Aaron Rodgers Says He Plans to Play for the Jets in 2023

Former Cal quarterback made his annoucement on The Pat McAfee Show, saying he changed his mind about retiring after his darkness retreat.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers made official what everyone had come to suspect: He will not retire and he intends to play for the New York Jets next season.

The former Cal star made that announcement on Wednesday on The Pat McAfee Show. Rodgers said he made his decision on Friday and will not reject a trade to the Jets.

"I made it clear my intention was to play and to play for the New York Jets, and I haven't been holding anything up. It's the compensation that the Packers are trying to get,"The Packers want to move on and have let me know that in so many words," Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show.

A deal between the Packers and the Jets has not been finalized, at least not publicly, but there have been reports that the two teams have been discussing the trade components for some time.

Here is a video of the Aaron Rodgers portion of The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday:

Packers president Mark Murphy has implied recently that Green Bay wanted to move on to Jordan Love as its quarterback, adding that he wanted to accommodate Rodgers.

Rodgers would have to restructure his contract as well, and that may take some time.

But unless there is an unforeseen holdup, the four-time MVP will be playing next season for the Jets, whose strong roster seemed to lack only an elite quarterback to make New York a Super Bowl contender.

Apparently Rodgers four-day darkness retreat changed his mind about his football future. He said was 90% sure he would retire when he began the retreat experience. But he said that when he left the retreat, the Packers made it known that they had changed their previous position. Earlier they apparently had led Rodgers to believe that they wanted him to finish his career in Green Bay. But he learned after his exit from the retreat that the Packers no longer felt that way. Rodgers said he wished the Packers had told him that earlier.

"I [expletive] love that city,” Rodgers said of Green Bay. “I love that organization and always going to have love for that organization. The facts are right now they want to move on, and now so do I."

"I got to be the starting quarterback of the Packers for 15 years. So, I love you, Green Bay. Thank you. I'm as sad as some of you are, but we'll meet again."

It was reported on Tuesday that Rodgers had presented the Jets with a wish-list of free-agent receivers he would like the Jets to acquire, including Odell Beckham Jr., Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Marcedes Lewis.

Rodgers said that is "ridiculous.”

"Did they ask me about certain guys that I've played with over the years? Of course,” said Rodgers. “Did I talk glowingly about teammates that I love? Yeah. Why wouldn't you?"

"There are a lot of reasons why the Jets are attractive," Rodgers said. "There's one coach who has meant as much to me as any coach I've ever had." That’s Nathaniel Hackett, who was Green Bay’s offensive coordinator when Rodgers won his two most recent MVP awards in 2020 and 2021 and is now the Jets offensive coordinator.

Rodgers' contract includes $59.465 million guaranteed in salary and bonus this season. 

Cover photo of Aaron Rodgers by Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, USA TODAY NETWORK

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