NFL
“He is my Career now” – How Aaron Rodgers pulled Lazard from the practice squad to the Record Books

“He is my Career now” – How Aaron Rodgers pulled Lazard from the practice squad to the Record Books
The first time New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers studied Allen Lazard was from afar. Intrigued, he pulled Lazard into his orbit, and the wide receiver’s life hasn’t been the same.
It was Green Bay Packers training camp, 2019. The team practiced on two fields — starters and key reserves on one, Packers hopefuls on the other. From a distance, Rodgers witnessed a 6-foot-5 receiver making impressive catches.
Lazard was a relatively anonymous player — undrafted out of Iowa State, cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars, picked up by the Packers late in the 2018 season and thrown into the last game for precisely one garbage-time snap in a blowout loss. He made a 7-yard reception, but it wasn’t from Rodgers, who was done for the day. It was from backup DeShone Kizer.
Lazard returned the next summer, oblivious he had gained a fan in Rodgers — until the face of the franchise approached him in the cafeteria.
“What do I have to do to get you on my field?” Rodgers asked him.
Rodgers lobbied the Green Bay coaches and front office to give Lazard a legit chance. Sure enough, a quarterback-receiver tandem was born. A friendship, too. This is their sixth season together, and Lazard still can’t believe his good fortune.
“He is my career,” he said matter-of-factly.
Boosted by Rodgers, Lazard has earned nearly $30 million in his career and is able to live the life he always dreamed about as a kid in Urbandale, Iowa, where he grew up in a football-obsessed family.
In some ways, Lazard was created and later re-created by Rodgers, whose return from last season’s injury has revived the receiver’s career. You see, Rodgers’ left Achilles wasn’t the only thing that ruptured on Sept. 11, 2023, when he was lost for the season.