Weeks after making waves for his potential retirement, Aaron Rodgers is ready to be traded to the New York Jets.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Monday, April 24, that the Green Bay Packers have been buying and selling Rodgers — and the No. 15 and 170 picks in the NFL draft — to the Jets in trade for the No. 13, 42, and 207 picks in the Thursday, April 26, draft. Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst subsequently confirmed the information in a press convention, noting that the phrases aren’t “finalized yet.”
“Obviously, Aaron is up there in age. I think he’s got some really good football left in him, but I think for us, as we got through the offseason and started talking about where we wanted to go, this made a little bit of sense for us,” Gutekunst instructed reporters. “That was a little bit unfortunate and disappointing for me. But at the same time, I just think, you know, as we move forward, we’re really excited where [backup QB] Jordan [Love] could go. … We’re trying to build.”
Back in February, Rodgers, 39, revealed his plans to attend a four-day “darkness retreat” that may assist him discover readability about his future in soccer.
“It’s an opportunity to do a little self-reflection in some isolation and after that, I feel like I’ll be a lot closer to that final, final decision,” the NFL athlete stated throughout an look on The Pat McAfee Show at the time. “I’ve had a number of friends who’ve done it and they had profound experiences.”
Speculation about his potential retirement first started in October 2022 when sports activities journalist Michael Balko tweeted that the athlete had plans in the works to dangle up his cleats.
“I’ve spoken to some people within the #Packers organization, they told me that QB Aaron Rodgers has ‘made it clear’ that he plans to retire following the season,” Balko wrote at the time.
Though there have been rumors that the quarterback wouldn’t return to the NFL for the 2022 season, Rodgers shot down the rumors in March, signing a three-year contract price $150.8 million — a deal that made him the highest-paid participant in North American sports activities historical past.
Three months later, he candidly mentioned the concept of retirement throughout an interview with ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.
“If you say I’m for sure playing two more, three years and then you have a magical season that ends with a championship and think that might be the best way to ride off, I don’t want to commit to something,” Rodgers shared. “You say, I’m only playing one more year and you have a bitter taste in your mouth and still got the drive and the passion to play one or two more years, I just don’t want to get pigeonholed into it.”
The California native added: “So I’m focused on this season. I’m never gonna drag it out in the offseason. The conversations I’ve had with [general manager] Brian [Guntekunst] have been very honest and direct, and that’s not going to change, and we’ll sit down after the season, hopefully after a championship and figure out what the next step is.”
Rodgers has typically been a controversial determine in the NFL by the years. In 2021, he made headlines following allegations that he lied about his vaccination standing. The participant examined constructive for COVID-19 that November, months after telling reporters he was “immunized.”
After information broke that he had contracted coronavirus, he claimed he underwent his personal protocols and coverings to “create a defense against COVID.”
“I didn’t lie in the initial press conference,” Rodgers claimed on The Pat McAfee Show at the time. “And at the time my plan was to say I’ve been immunized. It wasn’t some sort of ruse or lie … I found an immunization protocol that could best protect me and my teammates. And it was a long-term protocol that involved multiple months.”
Following his vaccination controversy, it was confirmed that Rodgers had cut up from fiancée Shailene Woodley. He received engaged to the Big Little Lies star, 31, in February 2021, however Us Weekly confirmed in February 2022 that they referred to as off their marriage ceremony.
Every week after the information, Rodgers went on the Pat McAfee Show to specific his apologies that his remarks about COVID-19 had on the folks in his life, together with Woodley. “I am very sorry to those people, Shai and my loved ones. I didn’t realize the kind of shrapnel they’d be taking. … Understanding kind of the entire gravity of the situation I was thrust into and decided to speak on multiple times had an effect on a lot of people. To those people, I just say, ‘I’m sorry,’” he stated at the time.
Amid all of the drama, Rodgers’ estranged household stayed mum even when the soccer star introduced his engagement to Woodley. Although the origins of the tensions between Aaron and his household are unknown, issues have been heightened when his brother Jordan Rodgers went on JoJo Fletcher’s season of The Bachelorette in 2016.
“It pains both of us, like, not to have that relationship [with Aaron] – we miss our brother,” the former actuality star stated on the present at the time. “I trust that God brings things full circle and that everything would just get back to us being a family.”
Despite his controversies, Aaron nonetheless has a powerful profession that started when he began at Butte College in 2002. He ultimately transferred to the University of California, Berkeley after one yr the place he set a number of passing information together with lowest-season and profession interception charges. After a record-breaking junior yr, the spokesperson for State Farm Insurance determined to forego his senior yr and be part of the 2005 NFL Draft the place he was chosen by the Green Bay Packers.
In 2010, the Packers participant led his group to victory at the Superbowl XLV over the Steelers, incomes him the Super Bowl MVP title. Aaron ranks third on the NFL’s all-time common season profession passer ranking listing and holds the greatest touchdown-to-interception ratio in NFL historical past at 4.80. He has been honored with quite a few awards together with profitable the Best NFL Player ESPY Award 4 instances in a row.
Aside from soccer, Aaron is a restricted associate in the Milwaukee Bucks possession group and has labored with the MACC Fund for over a decade which focuses on childhood most cancers analysis.
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