Aaron Rodgers could be playing his final season with the Green Bay Packers. However, the Packers quarterback wants the 2021 season to be like any other season he has had in the NFL. When talking to reporters this week, Rodgers had a request for the Packers and the rest of the league when the season begins.
“I don’t want a farewell tour,” Rodgers said Wednesday, per ESPN. “I don’t know what’s going to happen after the season, but I’m going to enjoy it with the right perspective, for sure, and not look at it as I’m getting through this. I’m going to enjoy the hell out of all of it.” Rodgers admitted that he thought 2020 would be the final year he would be putting on a Packers uniform.
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“The reason I approached it like that is I just knew when the [Love] pick was made that the clock had started, for sure,” Rodgers said. “And I thought unless there was something in the season that really made me feel like I’m going to be here past 2021 that maybe this would be my last year. I didn’t want to be going into a year with some sort of … as a lame duck, like I said. I didn’t think that was fair to what I accomplished and what I mean to this team, and nothing really changed in that regard. I went into the offseason, that [it] could have been it.”
Rodgers continued: “I’m glad that I enjoyed every moment, I’m glad that I led exactly the way I wanted to lead and looked for those conversations with certain guys that needed a pick-me-up at different times. I took the headphones off and enjoyed the surroundings and the road trips and the time with the guys. Yeah, it’s a good template, for sure.”
After being away from the team all offseason, Rodgers returned to the Packers at the start of training camp late last month. Originally, Rodgers was under contract through the 2023 season, but the Packers reworked his contract and his final year will be in 2022. If Rodgers wants to leave the Packers after the 2021 campaign, the team could trade him and go with Jordan Love as their starter. The Packers drafted Love in the first round in 2020.
