This is the down labor part, sure, we've still got Sparkasse. Erin, always appreciate your time around here and you're having an unbelievable season. Good God. Are you having an unbelievable season? He's going to win the MVP of the league and he looks a lot different than last year. I don't know if that's offense or I don't know if he was just injured last year because I told you many times he's the best I've ever seen. But now I think Mahomes might be the best I've ever seen.

But Aaron Rodgers this year has been better than Mahomes.

I mean, he called you friend before we started recording here. I mean, you want to take that Mahomes thing back? Aaron Rodgers, the best quarterback in the game. All right.

We will ask him in a second, but I want to talk to him about what's going on in America because we've seen this coming in some form or another. So, Aaron, thank you for making the time.

Your reaction to what happened yesterday in this country was what I didn't say, to be honest for a while. I'm pretty insulated to a lot of things just because I don't I don't spend a lot of time on social media, thankfully, and I don't get a lot of my information from social media. But I was obviously aware after a few texts that something was going on. I don't know. I mean, there's there's been such a weird, weird time in our country, really, with the lead up to the election, the election, all the fallout afterwards.

You know, obviously there's stuff going on in Georgia. And then this it's a it's a it's a fascinating time to be alive. And I think that there's such a time to really for people to come together in a time where I think there's so many things that can pull us apart. And one of them is this really identity politics where I think people get so locked in to their belief system that they're willing to do something like this, which is.

I don't know if crazy is even the right word at this point, it's just it's bizarre. It really is. It's bizarre that there is people who are so on one side or the other and believe that their leader or their idealism or their ideology is the be all and Savol for a system that to me has been broken for many, many years. And we keep doing the same thing over and over and over. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results.

At what point are the people going to wake up and realize it's not a specific person, whether it's Trump or Biden or Obama or whoever might be your political savior who's going to save this whole thing? It's changing. The way that we do things is changing how we look at our political system. In my mind, that's really going to change things and not storming a capitol and whatever was done there. I mean, I think I'll save some of my, you know, stronger comments for when this whole thing gets to wear it out.

But I think in general, we do have a problem with identity politics because there's so many things that are happening in this world that are not partisan. And for whatever reason, whether on purpose or not, I think both sides are using certain issues to further their own beliefs, their own politics. And I think that's wrong. There's things that are right and things that are wrong. And they shouldn't be politicized by the CNN and the Fox News is because all it does is, is enlarge confirmation bias, which is another problem in society is that people are only watching, partly because of the systems in place with social media and the algorithms, but they're only watching things that confirm their own bias.

And so it only furthers to bring us farther and farther apart. That doesn't help anybody in my mind. And I think this is just another example of, you know, people who can be outraged if it's a, you know, Black Lives Matter rally and then have no problem of storming the Capitol and or vice versa. If there's some sort of, you know, left wing something that's going on and people are, you know, letting that pass and then being, you know, on the flip side, outraged by this or a leaving making this OK?

I just think it's ridiculous. Right is right and wrong is wrong with the destroying of property at all times. The storming of of of the Capitol, whatever happened there. You know, I just that's not going to fix things in my mind, was going to fix things is understanding how the system works and changing the system.

And if that were black people yesterday doing the same exact thing under the umbrella of Black Lives Matter, what does that video like today?

Well, I mean, I don't know if there's any video first. I think I don't know. It's a tough, tough one to answer, because obviously I think we can we have evidence of similar situations. So I think we just look at what's happening in other situations that are that are similar to what happened yesterday.

So how scared were you yesterday?

How scared was I when I mean, I it's out of sight. Out of mind for me. I don't live in D.C. I'm not around that. I think I feel like I can see things for without a political lens. So I'm not looking at this as furthering an opinion about the far right or the Republicans or furthering an opinion about the left and the liberals. I don't I don't have an affiliation with either side. I think that whatever was going on before, during and after is not the way to go about making change in this country.

And I'm not for anything that was going on yesterday. Like I said, I'm for for conversation that brings people together and not and not identifying yourself as a certain political party, as a means to justify behavior when the system itself is what's broken.

