Adam Schefter Provides Full Backstory To Now-Infamous 'Lose My Number' Text From Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers is headed to the New York Jets, assuming everything goes according to plan. He announced as much on a highly-watched broadcast of the Pat McAfee Show last week.

Amidst the conversation about his darkness retreat, future in football, and unique relationship with the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers also spoke to how the media approaches its coverage of his career and his off-field ventures. Specifically, he mentioned a brief text exchange in which he told ESPN's Adam Schefter to lose his number.

Schefter later confirmed the text, and posted the screenshot.

Aaron Rodgers told Adam Schefter 'Lose my number. Good try though.'(Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

The interaction drew a lot of reaction from across the NFL world and beyond. Some people thought that Rodgers' text was unprofessional and unwarranted. Others thought that Rodgers had every right to tell Schefter off.

Aaron Rodgers didn't provide the full story.

He gave the Sparknotes version.

The entire picture has since been illustrated— through Schefter's paintbrush, at least. The 56-year-old NFL insider recently gave his account of the events that led up to his text to Peter King and NBC Sports.

It started after Trey Wingo reported that Rodgers to New York was done. Schefter couldn't get an answer.

I’ve had his number for a while. I never once used it. Trey Wingo reported he was 'hearing' that Rodgers to the Jets was done. The day he did it, ESPN was going live from 3 to 5 on free agency. Everyone was saying Aaron Rodgers to the Jets is done. We’re on the air for two hours. I call the Jets, I call the Pack, I call Rodgers’ advisers. No one’s saying anything.

From there, he decided to text the four-time NFL MVP himself. His ESPN colleague, Diana Russini, encouraged the idea.

So, I’m sitting there on the set with Dianna Russini. 'Should I text Rodgers?' She said, 'Yeah, text him.' At 3:35, I texted him. I say, basically: 'Have you informed the Jets that you’d like to play there? I wanted to open it up to you.' He didn’t respond for maybe 10 minutes. So then I called the number, got sent to voice mail.

At that point, the now-infamous text hit Schefter's phone.

Then he texts me, 'Lose my number. Good try tho.' That’s all. He’s the one who says the media’s getting it wrong. I wanted to go to source and get it right. That’s all. I was just trying to do my job.

If the timeline of events is how Schefter says, it does beg the question of how he could have approached Rodgers differently. However, there is a history between Schefter and Rodgers, and — to some extent — Schefter and the league as a whole. Perhaps the past played a role in the present?