As if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t say enough with the cameras on, Al Michaels relishes the range of their off-air conversations during production meetings.
Michaels joined The Dan Patrick Show this week to preview Amazon’s Thursday Night Football matchup featuring the New York Jets and New England Patriots. During the segment, Michaels discussed getting to speak with Rodgers ahead of the game in their broadcast production meetings.
After speaking with Rodgers this week, Michaels took note of his interest in building a foundation through practice and preparation, prompting Patrick to ask if the Jets quarterback would rather discuss football or non-football topics during those meetings.
“Both,” Michaels answered. “He’ll go, not far astray, but Aaron is extremely intelligent, he is very well-read. He’s had tons of experience going around the world and just absorbing everything. Aaron wants to absorb everything that is around him, it’s not just football. And he’s very perceptive, he sees how people react to him.”
“He’s very perceptive in that regard,” Michaels added. “He’s extremely well-read, extremely smart. Aaron is the kind of guy, he’d like to talk about anything, you name it. Football? Great. You want to talk about philosophy, current events… he can go anywhere.”
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Michaels, Rodgers and Kirk Herbstreit allow their production meetings to stray away from football. Michaels is right about one thing, the polarizing NFL quarterback does read a lot, as proved by his Aaron Rodgers Book Club segment on The Pat McAfee Show. Rodgers has touted books by Ayn Rand, Graham Hancock, George Orwell and Suzanne Humphries, among others. He might not read all of them, but based on the conspiracy theories he spews, Rodgers has definitely flipped through some of the books he touts.
But while Rodgers might read a lot, whether he’s well-read can certainly be debated by his critics, see Colin Cowherd, who won’t even give him the benefit of having a high football IQ. Regardless of whether you believe Michaels or Cowherd, we can all agree that at a minimum, Rodgers is unique.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com