I don't know if you guys have felt the same thing I have felt here in the shipping container, but I have been insane with jealousy all season long because my beloved Aaron Rodgers, the best I've ever seen, has run off with AJ Hawk and Pat McAfee. And it's infuriating and it just fills me with like a rabid, rabid rage. Every Tuesday on video, he's there telling stories filled with confidence. He was our man and he just left us like in his defense.

I'd also like to run away with those two. Yeah, I know. I know. But, Aaron, you really hurt me there, like I. Was a weekly show, I'd still be on ESPN if you gave me a weekly show, they would have loved the weekly show with you. You just had to get off ESPN. Now, I can I can become a regular for you, buddy.

OK, that's all that I need to do. All right. So we'll be calling you a lot more. I mean, you're a buddy.

I'll be careful with the gods there. Can you tell us, though, on a football story like what is the difference between you this year and last year? I'm guessing and I've asked you this before, but you guys have to do all this machismo about I'm never hurt. I'm never injured. I'm guessing you were just hurt all of last year.

Look, I mean, 18 I was definitely, definitely banged up. I just think really and this is not the normal speak for situations like this, but I spent the offseason working on myself and that included reading and meditating and mindfulness and all these words that people use. It's basically about quiet in your surroundings and limiting the amount of crazy simulations that I think keep people distracted and out of the present moment. And for me, that was the exact opposite of what to do.

I want to become more present, to be more in the moment, be more in my body. And it gave me a good perspective on everything from the drafting to my successor to the, you know, the twilight of my career these last few years. And everything changed around me. My relationships changed, my personal life changed, my enjoyment of football changed. I think all those things added up to, you know, to a perfect storm of really good play and a lot of fun at the same time.

I don't want to get into your personal business, so push me off here if I'm getting too close. But when I talk to Danica Patrick on the South Beach session, I found her fascinating and lightning and some of the things you're saying. I felt like she sort of brought you to maybe I'm wrong about that and being presumptuous, but I feel like you were guided toward a little bit of light that required your mind having more peace in itself. I don't need to know the details and forgive me if I'm pressing too close on why your relationship broke up, but how helpful was she there in terms of, you know, guiding you to a place where you're made better by a relationship because somebody teaches you things that make you a better man?

Yeah, I think it's it's important in every relationship, whether it's an intimate one or friendships or coaches, to garner something from them. And I think there's a lot of a lot to be learned through our experiences. And we're products of our experiences, our shared experiences many times in those situations. And I'm definitely thankful for the time that we spent together. But, you know, what I'm talking about is more self exploration. And I think self exploration by nature begins with the word self.

And it was me really looking at my life and inside and finding ways to quiet my own mind. And that's something just like, you know, your own spiritual practice or any type of practice you do. It has to start with self motivation and and really yourself. And I think the most important relationship we can have is really with ourselves. I think in order to be able to to spread love and to and to spread positivity, you have to have a self love.

And it's not a egotistic arrogance. It's an appreciation for what you are and the perspective that I am thankful for, everything that I am, everything I'm not. And I'm not looking at those things that I don't have or am not or feel like I'm missing as is as desires and goals. It's more of an attitude of gratitude about what I am, what I have and what I want to be.

Well, you have been on this quest spiritually for a while now, Aaron. I mean, the Dalai Lama, you've been on this path for a bit trying to get to this point, the learning in the quieting of the mind and all of that stuff like where where did you happen upon it? Where did you find something that helped you, you know, grow more and you because a lot of people could be hearing this right now. Oh, Rogers is out there.

All this hooey about the mind and the spirit. Get out of here. It's about the physical. It's about the perfection of the craft. Like you say, what to the person? Get out of here. He's more at peace with himself. He's quieted his mind and he's better. That's a bunch of bullshit.

Yeah. I mean, that's fine. That's their opinion. I'm not going to cancel anybody like this. Culture loves to do for their own opinions. I will say that until you've experienced those things, it's hard to to speak on them for me. I grew up in the church and what that meant was I grew up in a monotheistic environment, in a Christian environment. And that's what I knew when I started to dive into Eastern religion. I found many things that I ideologically I related to.

I felt like in in many of those practices, a personal practice of. Quiet or meditation or mindfulness is rooted in those practices, and I found that to be really freeing and positive, and the more that I did those and incorporate those into my life, the better I felt in the times where I wasn't meditating and I was interacting with people. And I feel like that all has allowed me to get in a lot better headspace. And yeah, it is different.

