As Green Bay Packers fans, we are very accustomed to seeing our favorite players put on a different uniform once their time in green and gold is over. Rarely in the Packers' history have these great players ended their careers with the Packers. We loved them for so many years as their play made us cheer, but how's a fan supposed to feel once they leave Green Bay and head to another team?
The Packers have a long list of legends who went elsewhere to finish their careers. Jim Taylor finished with the Saints, Herb Adderley in Dallas, Reggie White in Carolina, Brett Favre in Minnesota, and even Vince Lombardi was in Washington to finish his career before he passed away. It's become even more common in the last fifteen years, with both GMs Ted Thompson and Brian Gutekunst seemingly knowing when the best time to move on from a great player has been. For the most part, they've been correct. Greg Jennings, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and Clay Matthews were all great players in green and gold, but they seemingly fizzled after maybe a year or two of success post-Packers.
When these players depart from Green Bay, sometimes it's ugly, and sometimes it's admirable. Of course, we know how the departure of Brett Favre turned out. There was no love lost between the Packers and the old gunslinger. Favre made it clear that he wanted to make the Packers pay for their decision to trade him to the New York Jets in favor of starting Aaron Rodgers. And it divided the fanbase. Many vowed to never support the Packers until both Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson were gone, some said they'd never support the team ever again, and others acknowledged that Brett Favre was just one player in the storied history of the franchise, and stuck with the Packers. I can't help but wonder where some of those pro-Favre fans are today and how they fared when the Packers and Aaron Rodgers were World Champions while Favre was hanging up his cleats for good.
Did they ever come back? Or did they keep their promise and not return until Mike McCarthy was fired in 2018? We'll likely never know for sure.
In the last four offseasons, Packer fans have had to wave goodbye to a few fan favorites in Davante Adams, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones, and AJ Dillon. The first three could absolutely be defined as "Lambeau Legends" and will undoubtedly have their day being inducted into the Packers' Hall of Fame. One will likely have their number retired. But right now, they're playing for different teams. How's a fan supposed to react? Are they the enemy now? Or are they still friends?
Friend, or Foe?
In the NFL, players leave teams for a multitude of reasons. Not all of them necessarily mean there was bad blood. When contracts expire, and a player can make several million dollars more signing with another team than he can staying with his current team, it's hard to blame a player for leaving. These things happen under the salary cap or when another team just values that player's services a little bit more. You could call this the case with former Packers' running back, Aaron Jones. The Packers set a price they were willing to pay him, but he could get better elsewhere, and he did. It's hard to fault a player for that. Except for when they did what Aaron Jones ended up doing in that situation, but we'll get to that later.
What about trades? What happens when these players are traded away to another team? That would probably depend on the situation. If a player demands a trade out of Green Bay for no real decent reason, it's hard to have any love for them. One might think back to the early 2000s when former wide receiver Javon Walker and former cornerback Mike McKenzie each wanted out of Green Bay simply because they wanted more money right then and there and wouldn't honor their current contract. Both were good players, were favorites at the time, but they burned all bridges, seemingly putting their pocketbooks before anything else.
Those are situations where you can't blame a fan for their dislike. But what about an Aaron Rodgers trade where the team feels it's gone as far as it can with Rodgers and is ready for life after? Or Davante Adams, where it's reported that the Packers offered Adams a good contract, but he just wanted to move on somewhere he felt he had better stability, or was better set up for future success. There doesn't seem to be bad blood, but the trade stings nonetheless. Do you hold a grudge against that player? Or do you remain rather neutral, considering that's what the team-to-player relationship seemed to be?
You can feel a little betrayed as a fan in these situations, and that's okay. Especially when you have to endure watching a player that was once a favorite of yours start babbling on about how their new team has the best fans and how that city has the best amenities. We're looking at you, AJ Dillon, choosing Wawa over Kwik Trip. You were given the keys to a Wisconsin County, and you pull this? For shame!
But of course, there is that dreaded caveat. When that player goes to a division rival. Suddenly, all bets are off. They now play for a team that the Packers have to face twice a year, and their success can be counterintuitive to the Packers' success. You might like that player as a human being, but when it comes to game time, you can't help but want them to fail. They went to that rival; that was their choice, and now we don't want them to be successful at all. Of course, we've seen this a few times lately, primarily with Brett Favre, Greg Jennings, Za'Darius Smith, and Aaron Jones going to Minnesota. Three out of those four admitted to wanting to play for the Vikings to get back at the Packers. When that's the case, as a fan, it is perfectly acceptable for there to be a bit of bad blood come game day.
When it all comes down to it, though, there's no reason to gatekeep. Fan how you want to fan. It may be hard for some of us to cheer on a former fan favorite in a new uniform, but if it's easy for you, do it. As long as it doesn't interfere with your fandom of the Green Bay Packers, of course!