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Aaron Rodgers is back for a 22nd NFL season, and he wants you to know this one is about closure. The Athletic’s Mike Silver did us the disservice of putting a bow on the pending career retrospective. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback spent the offseason patching things up with his estranged family, lobbying for his former coach, Mike McCarthy, to get the Pittsburgh job, and telling anyone who would listen that his wife changed his life. Who is his wife again??? TMZ recently ran a story on her, yet her identity remains unknown.
Look, it is all very warm and cozy. I’m sure his PR team, assuming he has one, is working hard to rehab his manchild image. It is also very Rodgers, because no player in football has ever made his own inner journey everyone else’s problem quite like this one.
The four-time MVP even revealed this week that he played in January’s 30-6 wild-card loss to the Houston Texans with flu-like symptoms, including fever and vomiting. He waited seven months to share that detail, then insisted he was fine by kickoff. That is the whole career in miniature. So before the farewell tour kicks off, here is a refresher on how we got here.
Oct 28, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) celebrates after the Green Bay Packers beat the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The Packers drafted Jordan Love 26th overall in 2020, and Rodgers responded by turning the next three years into a hostage negotiation. He is the smartest guy in the room after all, he can’t help but give us that energy whenever possible.
In 2021, he skipped voluntary workouts, forfeited a $500,000 workout bonus and then blew off mandatory minicamp entirely while the team publicly begged him to come back. You’d think he’d learn this lesson from Brett Favre, his predecessor, who wore out his welcome in Green Bay. Apparently not. Rodgers appears to have been taking notes.
That same summer, the most famous non-answer in sports media history came. Asked directly if he was vaccinated against COVID-19, Rodgers told reporters, “Yeah, I’ve been immunized.” He was not vaccinated. He tested positive that November, missed a game against the Kansas City Chiefs and got fined by the Packers for attending a Halloween party with vaccinated teammates.
A year later, he admitted on Joe Rogan’s podcast that the wording was deliberate. “Maybe they follow up. They didn’t follow up,” he said of the reporters in the room.
A reunion between head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers is what dozens of people wanted. Dozens!
Rodgers decided his football future in 2023 by sitting alone in a four-day darkness retreat, which somehow was not even his strangest wellness habit. He spent those years praising ayahuasca on Pat McAfee’s show, where ESPN gave him a weekly platform to say whatever crossed his mind. In January 2024, that included suggesting that Jimmy Kimmel’s name might appear in the Jeffrey Epstein court documents. Kimmel’s name was not in the documents; the host threatened legal action, and McAfee announced Rodgers was done on the show for the season.
His actual football with the New York Jets consisted of four snaps and a torn Achilles in 2023, followed by a lost 2024 season that saw him skip mandatory minicamp for a vacation in Egypt. The trip cost him a fine north of $50,000.
“I knew the fine that was coming,” he shrugged, which was at least consistent with a man who has never once believed a rule applied to him.
Then came the retirement watch, an annual holiday at this point. Rodgers dragged out his 2025 decision into June before signing a one-year, $13.65 million deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was genuinely good, throwing for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions while winning the AFC North.
Then the Texans blew out the Steelers in the wild-card round, Mike Tomlin resigned the next day after 19 seasons, and Rodgers spent another offseason declaring there was no deadline for his decision.
Now McCarthy is here, hired after Rodgers pitched him to general manager Omar Khan in his exit meeting, and the 42-year-old is selling one last ride with the coach he spent 13 years needling in Green Bay. He summed up his 2026 pitch in his own words after Saturday’s practice in Latrobe.
“At my age, I beat teams with my mind,” he said. The first two preseason games come against the Packers and the Jets, and McCarthy wants him on the field for 30 or 40 plays. Rodgers being Rodgers, the exits from his two previous teams will now double as content for his farewell season.
Continue reading...
Look, it is all very warm and cozy. I’m sure his PR team, assuming he has one, is working hard to rehab his manchild image. It is also very Rodgers, because no player in football has ever made his own inner journey everyone else’s problem quite like this one.
The four-time MVP even revealed this week that he played in January’s 30-6 wild-card loss to the Houston Texans with flu-like symptoms, including fever and vomiting. He waited seven months to share that detail, then insisted he was fine by kickoff. That is the whole career in miniature. So before the farewell tour kicks off, here is a refresher on how we got here.
Aaron Rodgers turned Green Bay into a soap opera
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Oct 28, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) celebrates after the Green Bay Packers beat the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The Packers drafted Jordan Love 26th overall in 2020, and Rodgers responded by turning the next three years into a hostage negotiation. He is the smartest guy in the room after all, he can’t help but give us that energy whenever possible.
In 2021, he skipped voluntary workouts, forfeited a $500,000 workout bonus and then blew off mandatory minicamp entirely while the team publicly begged him to come back. You’d think he’d learn this lesson from Brett Favre, his predecessor, who wore out his welcome in Green Bay. Apparently not. Rodgers appears to have been taking notes.
That same summer, the most famous non-answer in sports media history came. Asked directly if he was vaccinated against COVID-19, Rodgers told reporters, “Yeah, I’ve been immunized.” He was not vaccinated. He tested positive that November, missed a game against the Kansas City Chiefs and got fined by the Packers for attending a Halloween party with vaccinated teammates.
A year later, he admitted on Joe Rogan’s podcast that the wording was deliberate. “Maybe they follow up. They didn’t follow up,” he said of the reporters in the room.
The Jets years, the Egypt trip and the longest goodbye in football
You must be registered for see images attach
A reunion between head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers is what dozens of people wanted. Dozens!
Rodgers decided his football future in 2023 by sitting alone in a four-day darkness retreat, which somehow was not even his strangest wellness habit. He spent those years praising ayahuasca on Pat McAfee’s show, where ESPN gave him a weekly platform to say whatever crossed his mind. In January 2024, that included suggesting that Jimmy Kimmel’s name might appear in the Jeffrey Epstein court documents. Kimmel’s name was not in the documents; the host threatened legal action, and McAfee announced Rodgers was done on the show for the season.
His actual football with the New York Jets consisted of four snaps and a torn Achilles in 2023, followed by a lost 2024 season that saw him skip mandatory minicamp for a vacation in Egypt. The trip cost him a fine north of $50,000.
“I knew the fine that was coming,” he shrugged, which was at least consistent with a man who has never once believed a rule applied to him.
Then came the retirement watch, an annual holiday at this point. Rodgers dragged out his 2025 decision into June before signing a one-year, $13.65 million deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was genuinely good, throwing for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions while winning the AFC North.
Then the Texans blew out the Steelers in the wild-card round, Mike Tomlin resigned the next day after 19 seasons, and Rodgers spent another offseason declaring there was no deadline for his decision.
Now McCarthy is here, hired after Rodgers pitched him to general manager Omar Khan in his exit meeting, and the 42-year-old is selling one last ride with the coach he spent 13 years needling in Green Bay. He summed up his 2026 pitch in his own words after Saturday’s practice in Latrobe.
“At my age, I beat teams with my mind,” he said. The first two preseason games come against the Packers and the Jets, and McCarthy wants him on the field for 30 or 40 plays. Rodgers being Rodgers, the exits from his two previous teams will now double as content for his farewell season.
Continue reading...
