The 2021 NFL season is drawing near, but the internal strife between the Green Bay Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers is still in full bloom.

The reigning MVP has made it known that he finds team management so distasteful that he’d rather not suit up in green and gold this season. We’re now less than two weeks from the start of training camp, and whether or not Rodgers will be there is anyone’s guess. Will he be traded? Will he report? Will he retire?

“It’s just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go,” Rodgers told ESPN’s Kenny Mayne in May. “It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.”

Part of me is relieved to see a professional athlete — a superstar, no less — show a willingness to walk away from tens of millions of dollars on principle. On paper, the notion that the way people are treated at the highest levels of professional sports is undervalued feels true and refreshing.

But here’s the rub: In emphasizing this people-first mentality, Rodgers seems not to realize that his own behavior directly impacts the teammates, coaches, and support staff he claims to love. If he lets his beef with management end his time in Green Bay, this year’s team goes from Super Bowl contender to also-ran overnight — and, crucially, at the very last minute.

That means dozens of Packers players just spent an entire offseason preparing for a lost season. For some of those players, this will be their last year with the Packers, and maybe their last year in the league. The same goes for coaches, training staff, front office staff, ticket-takers, ushers, parking attendants… essentially everyone who clocks in at 1265 Lombardi Avenue. (I spent four seasons working in the front office of a non-contending Major League Baseball team, and lemme tell you, it’s a soul-crushing endeavor.)

Don’t get me wrong. If the man doesn’t want to play in Green Bay anymore, that’s his prerogative. But is this really the best way to handle it — by leaving his friends and teammates in the dark until the 11th hour?

Rodgers might be right to dislike General Manager Brian Gutekunst, de facto owner Mark Murphy, and their managerial approach. He might be right that they’ve done a poor job communicating. He might be right that their priorities are all wrong.

But if Rodgers has indeed taken his last snap in Green Bay, there’s no denying that his decision negatively impacts a lot of people he professes to care about. It negatively impacts those in his own locker room. It negatively impacts volunteers and minimum-wage stadium workers. It negatively impacts fans. It negatively impacts the city. It negatively impacts the franchise.

He has every right to say that the way he’s been treated is too much to endure. He has every right to trumpet the importance of putting people first. But what he can’t do is have it both ways — leaving because of the way his bosses treat people while doing harm to so many on his way out the door.

The Trouble with Aaron Rodgers