You don't expect me in my position to be talking about this, but to me it's as important as eating the right way and taking care of your body and studying your playbook and everything. This is it's about the total health of a person, I think in in society. It's just until recently, especially for athletes where you can even talk about mental health and mental health is such a multifaceted issue. And I think at the root of it is the ability to quiet your mind to to have a practice of visualization.

I mean, we're talking about a lot of the same stuff and whether it's different religions are different to mindful practices, it's it's about putting positive pictures in your mind. It's about manifesting the desires and the goals you have into into reality. It's about speaking things into existence. And I just have found that those things that were very helpful to to my mindset and my mindset has changed and and improved. How can you not expect it to have a carryover into what I get?

So you guys are going to laugh at this.

But, Aaron, like you, I have tried many meditation. I want to try to become the best version of me that I could possibly be. It's funny that I have set the bar really, really low for myself. But here's the problem. Like, how do you get the noise to stop? I've tried meditation. I can't get the noise to stop. I can't get my mind to stop. So how do you go about doing that with the distributor?

There's so many different guided meditations you can go on that can and you can just find one that puts you in the right the right headspace. There's there's apps you can download that that help with meditation. There's a great app that that I use a lot called Think Up. And it's I start many of my days with it. You can tape mantras and affirmations to listen to and in and to go to sleep by. There's a lot of sleep research about how your own here in your own voice.

Subconsciously, it it calms your body. It improves your mental health. And just you just have to put in the time to to look into those things. And a lot of us don't either have the time or don't think it maybe will work as much or get distracted or get disheartened if it doesn't work right away. That's how it was with me. I don't think you just started meditation practice and the whole world goes quiet and you're able to start levitating.

I mean, these monks who are the Dalai Lama who wakes up and meditates for hours a day before he starts his day. I mean, it's a practice. It takes years to to master if master is even the right word to use.

So is quarterbacking, though. And one of the reasons I love talking to you is because you're going to be able to articulate this one for us because the average person, never mind listening to this right now, but analyzing football on ESPN doesn't have much of any idea how hard it is to be. Aaron Rodgers, how hard it is to play that position and how noisy it can get if you don't have something like meditation.

He makes it look so damn easy, does make it look easy. So just for the audience, if you were able to frame this for the audience and I don't know how you would do this if it's a difficult sounding play call or what, but the amount of things that you need to remember, what is the most complicated sounding play in your playbook when you're in the huddle? What what's it called? Oh, man.

I mean, last week we Rambo's right side up to fly to Skydeck slant hapax leg f f China. And that was, that was a fun one. And then you got to work into Cadence into that because we're doing some sort of double motion. So I like to go on a longer count usually. And in that play I try and story in my mind that that's like kangaroo, which was an old concept that I ran for thirteen years, which is basically excellent.

Why post F or Z under halfback wide. So then I kind of fit those two together because the newer scheme. But in this scheme we actually have a through by the F, which is an old beelined call. The halfback is running the flag, the wisemen, the drag China and the guy the the the fly of motion guys running the the wide round of the swing round. So there's like a translation that goes on first when you break the huddle and then trying to time up the snap points on both of the motions and he going through your progression.

This one thankfully is a pure progression, which in the old West Coast offense, they were all pure progressions. We basically start with a one and finish with a check got in this case, you're starting with the X on the line and then you're going to the through and then you're going to the corner to the track China to the Y. So it's it's. An easy progression, but getting there is some mental gymnastics for sure, the quarterback sneak right, you just that's a sneak.

You just just got around. You just got you just caught. Just called.

That was just a quick one, is that you're just handling the ball, handing the ball to one of those number 16 that they've given you recently in the backfield until they got you a running back this year.

Yeah. Like the easier ones, you know, like snug right for Taylor at Oscar. I mean, it's a little easier. What's that? Adam's in the end zone.

I mean, to Adam, he's going to have six hundred yards in the last 16 games.

You've never played better, correct?

I mean, I always think I'm playing better year after year just because the experience it's never come together like this. I don't think so. It's hard to think of a time I was playing better than 11. I feel like I played really, really good. That was you never maybe expect to have similar to that just because everything kind of fell into place that year. But I've got nine years of experience since then, so I just always feel like those are so valuable to me.

