against prevent defenses.