Colin Cowherd wasted no time gloating after Aaron Rodgers received a dubious distinction from football fans.
In a poll released by the Action Network on Monday, September 16, Rodgers, 40, was named the “most annoying player” in the NFL in a poll of over 3,000 fans, receiving 27 percent of the vote. On the Wednesday, September 18, episode of his FS1 show The Herd, Cowherd, 60, reacted to the results.
“I’ve always had this thing with Aaron Rodgers,” Cowherd said. “Fans were like, ‘Colin, it’s a you and Aaron Rodgers thing.’ Officially today it’s not.”
He continued, “It’s never been a me and Aaron thing. He’s exhausting to everybody.”
Cowherd has long been critical of the New York Jets quarterback, especially in recent years, for both his on and off-the-field antics. To bolster his argument against Rodgers on Wednesday, Cowherd harkened back to Rodgers’ playing days in Green Bay, where he argued Rodgers, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were in a three-headed race to determine the NFL’s best quarterback of all-time.
Colin Cowherd Noel Vasquez/GC Images
“Of those three, Aaron was the coolest,” Cowherd said.
However, once Brady and Manning began to “separate” themselves from Rodgers — Brady has seven Super Bowl rings, Manning has two and Rodgers has one — Cowherd argued Rodgers began playing a brand of “safe football.”
“He starts leading the NFL in throwaways,” Cowherd said. “Instead of throwing the ball down the field, he gets very stats protective.”
Cowherd further explained, “If he ever throws a pick or two in a game, he shuts down. It’s not his day. He shuts down.”
All told, Cowherd said Rodgers’ shift in mindset was palpable.
Aaron Rodgers Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images
“Aaron did not used to be like this,” Cowherd argued. “Aaron was not annoying when he came into the league. That was not who Aaron was. He was cool. He was fun. He was kinda cocky, but he replaced [Brett] Favre. He was kinda cool.”
From there, according to Cowherd, things only got worse.
Aaron Rodgers is not only well-known for his career in the NFL but also for his A-list relationships through the years. Us Weekly confirmed in February 2021 that the athlete was dating actress Shailene Woodley shortly before the quarterback revealed they were engaged. Rodgers shared the news during the NFL Honors awards, where he took […]
“Then COVID hits four years ago,” he recalled. “This is the second part of this theory. As Brady and Manning start moving into broadcasting and corporate America and dealing in the media and working for the media, once again Aaron has to be different.”
Rodgers has courted controversy in recent years, including faking his vaccination status and allegedly sharing false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting. (In March, Rodgers said he has “never been of the opinion” that the events didn’t happen.)
“Aaron doesn’t want to be third in anything,” Cowherd concluded his argument. “He wants to be unique. It matters to him.”
In the Action Network’s poll, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce ranked as the second “most annoying” player in the league, followed by the Miami Dolphins’ Odell Beckham Jr., the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott.