Every single time I break the huddle down the sideline thinking about a two minute drive, I just have so many more things to go through. Positive memories that helped me in the moment. And this year everything really came together. Obviously, debate today was outstanding and so many really important role players and obviously put another star in the backfield, Aaron Jones. You know, we've just been so balanced on offense, this guy helped everything really line up.

I think that we have the space here now in podcast form and we don't have to rush this through soundbites where you can offer the appropriate nuance to the audience that isn't just headline grabbing and stuff. The experience when you say you have a new perspective in meditation has helped you. And you mentioned in there that you know, them drafting my replacement and me looking at my career mortality. Can you sort of take us through in the simple way that can't just be debated how much that hurt you as someone who has given that particular skill set and your willfulness to that city and that organization?

And I talked about this a decent amount, like exactly what happened moment by moment. I basically get a text from my age and I hear it on Maxi's watch, his draft coverage that night. And then I went for some tequila, which I was sipping on and just really settled into the night. And I think the next day was an important day for me. I called my quarterback coach. I got Jordan's number. I want to give him a call because I knew what he'd be going through.

The excitement when you get drafted, it's such a such a fun time. And I just really didn't want to make it about myself. I didn't want to I didn't want him to think I was anything but excited for him and fulfilling a dream, which I genuinely was and I really wasn't. That set the tone for the entire offseason for me, all the work that I was doing really before that in February and March. And then I get my first chance to really put action to bonds.

And I think that was the beautiful first step for me to really feel like I was in my body. I was I was having I was able to live with that attitude of gratitude and to have the perspective mean, because there's really two perspectives you can have on that and two mindsets moving forward from that day. One is feel sorry for yourself. Let the bitterness creep in and any frustration of, like, betrayal or anything of any time you want to a.

. You want to put on that. And the other is, man, I'm going to be thankful for the time that I've gotten in Green Bay. I have a lot of gratitude for the moments, for the memories, for the friendships, the winds, the records, for the highlights that we've had, and just move forward knowing that I have the opportunity to to be the kind of mentor that I want to be to Jordan. I have the opportunity to have my football destiny in my hands.

And it's a beautiful thing. And that's how I approached it. I approach it every single day during that off season is as another step in a beautiful journey of my own personal development, of the mindset that I want to have and being the person that I wanted to be. And I'm thankful for that opportunity at this point. I really am. And that's something that you might not expect to say. But it was and I've said as many times as well when they've asked me or people like, oh, people called it this, I was going to win MVP because they drafted them.

It really had nothing to do with that. I just want to make that clear one more time. My mindset did not change when they drafted them. The things that I was working on up until that point got put in my face for sure. And I was thankful that that I responded the way that I I was dreaming and meditating and thinking about responding.

Aaron, here is the one place I don't want to say I don't believe you. But where it is that I would say and maybe you're totally changed on this front and you have outgrown sort of the vanities that come with, I believe, being a competition aholic in your particular realm. But the guy who on draft day was passed on by the Forty Niners, the young man said that he would make the forty Niners regret ever passing on him with a good amount of bravado and ego.

Even as a young quarterback heading into the league because you wanted to play near home, I can't think that you would dispute that whatever that stirred in you in terms of insult or betrayal or whatever, that it would be absolutely motivation. Like, wait a minute, are you guys not familiar with how good I am at this? I'm going to I'm about to show all of you how good I actually am at this, because you dare to underestimate somebody who is sculpted this skill to a level of perfection that has not been seen before me in this sport.

Yeah, I mean, and I understand what you're saying and I appreciate it. I think that the slanting of it, though, I think it's too focused on the drafting of of my replacement and not on my own personal ability. And and I think that's where the big difference is, is that I never needed any extra motivation. But this gave me the opportunity to really take my fate into my own hands fully, even though it always was there.

I think the the absolution of that truth allowed me to, I think, take final ownership of of how I wanted to to write the last chapter of this story without getting too deeply in there, because we've never actually talked to you with any depth, because I've been afraid to get too close to some places that might be too personal about the stuff with your family.

