Reacting To Aaron Rodgers Comments On The Pat McAfee Show: "Isolation Retreat", Future Decision, Trade Rumors
Aaron Rodgers still taking his time contemplating his future
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One thing I never get tired of is tuning in to hear what Aaron Rodgers is going to share when he makes an appearance on the Pat McAfee show. If I remember correctly once the off-season started last year Rodgers weekly appearances came to an end. This off-season Rodgers has consistently showed up to discuss not just his future but other random topics as well.
As it stands right now we still don’t know what he is going to decide. I want to quickly go through some of the most interesting things he had to share today on the show.
The talk of Aaron Rodgeres to the Raiders has gotten a lot louder this past week, and it sounds like Aaron experienced the same while playing in Pro-Am at Pebble Beach this past week. The talk got even louder when Davante Adams made his recruiting pitch to Aaron Rodgers after the pro bowl on Sunday to come to Las Vegas.
Rodgers is correct. He is not a free agent which means at the end of the day he doesn’t completely control where he plays in 2023. The Packers also have a say. Rodgers doesn’t have a no trade clause but if a team wanted to trade for Rodgers they would want to know that he wants to play for them as well. If Rodgers had no desire to play for a certain franchise there is no way a deal gets done with that team. The Packers also have the ability to not make a trade if they don’t want to even if Rodgers doesn’t want to play for the Packers anymore.
Speculation about potential trade suitors will continue until Rodgers makes it clear he is returning to Green Bay, or if a trade ends up taking place.
With Tom Brady retiring this past week many came to the conclusion that Brady’s decision would make Rodgers want to return to play in 2023 so he isn’t overshadowed by Brady being in the same Hall Of Fame class. Rodgers put those rumors to rest. It sounds like it has no effect on the decision he is going to make.
Rodgers has said in the past that contemplating his desire to return or not to return hinges on deciding if he feels that going through the entire process of a season is worth it to him. Is he willing to go through another off-season of training, a full training camp, preparation and practice for every single game.
I would assume that at some point in your career it doesn’t feel worth it anymore and you just want to let it go. Rodgers has to decide if he is at that point, or if he still has some gas left in the tank. Rodgers has said that he believes he could still play at an MVP level, so the question isn’t if he still has the talent but if he still wants to go through the taxing journey of an entire NFL season.
Rodgers' decision has still not been made. He will be taking part in an “isolation retreat” sometime in the next few weeks where he spends 4 days in complete darkness. Apparently they drop food into the room and if he wants he can choose to leave at any moment if he becomes uncomfortable.
I’ve never heard of an isolation retreat but it sounds like he is going to have plenty of time to process whatever he needs to process. Four days of complete darkness sounds pretty wild. I feel like 24 hours would be a lot. I would imagine the days start to go together and you have no idea what time it is. Hopefully Aaron will share exactly what this experience is like because I’m honestly curious with how it affects you mentally.
Apparently hallucinations can take place as well. Not surprising if you are going to be surrounded by complete darkness for an extended period of time.
Odds are he could come out after four straight days of contemplation with a decision about his future. Who knows what it will be.
Pat McAfee asked him if he is still thinking about the possibility of no longer playing football and Rodgers seemed to believe that retiring is still fully on the table.