Green Bay Packers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, is currently in his two-week stint as guest host of "Jeopardy!"
Yes, I know this is Chargers.com.
Stick with me here.
But having previously competed on the show – and won his "Celebrity Jeopardy!" tournament – hosting is now part of his "Jeopardy!" trifecta. Rodgers recently spoke with Stephen Battaglio of the Los Angeles Times about the experience and mentioned who in the NFL he'd like to face on the legendary game show.
Here's where the Packers – Chargers connection comes into play.
"One guy I would love to beat — love, love, love to beat — is one of my former teammates now, Corey Linsley," Rodgers told Battaglio. "Corey is really brilliant. There is no one I would want to beat more if we were both contestants than Corey Linsley."
This doesn't seem like any sort of casual call-out. The word "love" was used multiple times!
But I went straight to the source and Linsley has an idea of why Rodgers mentioned him.
"What he's doing, is he's talking up the competition," Linsley said. "You never want to give anybody bulletin board material! But the other thing is, you want to make your opponent look as good as he can and pay him respect. There's some level of respect there. But he's mostly saying that so when he smokes me on 'Jeopardy!,' everybody can look at him like he's Einstein."
In the article, Rodgers referenced being an avid watcher of the show, and Linsley said while he knew of his fandom, spirited debates about various topics extended into the locker room.
"The offensive line dinners that we had in Green Bay were always filled with awesome discussions and debates," he mentioned. "We all learned something. They were some great times. They were great discussions between competing viewpoints, but that's kind of the hallmark of friendship and camaraderie and brotherhood; being able to talk about everything under the sun and leave dinner still being friends."
But OK, say this challenge maybe does happen one day. What categories would each be best at according to the new Chargers center?
"I'd be good at certain categories like Midwestern geography, grit, manual labor, manners," Linsley said. "Aaron would win in categories like golf, yachting, anything California. Met Gala attire is another category Aaron would excel in. More the 'refined-lifestyle' categories. But all in all, there's no question he'd beat me for sure."
Oh, and as for a scouting report on Rodgers' performance?
Linsley hasn't seen the full first episode yet, but after watching a couple clips, he's not surprised at the reviews.
"Shoot, he looks the part. I read he studied for hours and was so meticulous with it which isn't surprising whatsoever. It's kind of how he approaches everything."
Take a look through the top photos of former All-Pro center Corey Linsley as he agreed to terms on a multi-year contract with the Bolts.
The Future is Here!
2021 Season Ticket Memberships are starting at only $50 per game. Click here to learn more.
