Aaron Rodgers Sets The Story Straight Regarding Communication With Brian Gutekunst

Plus: Bill Belichick Responds To Violating NFL Rules, Rams DC Helps Save Drowning Child, 49ers Hope For Brock Purdy’s Recovery

Good Morning! 

Can you believe it’s already June 1? 2023 is flying by. We are now entering that time one of the slower times in the NFL News cycle, but we’ve still got plenty to talk about. 

In today’s newsletter: 

• Aaron Rodgers Calls Out Packers GM Brian Gutekunst

• Bill Belichick Responds To Violating NFL Rules

• Rams DC Helps Save Drowning Child 

• Tua Tagovailoa Wearing Camera On Helmet

• 49ers Hope For Brock Purdy’s Recovery

Aaron Rodgers Calls Out Packers GM Brian Gutekunst

The breakup between Aaron Rodgers and the Packers was not without controversy. Earlier in the off-season Packers GM Brian Gutekunst stated that he was unable to get a hold of Rodgers on the phone, and because of that the Packers started gauging trade interest from other teams. 

Not too long after that news Rodgers said that he has bad reception in California, and that if you want to get a hold of him, you need to facetime him.

It turns out there’s even more to the story. Yesterday Matt Schneidman of the Athletic broke a story about the complicated relationship between Rodgers and Gutekunst. 

Rodgers did not hold back. 

“Did Brian text me more than I texted him? Yeah, but did I ghost him? No. I texted him back. There was back-and-forths that we had and so this is the story you wanna go with? You’re gonna stand on this hill of austerity and say that arguably in the conversation of the best player in your franchise history, you’re gonna say I couldn’t get a hold of him and that’s why we had to move on?

“Like, c’mon man. Just tell the truth, you wanted to move on. You didn’t like the fact that we didn’t communicate all the time. Like, listen, I talk to the people that I like.”

Ever since the moment that the Packers drafted Jordan Love there seemed to be a riff between the Packers front office and Aaron Rodgers. He knew that eventually they’d move to Love. 

My guess is that Rodgers wanted them to be more up front and honest with him about their desire to transition this off-season instead of making it sound like they had to move on because they couldn’t get in contact with Rodgers. 

Bill Belichick Says It’s His Fault The Patriots Lost Practice Time 

News came out a week ago that the Patriots lost 2 days of OTA practices for violating league rules. According to Mike Reiss of ESPN it stemmed from spending more time than allocated in team meetings. 

“The violation was a result of coaches' scheduling that resulted in players spending more than their allowed time at the team facility, according to sources. Specifically, it was a result of special teams workshops led by Judge, sources said.” 

Well, the Patriots got busted for working too hard. 

Bill Belichick shared his thoughts on the situation yesterday,

"The whole situation is in the past, it's resolved, and we've moved on. It was three meetings. ... I'm responsible for it, so that's it.” 

The NFL also fined Belichick $50,000. He does make $20,000,000 per year so he shouldn’t need to worry about paying his bills. 

Rams DC Raheem Morris Helps Save Drowning Child 

Over the weekend Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris was at a pool in Las Vegas with his family when a 3 year old child had no pulse after almost drowning in the pool, according to Paulo Ugetti of ESPN. 

Morris ended up searching for an AED (automatic external defibrillator) to help save the young child. 

"I saw people calling 911 so my first question was, where is the AED? When I got back, we had a doctor on site that was able to start the compressions. I was able to hand the AED to him, get it open for him, put the pads on the child, and he ended up being OK."

Thank goodness he was there and knew what to do. 

Tua Tagovailoa Wearing Camera On Helmet At Practice

The Dolphins aren’t messing around. Apparently they have a camera on Tua’s helmet that allows the coaches to hear into the huddle as well as have film after practice to watch from the QB’s perspective. 

I assume it’ll give them a better idea of if he’s progressing through his reads correctly. I wonder if every NFL team will do this eventually. 

With technology accelerating at a high pace, who knows what NFL teams will have access to over the next few years. 

49ers Are Hoping Brock Purdy Will Be Ready For Training Camp

It’s been quite the ride at the QB position for the 49ers over the past few seasons. Last year Brock Purdy came in as a 7th round draft pick and finished the season with the best passer rating in the NFL slightly ahead of Patrick Mahomes. 

The 49ers have excelled on offense regardless of the caliber of QB.

They can thank Kyle Shanahan's scheme and the top tier weapons on the offensive side of the ball in Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk. 

Yesterday 49ers GM John Lynch shared positive news on Brock Purdy’s elbow injury which he had surgery on about 3 months ago. 

"He's just had one session thus far, but we're incredibly encouraged by that. He's hitting all his markers and it doesn't surprise us, because he's putting in the work. As for best-case scenario, we're just gonna kinda take it as it comes. The hope is he's ready for training camp. The hope is he's ready for the regular season."

Even if Purdy isn’t ready come training camp or the regular season they still have solid options in Trey Lance and recently acquired Sam Darnold.

If there was one NFL team where I wouldn’t be worried about who's starting at QB, it’s the 49ers. It also helps that they have one of the best defenses in the NFL. 

Random Stat Of The Day

In 1982 a KICKER won MVP in the NFL. His name was Mark Moseley. He’s the only kicker to ever win MVP. I don’t know how that happened and I doubt that ever happens again. 

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