Aaron Rodgers to Consider Future in NFL During Darkness Retreat

Aaron Rodgers is still not sure what he'll be doing during the 2023 NFL season. And to help make his decision, the Green Bay Packers quarterback revealed on The Pat McAfee Show that he will embark on a four-day/four-night "darkness retreat" following the Super Bowl this Sunday. 

"I've got a pretty cool opportunity to do a little self-reflection in some isolation," Rodgers said, per ESPN. "And then after that, I feel like I'll be a lot closer to a final, final decision." Rodgers is coming off a 2022 season where the Packer went 8-9 on the year and missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2018 season. He could return to Green Bay for another season, be traded to another team, or announce his retirement. 

"For sure; it's a real thing, 100 percent, Rodgers said of possibly retiring. "That's why it's going to be important to get through this week and to take my isolation retreat and just to be able to contemplate all things my future and then be able to make a decision that I think is best for me moving forward and in the highest interest of my happiness and then move forward."

The move comes after Rodgers revealed last summer he took part in ayahuasca ceremonies that can produce hallucinations similar to the drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The 39-year-old said the use of ayahuasca won't be used during his darkness retreat. "It's just sitting in isolation, meditation, dealing with your thoughts," Rodgers said. "It stimulates DMT, so there can be some hallucinations in there but it's just kind of sitting in silence, which most of us never do. We rarely even turn our phone off or put the blinds down to sleep in darkness. I'm really looking forward to it."

Rodgers said he will be alone on the retreat in the confines of a small house at an undisclosed location. His meals will be delivered, but he will have no contact with the outside world. Rodgers can leave at any point during the stay if wants to. He has been with the Packers since the 2005 season but became the starting QB in 2008. In his career, Rodgers has won five NFL MVP awards and led the Packers to a Super Bowl title in 2010.