I just was curious when you mentioned a Christian family, Christian upbringing, and the idea that your thinking has expanded beyond that. I was. And please tell me if I'm being too personal here, I would wonder if that's a conflict inside of a family that's not very easy to manage like that, that I wouldn't want that in my family. It seems very difficult to break away from. Well, I'm not exactly sure what angle you're going with that question, but I think a lot of times, you know, in the environment that I grew up in, there isn't room for other ideologies within that space.

And I guess the one thing about organized religion that I've always had a hard time with is that a lot of the things that we talk about in religion are very similar. And I think at the core of so many of these ideologies is love and respect and compassion. But unfortunately, we have lines drawn that separate, you know, a belief system. And it really makes it binary in nature where there's a righteous in a sinful or a right and wrong just from a you know, the simplest forms of heaven and hell, you know, protected and unprotected heathen and, you know, and holy.

I think that that always was hard for me to wrap my head around and also a benevolent God who wants to send 90 percent of his creation to a fiery hell with something I just always had a hard time with. And so when I got into this study of some some other ideologies, I mean, that's what I really I think gravitated towards, was that the route is very similar to like, say, the New Testament, Jesus's teachings. But but I don't think that Jesus ever came to build a religion and feel like he came with an ideology of love and compassion and connection.

And those are things that I want to be about. It's just not in the context or the framework of an organized religion that was kind of the environment that I grew up in.

Aaron, you're a great quarterback. You're also pretty good at this speaking thing. So I'm thinking like, listen, you should do a podcast. And I think love has a network if you're interested in joining. Oh, that's right.

And you. Wait a minute. I don't I don't think you're a free agent in Green Bay for a while. But how is your deal with McAfee? Hey, can I buy some Aaron Rodgers time every week? What's your deal with McAfee? I think I'd like to get in the game to write orders, have him do his own part or write the check for Aaron Rodgers, his podcast. Can we negotiate this on air?

I'm going to be a Tuesday free agent as of the end of this season, so we'll have some conversations.

OK, let's go. We got to get Aaron Rodgers on the show before we get him out of here. See you, Greg Cody, before we get him out of here. Yeah, Aaron Rodgers, co-host for three hours a day because we can laugh with him for a while. He's he's having another MVP. I think it either joins us or does his own podcast. I'm happy to produce it. All right. We're going to let you go on this note.

Aaron Rodgers, I want to ask you the question. I'm hoping that you can get us on ESPN as they cut this part out. And it's Aaron Rodgers saying something that ESPN now has to put on the air because he said it on the Dan Leveton Show podcast with two guys, because you're an actual real supporter of what we do and how we do it. Let me leave the space for this here. They will not have the context for it on ESPN.

Let me give it a pause, three to one. Aaron Rodgers, are you better than Patrick Mahomes?

And I would say right now, I got him. I got him. And that's just because I got the experience and I got like ten years to two years on the State Farm. So I know maybe they'll be like little plays out. It's my time as a discount double check guys is paid the way him as the bag thrower and the catch up. Peter is going to move it in. It's been a great run. I love State Farm. I love the the the partnership that we've had.

And I feel like, you know, right now I still got a little more chops than Pat, but he's pretty damn good at that, too.

OK, good symbolism. No, I don't feel like we'll take it. That didn't get us on ESPN that he's a better State Farm pitchman and we've got to read the code now like that. I was asking about a quarterback, not as a pitch man.

You don't want any part of that, because I tell you what, I'm tired of Mahomes. You had the best season in your life. Everyone's talking about Mahomes. Put them in the Hall of Fame. Call him the greatest quarterback ever. I know the greatest quarterback ever. And he's gone back to quarterback speak. We got to get him out of here. Thank you. Thank you, Aaron. Thank you for being on with us. Thanks, guys.

I can't wait to be back on. This is the the real shit that I'm all about. All right. All right. Let's do this. Every Tuesday, we're going to be on your own.

We're going to steal you from that Meathead McCaffrey and AJ Hawk over there coming with the intellectuals. Good being with the meatheads. Let's go.

That's my family right now, man. I love those boys. They're good people.

I'm here, too. We want to be a family. We want to be your new family, your family. I love your family. Your mom is a massive. You're my brother.

Thanks, guys. We love you.