The majority of the questions fielded by Aaron Rodgers following his first Green Bay Packers training camp practice had to do with the contract extension we all thought he would have by now, but still remains without.
Rodgers certainly didn’t rule out the possibility of signing an extension this year, but he said his focus has now gone elsewhere.
Rodgers had two years left on his current deal, so there’s time. But there are a number of quarterbacks now that are averaging more per year than Rodgers.
“I don’t know if there’s a timetable,” Rodgers said. “The feelings haven’t changed. Obviously, I’d love to be here, and I think they’ve spoken at length about wanting to extend my deal. But now that I’m here, my focus is definitely on other places. It’s on my teammates, my leadership role, my performance on the field. That’s why I have Dave Dunn (his agent) to take care of all that stuff.”
Rodgers said he wouldn’t hold out and has a strong relationship with the team.
“I don’t really operate like that,” Rodgers said. “I have two years left on my deal. They’re obviously more than willing to talk about an extension. There wasn’t any animosity on either side.”
Matthews to sport a mask
Clay Matthews joined his teammates on the practice field on day one. He said his surgically repaired nose feels good, but he does expect to wear a protective visor for the entire season.
Matthews had rhinoplasty in after taking a line drive to the face during a charity softball game. Matthews has recovered from the nose injury, as well as a knee injury that caused him to miss some time this spring. But he knows he’s lucky after he was hit by a ball off the bat of teammate Lucas Patrick.
“I didn’t have time to process it,” Matthews said. “Yeah, I guess in hindsight, it could’ve been a lot worse. But, fortunately, I’m really tough. So I ate it, walked off the field so as to not create mass hysteria, and proceeded to go through the route of surgery and all that fun stuff.”