Relationships Clinch Rodgers’ Return to Packers

Aaron Rodgers could have requested a trade to Denver. Instead, he's "very excited" to return to the team he's led since 2008.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The older Aaron Rodgers has got, the more he’s talked about relationships.

It’s one relationship that made going to the Denver Broncos so tempting. It was a lot of relationships that brought Rodgers back to the Packers.

While all the details haven’t been hashed out, Rodgers on Tuesday announced he will be returning to the Packers. The forthcoming contract extension could keep him in Green Bay for the entirety of his career.

Hey everyone, just wanted to clear some things up; YES I will be playing with the @packers next year, however, reports about me signing a contract are inaccurate, as are the supposed terms of the contract I “signed”. I’m very excited to be back 💪🏼 #year18❤️

— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) March 8, 2022

It’s a result that perhaps didn’t seem likely on the eve of last year’s draft, when ESPN first reported Rodgers’ anger with the direction of the franchise.

Rodgers, ultimately, returned to the team just before training camp. A conversation with general manager Brian Gutekunst during one of those mid-August practices went a long way toward healing his relationship with Gutekunst and the franchise.

“The best analogy is that was me and Brett Favre shaking hands onstage at the NFL Honors [in 2013],” Rodgers told McAfee on Feb. 22. “I felt like, and Brett would probably say the same thing, it was kind of a catalyst to get Brett back in the fold.

“And that’s what that conversation was with Brian and I. I feel like that was kind of a first step toward having real, free-flowing conversation and friendship, and I’m definitely thankful for the work that he put in on the relationship. … At the same time, it wasn’t a one-way street. I knew that I had to grow, as well. I had to be more comfortable with those conversations, with being responsive to them in a super-timely manner, trying to find kindness in adverse moments or difficult conversations that we had, and I feel like we all grew and had a good year of communication.”

Rodgers said those conversations made him “feel really special and important.” Rodgers appreciated that approach, and the feeling was mutual.

“I’m very appreciative of the lengths that Aaron and the conversations that we had throughout the season,” Gutekunst said before the Scouting Combine. “I’ve always appreciated those conversations. They were more frequent, for sure, this year. I’d like to believe we’ve gotten to a better place, and I appreciate his comments to that fact.

“I think Aaron’s different. He’s different than any player – when you’re the franchise quarterback, you’re going to have more conversations with me than maybe a lot of players. He talked very much about being in the conversations and things that affected his job. I appreciate that very much. I understand where he’s coming from. It’s been good and it’s in a much better place.”

With an improved relationship with management, his already strong relationship with coach Matt LaFleur and his close bonds to teammates such as Davante Adams, David Bakhtiari, Randall Cobb, Marcedes Lewis and Preston Smith, Rodgers elected to return to Green Bay for an 18th season rather than following Nathaniel Hackett to Denver.

That wasn’t an easy decision.

“There’s nobody in the building that brings me more joy or is more fun to be around than Nathaniel Hackett,” Rodgers said before a game against Jacksonville in 2020. “I just knew Hack and I were going to bond. He’s become such a close confidant and friend besides a fantastic coach. … Hack has been a really important part of our culture change and a part of our success on offense. I love him. Hope he doesn’t go anywhere. Unless I do.”

Rodgers isn’t going anywhere, in part because of the relationships in Green Bay. While his public perception took a beating over the past several months, he remains a revered figure in the locker room.

Asked over the weekend if Rodgers was being selfish for taking so long to decide, one high-profile teammate responded, "Seriously?" Rodgers raves about veteran stars like Adams and role players like Lucas Patrick. When Rodgers was attacked by Pro Football Weekly's Hub Arkush, then-outside linebackers coach Mike Smith, unprompted, fired back in Rodgers' defense. When Rodgers came back from COVID to help beat Seattle, he walked arm-in-arm off the field with Smith.

Those relationships were perhaps solidified by officiating Bakhtiari’s wedding this past weekend, a moment that, as SI.com’s Albert Breer observed, “served as the perfect precursor to a decision for Rodgers that, in some ways, came down to those ties that bind the quarterback to the only organization he’s ever played for.”

During the second day of training camp last summer, LaFleur was optimistic that the relationship with Rodgers could be saved.

Fast forward several months, the relationship didn’t just survive the season. It thrived.

“I mean, the guy’s, in my eyes, the greatest to do ever do it. So, yeah, why wouldn’t you want to?” LaFleur told Breer that night at Lambeau Field. “I think he’s still got a lot left in the tank. I see it every day. He has so much fun out there, too, just competing. The ball’s still jumping out of his hand so damn effortlessly. So, yeah, if he were to have retired, I would’ve put it in the same category as how I felt growing up in Michigan.

“I didn’t really grow up a huge professional football fan, but yeah, it was fun watching the Detroit Lions and Barry Sanders. And when [Sanders] walked away? That was heartbreaking. I know, from my perspective, it just wouldn’t be good for the game of football. And I do believe—I know—that there’s a lot of history here, and a lot that he loves about this place. And hopefully we can continue to work and come together, and fix whatever issues there might be.”

With those issues fixed, Rodgers will return to Green Bay for an 18th season and what could be a 19th, 20th and 21st, as well.

“It’s kind of enormous to think about, I’m almost an adult as far as years I’ve lived here,” Rodgers said in January, “and my own evolution as far as where I’ve lived and what I enjoy doing and the restaurants I like to go to and the things I like to do in my off time. There’s just so much gratitude for the journey. I think that’s what we all can look back on. When you’re in it, it’s such a process, there’s a monotony to it and a Groundhog Day effect. But when you start to look back at these stretches of time or your career as a whole, the journey, man, is just so sweet.”