Aaron Rodgers Speaks: He Considered Retirement, Not Sure About 2022
Former Cal quarterback spoke to the media on Wednesday and admitted he considered retirement during his offseason standoff with the Packers, and he also noted that he does not know what his future holds after the 2021 season.
He made it clear that he is not completely satisfied with all elements of the Packers organization, but said he wants to be back.
"I do, I do," he said. "I love my teammates. I love the city, love my coaches. It is a lot of fun to be back here."
The 37-year-old quarterback, who is coming off his third MVP season, is back for his 17th NFL season.
Here is the video of his press conference:
Regarding the possibility of retirement, he said, “It was definitely something I thought about. I continued to find joy and happiness off the field [during the offseason]. However, there is still a big competive hole in my body that I need to fill. As I got back into my workouts, I realized I could still play, and I want to still play.
Rodgers is unsure whether he will be with the Packers in 2022.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “I think things in that direction haven’t really changed at all. I’m just going to focus on this year. There’s a lot of moving pieces besides myself. Expiring contracts for a number of guys, so there’s going to be a lot of tough decisions at the end of the year . . . I’ll revisit that conversation at the end of the year.”
He had a simple explanation of the main issue in his holdout.
"I just want to be involved in conversations that affect my ability to do my job," Rodgers said.
And did he get assurances that will happen?
"I'm not sure ... at this point," he said.
He made a point of saying he was not involved at all in the hiring of Matt LaFleur as Green Bay's head coach, and although he is happy with LaFleur as his coach, that is the kind of decision he would like to be involved in.
“Decision like that, that have been made over and over and over again, that make me realize that the organization looks at me and my job is just to play,” he said. “In my opinion, based on what I’ve accomplished in this league, the way I care about my teammates, the way I show up in the locker room, the way I lead, the way I conduct myself in the community, you should tie myself to a little bit more input.
“I’m not asking for anything that other great quarterbacks across the last few decades have not gotten.”
A lot of Rodgers’ displeasure apparently comes from the fact that the Packers have released or failed to re-sign a number of veteran players that might have helped Green bay win games. He rattled off a number of players who believed were let go too quickly, and one of the names was Randall Cobb, who is with the Houston Texans but is likely to return to the Packers in a trade that is pending.
“I wanted to help the organization, maybe learn from the some of the mistakes in the past ... and about the way that some of the outgoing veterans were treated," Rodgers said. "And just the fact that we didn't retain a number of players that I felt like were core players to our foundation, to our locker room. High-character guys."
The media has speculated that much of Rodgers’ displeasure was with Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, but Rodgers said he never demanded that Gutekunst be fired.
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