Aaron Rodgers Reveals He Thinks About Retirement ‘All the Time’

[Mark87]

After he sunk the winning putt Wednesday during The Match, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen sat down with Ernie Johnson to talk about several topics but one particular quote stuck out. Rodgers hasn’t been shy about calling it a career in the past, but when asked about retirement, he said it’s something that’s constantly on his mind.

“I think about it [retirement] all the time,” Rodgers said, per AtoZ Sports, a Nashville sports network. “When you commit, you’re 100%. But the older you get, the interests change, and the grind, I think, wears on you a little more.”

Aaron Rodgers didn’t decide that he would return to the Packers until March after several weeks of weighing retirement or joining another team. At 38 years old, the four-time MVP knows that his last NFL game is in the not-so-distant future. He compared himself to Brady, who is 44 years old, and made it sound like he doesn’t foresee eight more years of football from him.

“The football part is the easy part,” Rodgers said on the QB Talk segment. “That’s the joy. It’s the other stuff that wears on you and makes you think about life after football. Tommy obviously set the bar so high with playing so many years, but I can definitely see the end coming

 

[Mark87]

To be fair, I get where he's coming from. Every year it gets a little tougher to commit. Then you see friends and folks you worked with start to retire...it's just tough.

 

[dannobanano]

I totally get it.
Heck, my younger brother (by five years) is already retired.
Surprisingly only a few of my college buds are retired at the moment.

 

[Budman]

To be fair, I get where he's coming from. Every year it gets a little tougher to commit. Then you see friends and folks you worked with start to retire...it's just tough.

Not only that but all the prep and the commitment it takes to keep the body and mind in shape.

 

[GBP4EVER]

$50 million dollars makes it easy to committ.

 

[Mark87]

$50 million dollars makes it easy to committ.

Not really, you are still too young to understand this but as you get older and deeper in that kind of long-term career the $ isn't as big of a deal as you think... the mental part of it all wears on you. He's also not married and he's allowed work to be #1 for so long....now it's at the end and he's got less fulfillment than he thought.

 

[TW]

To be fair, I get where he's coming from. Every year it gets a little tougher to commit. Then you see friends and folks you worked with start to retire...it's just tough.

I sense what you're saying Mark. You're absolutely right. There is no harm in admitting that it's time to pass the torch.

 

[dannobanano]

$50 million dollars makes it easy to committ.

Nobody can defy time (except TB. But he’s an alien)
Like Mark said, as time goes by the mental side of prepping/playing takes more out of you each year, and the physical side as much/or more.
At some point your brain begins to write checks that your body can’t cash.

 

[Budman]

Not really, you are still too young to understand this but as you get older and deeper in that kind of long-term career the $ isn't as big of a deal as you think... the mental part of it all wears on you. He's also not married and he's allowed work to be #1 for so long....now it's at the end and he's got less fulfillment than he thought.

Bingo. Think of it in our own lives, us who are older. No way we attack the weights, diet, etc. the way we used to do when younger and competing in sports. Just because these guys are in the big leagues, doesn't mean that father time doesn't affect their processes as well.

 

[Budman]

At some point your brain begins to wtite checks that you body can’t cash.

Kinda like Pete "Maverick" Mitchell