Aaron Rodgers has not decided whether or not he wants to return next season and told “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday that he plans to attend a “darkness retreat” where he will contemplate his future before making any decisions. Here’s what you need to know:
- The Packers quarterback said he plans to get through this week and the retreat, which is “coming up in a couple of weeks.”
- He said the retreat will isolate him in complete darkness for four nights where he’ll be able to “contemplate all things my future.”
- He said his goal is to make a decision that he feels is “in the highest interest of my happiness.”
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Rodgers’ unique approach continues
Rodgers has proven in recent years that he’s a unique individual, to say the least, and he did so yet again when revealing on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he’ll soon spend four days and nights in complete darkness. He’ll enter a little house by himself with no access to the outside world other than a door he’s free to open and leave through if he wants to end the experiment. There’s also a slot through which food can be dropped. The exercise is meant to leave Rodgers alone with his thoughts for an intense period of reflection, during which he might gain clarity about what he wants to do next with regard to his
NFL career.
“It’s not like you bring a journal or you bring music or anything,” Rodgers said on McAfee’s show. “There’s no sounds. It’s just sitting in isolation, meditation, dealing with your thoughts. 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.”
Last offseason, Rodgers’ decision to keep playing for the Packers became public on March 8. He said after the Packers’ season-ending loss to the
Lions on Jan. 8 that he wouldn’t hold the organization hostage with his decision. It’s unclear when exactly Rodgers is going on this darkness retreat, but he said he should be much closer to a “final final decision” about whether he wants to continue playing or retire after he exits the door to that little house.
General manager Brian Gutekunst has emphasized the importance of allowing Rodgers time and space to make his decision. As long as the team knows what Rodgers plans to do with his future around the same time as last year, which it seems like will happen, Rodgers’ venture into darkness won’t disrupt the Packers with regard to everything else they need to accomplish from a team-building aspect this offseason. —
Schneidman
What Rodgers said
“I think 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 in my future,” Rodgers said. “And then make a decision that I feel like is best for me moving forward and in the highest interest of my happiness and then move forward.”
Rodgers also rejected the idea that Tom Brady’s retirement might impact when he retires because Rodgers might not want to share a Hall of Fame class with the seven-time Super Bowl winner.
“The idea I wouldn’t want to share a stage with Tom and J.J. Watt is ridiculous,” Rodgers said. “That’s already going to be an incredible Hall of Fame class … their decisions don’t impact my own decision.”
Backstory
Rodgers, 39, just finished his 18th season with the Packers in 2022. Green Bay went 8-9 and missed the postseason for the first time since 2017.
The Packers passer signed a three-year contract extension in March 2022 worth a guaranteed $150.8 million, via Spotrac, including a $40.8 million signing bonus, In 2023, Rodgers would earn a base salary of $1.16 million, a signing bonus of $58,300,000. He’d carry a $31.6 million cap hit and a dead cap value of $99.8 million.
