GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodgers admitted Wednesday he considered retirement, detailed his offseason-long standoff with the Green Bay Packers and still isn’t sure what — if anything — will change.
But he’s back for a 17th season and while there was plenty to parse from his 32-minute news conference following Wednesday’s first training camp practice, the crux of the matter comes down to this:
“I just want to be involved in conversations that affect my ability to do my job,” Rodgers said.
When asked if he’s gotten any assurances that it will happen, he said: “I’m not sure … at this point.”
Rodgers spoke at length about how he has been disappointed about veteran players the Packers have either released or not re-signed at various points in his career. In fact, he rattled off nearly a dozen players — from Charles Woodson to Julius Peppers to Randall Cobb, who is actually returning to the Packers in a pending trade with the Houston Texans.
“I wanted to help the organization, maybe learn from the some of the mistakes in the past … and about the way that some of the outgoing veterans were treated,” Rodgers said. “And just the fact that we didn’t retain a number of players that I felt like were core players to our foundation, to our locker room. High-character guys.”
Rodgers still doesn’t know what his future holds beyond this season and said that while he has not ruled out a return to the Packers, he also has not been told he would be able to dictate where he could possibly play in 2022 if he chooses to.
While it’s clear his beef has been with upper management, he said he never asked for general manager Brian Gutekunst to be fired and called their relationship “professional.”
Rodgers went into great detail about where he thinks things have gone awry, which made it worth wondering if he really wants to be back.
“I do, I do,” he said. “I love my teammates. I love the city, love my coaches. It is a lot of fun to be back here.”