Aaron Rodgers reveals he considered retiring during an off-season feud with the Packers

Green Bay, Wes. – Aaron Rodgers Acknowledging that he is considering retirement, he detailed his off-season encounter with the Green Bay Packers and said he had not yet spoken about whether anything would change if anything did.

Rodgers is back for his 17th season, and while he provided plenty of material in his 32-minute press conference after first practice boot camp, the point is:

“I just want to be involved in the conversation that affects my ability to do my job,” Rodgers said.

When asked if they had assured him if that would happen, he replied, “I’m not sure.”

Rodgers has spoken at length about his disappointment with veteran players the Packers have cut or failed to re-sign at various points in their careers. In fact, nearly a dozen players mentioned, from Charles Woodson Hasta Julius Peppers Randall Cope, who, in fact, will return to the Packers once trade with the Houston Texans closes.

“I wanted to help the organization, and maybe learn from some past mistakes and how some of the veterans getting out of the house and the fact that we didn’t keep many players who I felt were essential in our organization, were dealt with in our dressing room,” Rodgers said. big”.

In perhaps one of the most detailed answers he has given in his career, Rodgers took questions from reporters about his off-season schedule in the first 5:41 minutes.

In February, when he met Packers, he said, “I expressed my desire to be more involved in the conversations.” He also offered help to help free agents sign up with Green Bay.

“The fact that I wasn’t used in those discussions is something I wanted to change in the future and I feel that based on my years (of experience), and the way I can play it should be a natural part of the conversation. Nothing has really changed on that front since that moment.”

Rodgers said that from that moment on, conversations with the team turned into a commitment to him not just for the 2021 season but for the future.

“There’s no deadline for that really, so in my opinion, I had to take care of the situation, not necessarily being the midfielder and that’s it, especially after a season where I won the MVP award.) which I think you understand.”

Around March, Rodgers noted that the conversation with the team had changed.

“I felt that if you can’t commit to me after 2021 and I’m not part of the free agency recruitment process, if I’m not part of the future, then instead of letting me be a simple midfielder, if you want to make a change and move on. Go ahead, go ahead, Do it,” Rodgers said.

In April, after ESPN’s Adam Shifter broke the news that Rodgers had told people in the franchise he didn’t want to return to the Packers, contract negotiations began.

“What happened was (the packets) said, ‘Okay, we’ll give you some money now. Let’s see if we can give you the money,’” Rodgers said. “From the beginning I said it wasn’t about the money. I obviously didn’t attend an off-season show or mini camp. For me, it was for something bigger. It was about trying to be the source of the franchise that I love and love so much.

“The back story is that there was a part of me that didn’t think there was going to be talk of a contract extension based on my impact on this salary cap and next season. It seemed natural that based on the way I played, at least having a conversation about it. There wasn’t any something until May.

Around May and June, when Rodgers was absent from the off-season work schedule the entirety of, he said, “Nothing really changed over the summer.”

“There were a few passes in the last week or so, but I’ve been really working on myself and my mental state in the summer and at various points I decided if I wanted to keep playing, but the torch was still there and I wanted to be in the team. We succeeded. in solving some matters in the past days,” he said.

Rodgers, who has been in all of Wednesday’s training and taking all the reps with the first team, during it Jordan’s love Working with the substitutions, he threw a pair of MVP-caliber passes, a 20-yard pass on a corner-cut path to Equimus Saint Brown and fall for Davant Adams.

“There is still a huge competitive gap in my body that I need to fill and as I get back into my physical training I realize I can still play and that I want to keep playing and as long as I feel I can give 100 percent to the team, I have to play,” he stressed.

While Rodgers clearly felt he was taken down by the franchise that he recruited in 2005 as a future replacement for Brett Favre in 2008, he also said he didn’t want to be seen as a victim in their feud with the Packers.

I am not the victim here. I made a lot of money here and was really lucky to play for a long time and do it here. At the same time, I’m still competitive and still feel like I can play. I tried it last year, said Rodgers.

Rodgers still doesn’t know what his future holds after the current season and said that while he hasn’t ruled out a return to the Packers, they haven’t told him if he can decide where he could play in 2022 if he chooses.

Although his annoyance with the board is clear, he said he had never asked for general manager Brian Gutnext to be fired and described his relationship with him as “professional”.

Rodgers has talked in detail about where he thinks things are getting ugly, which made it worth asking if he really wanted to go back to Green Bay.

“Yes, yes. I love my teammates, I love the city and my coach. It is very exciting to be back.