Aaron Rodgers says he’d like to get to know Terry Bradshaw on “a deeper level” after the Pittsburgh Steelers legend ripped his former team’s pursuit of the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
In a radio interview in May, Bradshaw called the Steelers’ interest in Rodgers “a joke.”
“What are you going to do? Bring him in for one year, are you kidding me? That guy needs to stay in California. Go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the gods out there,” Bradshaw, a Hall of Fame quarterback, said in a radio interview with 103.7 The Buzz in Arkansas.
Rodgers responded to Bradshaw’s comments in an interview with NFL Network on Saturday. He said he has known Bradshaw for a long time due to his job as a broadcaster for Fox, which televised many of Rodgers’ games when he played for the Green Bay Packers for 18 seasons.
“Terry’s a legend. He’s an absolute legend. He won four Super Bowls. He’s had a legendary career in the media,” Rodgers said in the interview, which took place as part of NFL Network’s Back Together Weekend coverage. “But Terry, like a lot of people, doesn’t know me. So, he’s got an idea of what he thinks about me based on what I’ve done, the documentary, what I’ve said, darkness retreat, whatever the hell you want to talk about.”
However, now that he’s the starting quarterback for the Steelers, Rodgers said he’d like to develop a relationship with Bradshaw.
“I’d love to get to know Terry on a deeper level,” Rodgers said, “and I feel like if he gave me a chance to get to know him then we’d have a good friendship because for me I have nothing but the utmost amount of respect and deference for what the greats have done because they laid the foundation for us to be able to play in this great game …”
He added, “… Maybe we can go chew some bark or whatever the hell he’s talking about together.”
Bradshaw wasn’t the only person associated with the Steelers to express skepticism about adding him to the organization. In February, safety DeShon Elliott wrote in a comment on an Instagram post about the Steelers being favorites to sign Rodgers, “Leave his ass at the retirement home.”
Elliott cleared things up Saturday.
“I’m a troll. He’s an All-Pro and he’s a GOAT. He’s going to be a gold jacket guy one day. Honestly, when he got here, we communicated, we talked, he’s a great person and a great football player, so whoever the media’s put out there is B.S. I respect him a lot,” Elliott said. “I told him that I respect him, and I apologized to him for the things I was saying about him. Honestly, he’s a great man and he has a great heart, so I appreciate him and he’s funny as hell.”
Rodgers, 41, said last month on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he was “pretty sure” this would be his final NFL season. The four-time NFL MVP said this season with the Steelers was about “finishing with a lot of love and fun and peace for the career that I’ve had.”
Rodgers told NFL Network on Saturday that he “wanted to have that closure and give back to the game one more time the way that it has given to me.”
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor contributed to this report.
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