The wait is just about over. Aaron Rodgers told the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday that he is expecting to play football next season with the New York Jets.
“Since Friday, my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets,” Rodgers said. “I haven’t been holding anything up at this point. It’s been compensation that the Packers are trying to get for me. They’re digging their heels in.”
While the four-time NFL MVP has made a decision, a future trade between the Jets and Packers has not been currently agreed upon. The quarterback’s contract is an obstacle both teams need to work past. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported Monday afternoon that Green Bay isn’t looking for multiple first-round picks like other quarterback deals have had in recent years.
Rodgers’ decision has dominated the league’s landscape since the conclusion of the Super Bowl as he went on a darkness retreat for “four nights and parts of five days,” to mull over his future.
“The darkness gave me a lot of time to contemplate everything,” Rodgers said. “It was a great reset for me. For my body, for my mind… I went into the darkness 90% retiring, 10% playing… When I came out, I was really interested in what the landscape was, where Green Bay was at, and if I wanted to play, what were the options?”
A chasm in philosophies ultimately led to the impending split between Rodgers and the Packers, who initially told the star passer that they wanted him to retire as a member of their franchise after spending the last 18 seasons there.
“When I came out of the darkness, something changed. I got back to my phone after 5 days off of it… and I realized there had been a little bit of a shift,” Rodgers said. “I heard from multiple people that I trust around the league, players mostly, that there was some shopping going on. They were interested in actually moving me.”
The Jets visited Rodgers in California last week, which the 39-year-old admitted was all the writing on the wall necessary to connect the dots that a move to New York is in the cards. It all came down to whether or not he wanted to play again.
“It was clear that while the Packers were going to say the right thing publically, they wanted to move on… I just wish in the beginning of the offseason, that would have been the conversation,” Rodgers continued. “No malice, no bitterness toward the Packers… I shifted my focus to entertaining what playing would look like. They had a nice visit… We had a nice conversation and I told them I’m not ready to make a decision about anything…
“I had do it hard for a week to see if the drive and passion is still there… How was my body feeling, would it be able to hold up?”
Consider the early returns of that training good enough that he is beginning to envision a future with the Jets, who are already looking to welcome him with open arms by bringing on a former top target in Green Bay, Allen Lazard. They also hired Rodgers’ former offensive coordinator in Green Bay, Nathaniel Hackett, to the same position under Robert Saleh.
“There’s one coach who’s meant as much to me as any coach I’ve ever had,” Rodgers said. “And he happens to be the coordinator there.”
Reports had also come forth that claim Rodgers sent a wishlist to the Jets of other receivers to potentially work with, but Rodgers set the record straight.
“It’s so stupid of them to think I would do that,” Rodgers said. “Would I make demands about certain people? People want these things to be so true that I’m in this meeting dressed in ceremonial regalia giving them sort of a hand-written-on-parchment list of demands.”
For more New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers news, turn to AMNY.com
