Green Bay/Munich – Aaron Rodgers has announced that he will make a timely decision about whether to continue his career. “Mentally, do I still have the passion, the competitiveness and the desire to keep playing? I think it’s a feeling and you know that best when the offseason has started,” he said on The Pat McAfee Show.
Rodgers expects the decision to come “rather before than after” free agency begins in March. He also wants to keep in mind that the Green Bay Packers and the players still have other personnel decisions to make that may be related to Rodgers’ future.
Rodgers praises the retirements of Peyton Manning and John Elway
“I think there should be enough time to make a decision by then,” says the 38-year-old. “I don’t want to commit to a specific date, but I want to be sensitive to Davante (Adams, his contract has expired, ed.) and a lot of other guys who have to make decisions about their own futures. About them Pulling out free agency would be disrespectful to the organization and these guys. It’s 100 percent not going to happen.”
According to Rodgers, not many players have managed to retire at the right time: “Peyton Manning did it and so did John Elway. But not many people have been able to do it. It depends how you’re feeling. Can you still play, can you still have the same commitment and enjoyment of the game, do you want to sign up for the grind again?”
He would have thought about how his career could have a happy ending: “If you’re a total competitive guy, you think about how the fairy tale could end. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Super Bowl, but that would be a damn good fairy tale .”
Rodgers is not afraid of retirement
Should he end his career, this step would definitely be final. “One thing I wouldn’t do is retire and then come back a year later,” Rodgers said. The playmaker continued to describe Green Bay as a good place and praised the amicable relationship with general manager Brian Gutekunst.
However, no decision has yet been made. “All options are on the table,” says Rodgers. “There are things that seem more plausible or probable that I’m not necessarily going to go into, but the most important thing first is commitment to the game, going through the offseason and training and all that stuff.”
The one-time Super Bowl champion said he’s “not afraid” of retirement, adding that he’s excited for “what’s to come after football.”
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