Study Shows Fans Love to Hate Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers won (or lost, depending your perspective) by a landslide, finishing well ahead of (or behind) the likes of Deshaun Watson, Tyreek Hill and Daniel Snyder.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers wins MVPs. He sets records. He sells insurance.

He’s also hated.

A semi-scientific Twitter study conducted by BetOnline showed that the Green Bay Packers’ star quarterback is the most hated person associated with the NFL.

This conclusion was derived after more than a million tweets were analyzed by keyword association. Negative phrases such as “I hate Aaron Rodgers,” “Antonio Brown sucks,” “F**ck Roger Goodell,” “Cam Newton is horrible,” and so on were included in a study conducted in December. (January and February were not included so the findings wouldn't be swayed by the playoff participants.)

Results were published on Wednesday.

Rodgers won (or lost) by a landslide. He was the subject of 266,850 negative tweets. That was almost as many as the next three people – former Buccaneers receiver Antonio Brown, longtime Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Rams receiver Odell Beckham Jr. – combined.

It was a tumultuous season for Rodgers. His rift with the team led to a summer of rumors and off-the-record stories before he decided to return to the Packers at the start of training camp. Next came his testing positive for COVID-19, and the resulting fallout when it was learned that he was not vaccinated. Weekly appearances on The Pat McAfee Show, which included controversial comments about the vaccine, didn’t help matters.

Not that Rodgers cared. Not that he liked the negative attention but he didn’t care about it.

“It really comes down to, and pardon my French, giving less f**ks,” Rodgers told McAfee late in the season. “I think it’s a majority that comes from aging, making mistakes, from failing, to being too sensitive at times. …There’s a lot of joy in being unapologetically yourself.”

Rodgers got about twice as many votes as Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson and Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill combined. Watson was named in 22 civil cases brought by women alleging harassment and sexual assault. While in college, Hill pleaded guilty to beating up his pregnant girlfriend. In 2019, he was accused of child abuse but the case was dropped when the district attorney couldn’t determine if it was Hill or the boy’s mom who was guilty of injuring the 3-year-old.

Rodgers has become one of the more polarizing players in the NFL. In 2021, he won his fourth MVP and sold the seventh-most jerseys in the NFL during the month of December.

Officially, Rodgers has not decided whether he’s going to return to Green Bay for his 15th season as a starter, though the return of Tom Clements as quarterbacks coach and ongoing contract talks are signs that he will be back – whether fans like it or not.

“You can only control what you can control, so you just try to make the best of it and try to have consistent communication and I told him,” coach Matt LaFleur said at the Scouting Combine on Wednesday. “I don’t want to be overbearing and tell him every day how much we love him and how much we want him back. You just want be respectful of his space and allow him to think through everything clearly without being annoying,”

Ten Most-Hated People in NFL

Who is the NFL’s most despised person? A semi-scientific Twitter study conducted by BetOnline has answered that question.

No. 10: Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder – 48,529

No. 9: Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield – 51,285

No. 8: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell – 59,731

No. 7: Kansas City Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill – 62,379

No. 6: Jackson Mahomes, brother of Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes – 71,349

No. 5: Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson  – 75,210

No. 4: Los Angeles Rams WR Odell Beckham Jr. – 84,399

No. 3: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick – 88,482

No. 2: Former WR Antonio Brown – 107,379

No. 1: Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers – 266,850

Top 20 in negative tweets

Graphic courtesy of BetOnline