Packers' Tonyan: I'm ready to win Super Bowl 'whenever' Rodgers returns

Green Bay Packers tight end Robert Tonyan sounds hopeful that Aaron Rodgers will rejoin the team at some point.

Tonyan said he keeps in contact with the quarterback, but their conversations don't involve football or the business side of the game. However, he noted that he's poised to put his best foot forward once Rodgers returns.

"I just think that's a business thing. Obviously, Aaron's been the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers for 16 years. I've been the tight end for four years. I think that's above my pay grade. I don't want to talk for him and all that stuff. I think that's just a business thing," Tonyan said Friday on "The Rich Eisen Show."

"I'm just going to continue to get better and play tight end for the Green Bay Packers. If, when, or whatever happens and Aaron comes back, I'm ready, and there's no gray area with me. I'm ready to hit the ground running and win a Super Bowl whenever he's back."

Rodgers is in a dispute with the Packers organization and absent from OTAs. The 37-year-old signal-caller spoke about the standoff earlier this week, saying: "It's just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It's about character, it's about culture, it's about doing things the right way."

Tonyan talked about the effect Rodgers' absence is having on him mentally during the team's OTA sessions.

"With any teammate who's important to you, whoever's important to you, you want him there," Tonyan said. "You're not thinking about the whole situation and the whole process. I think we're just missing our teammate."

The 27-year-old tight end had a formidable connection with Rodgers last season, catching a career-high 11 touchdowns.

Copyright (C) 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.