Aaron Rodgers Notes: He was 50-50 on Retiring; He Doesn’t Want Farewell Tour
Aaron Rodgers is not expected to play in any preseason games, he is not injured, and his practice sessions have proceeded without incident. Yet the 37-year-old former Cal quarterback has remained the subject of considerable media coverage.
Here is a sampling of the reporting on Rodgers this week:
*---Rodgers said that the week before he arrived at Green Bay’s training camp he was “50-50” on retiring from football.
"I mean, I felt going into the weekend before camp that I was 50/50," said Rodgers, according to a CBS Sports report. "I don't care if people don't believe that. That's true. There were some things that got me to 50/50 for sure, and you know I spent a couple of days in silence and meditation and contemplation and really felt like that I should come back. There's a lot of opportunities for growth and exciting things in Green Bay and that felt like the right thing to do."
Whether that meant he was 50-50 about retiring from football for good or for just one season is not clear.
*---Rodgers said something surprising to long-time NFL reporter Peter King:
“Last year at this time, I was looking at the season as my last year in Green Bay.”
So a year ago Rodgers apparently did not think he would be with Green Bay in 2021. Nonetheless, he convinced Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur that he is all in this season, and LaFleur allowed Rodgers to present the team message at Green Bay’s first team meeting of preseason camp.
“I can’t remember the exact words,” Rodgers said, “but I said your thoughts are becoming real things. I talked about a positive mindset. I did want to assure the guys how special it was to be back, how committed I am to the team, how special the relationships are to me, how focused I am on this season and accomplishing all of our goals. But I talk a lot about positivity, about a mindset, about manifestation, about embracing the journey. That stuff that’s really important to me. Be present. This is a great time in our lives.”
*---Rodgers does not want this season to be treated like an extended goodbye to Green Bay because he doesn’t know whether it will be his last season with the Packers.
"I don't want a farewell tour," Rodgers said this week, according to an ESPN report. "I don't know what's going to happen after the season, but I'm going to enjoy it with the right perspective, for sure, and not look at it as I'm getting through this. I'm going to enjoy the hell out of all of it."
It's similar to his comment after the Packers drafted Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft, when Rodgers called his future with the Packers “a beautiful mystery.”
"The reason I approached it like that is I just knew when the [Love] pick was made that the clock had started, for sure," Rodgers said. "And I thought unless there was something in the season that really made me feel like I'm going to be here past 2021 that maybe this would be my last year. I didn't want to be going into a year with some sort of ... as a lame duck, like I said. I didn't think that was fair to what I accomplished and what I mean to this team, and nothing really changed in that regard. I went into the offseason, that [it] could have been it."
"I'm glad that I enjoyed every moment, I'm glad that I led exactly the way I wanted to lead and looked for those conversations with certain guys that needed a pick-me-up at different times. I took the headphones off and enjoyed the surroundings and the road trips and the time with the guys. Yeah, it's a good template, for sure."
Rodgers also won the MVP for the third time in 2020.
*---Jets rookie quarterback Zach Wilson was thrilled to speak with Rodgers when the Packers and Jets participated in joint practices this week.
At 22 years of age, Wilson is not particularly young to be an NFL rookie, but he was just 6 years old when Rodgers began his NFL career and 12 when Rodgers won his first MVP award in 2011. Wilson said he was "100 percent" a Rodgers fan as a kid growing up in Utah.
"We're all technically at the same level now -- we're all in the NFL -- but we're all still kind of like, 'You know what? That's Aaron Rodgers. That's kind of crazy,'" Wilson said, according to ESPN.
Even more awed in meeting Rodgers was second-year Jets quarterback James Morgan, who played high school ball in Green Bay.
"James is a big fanboy. He was getting a little nervous," Wilson told reporters. "I'm a big fanboy too. We all have to kind of pretend like we've been there before. We're enjoying just being out here and being able to talk to him."
"Zach's a good kid," Rodgers said.
*---Rodgers' opportunity to become the permanent host of "Jeopardy!" opened back up Friday when Mike Richards, who had been named the permanent host a few days earlier, stepped down when some earlier indiscretions were brought to light.
Rodgers had guest-hosted "Jeopardy!" in a two-week run that aired in April, and just before the news of Richards' departure broke, Rodgers said during a radio interview that he would have accepted the "Jeopardy!" job as permanent host if it had been offered, according to Pro Football Talk.
"Yeah, I definitely would've," Rodgers said on Sirius XM's Mad Dog Sports Radio. "I mean, if they would have figured out a way to make it work with my schedule, yeah, for sure."
So Rodgers has re-emerged as a candidate to host "Jeopardy!" Don't get your hopes up, though; he remains a long shot.
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Cover photo of Aaron Rodgers by Benny Sieu, USA TODAY Sports
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