Rodgers nonetheless not sure on long run, rips Jets for go out

• Brooke Pryor

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  Brooke Pryor

  ESPN Team of workers Author

  Brooke Pryor is a reporter for NFL Country at ESPN who has lined the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. She in the past lined the Kansas Town Chiefs for the Kansas Town Celebrity and the College of Oklahoma for The Oklahoman.

• Wealthy Cimini

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  Wealthy Cimini

  ESPN Team of workers Author

  Wealthy Cimini is a team of workers creator who covers the New York Jets and the NFL at ESPN. Wealthy has lined the Jets for over 30 years, becoming a member of ESPN in 2010. Wealthy additionally hosts the Flight Deck podcast. He in the past was once a beat creator for the New York Day by day Information and is a graduate of Syracuse College.

Apr 17, 2025, 01:48 PM ET

4-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers continues to be unsure on his long run, and he did not rule out the potential for retiring as he spoke publicly Thursday afternoon for the primary time since being launched through the New York Jets final month.

In a just about 45-minute look on “The Pat McAfee Display” on Thursday afternoon, the quarterback presented little readability on his subsequent steps or a timeline for you decide, however he mentioned he has been clear with groups pursuing his services and products.

“I wasn’t stringing somebody alongside. I wasn’t preserving somebody hostage,” Rodgers mentioned from his area in Malibu, California. “I used to be fair from the soar about the place I used to be at mentally and one of the most constraints I’ve in my existence at this time that warrant my consideration.

“I am open to the rest and hooked up to not anything. Retirement may just nonetheless be a chance, however at this time my center of attention has been — and can proceed to be — on my private existence. And that is the reason what I have advised the coaches. There is nonetheless conversations which are being had. It is all been very fair strains of communique.”

He additionally mentioned subsequent week’s NFL draft will don’t have any affect on his plans.

“I used to be more or less stunned. Now I am not stunned as a result of I did not suppose that was once a chance. Concentrate, after all, in the event that they need to transfer on, that is utterly tremendous, however stunned as a result of I simply flew throughout nation. You might want to have advised me this at the telephone if we were not even going to have a dialog.” Aaron Rodgers, at the Jets telling him they have been transferring on from him

In refuting experiences that he requested for vital cash or a multiyear deal, Rodgers mentioned he advised groups he would play for $10 million a yr.

“I advised each unmarried some of the groups I talked to, it ain’t in regards to the cash,” he mentioned. “I’m going to play for $10M’s. I do not care. I by no means as soon as mentioned I desire a multiyear deal, $30 [million or] $40 million. That is absolute bulls—. I mentioned I’m going to play for 10. No matter.”

A unfastened agent for the primary time in his occupation, Rodgers showed he had conversations with the Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers.

At the once a year league assembly in Palm Seashore, Florida, previous this month, Steelers homeowners and group president Artwork Rooney II mentioned the group assists in keeping “listening to that he is headed in our route” and he added that whilst they would not wait on Rodgers eternally, they may wait “a short time longer.”

Requested through McAfee on Thursday if the Steelers have given him a cut-off date, Rodgers mentioned he is working on his personal timeline.

“This whole time I have never felt like I owe somebody a choice at any level,” he mentioned. “That is my existence now. … I have been up-front with them about that. If you want to transport on, if you want to do one thing, through all method.

“… I don’t believe it is truthful to the Steelers or somebody whilst I am coping with so much off the sphere. I need to stay the strains of communique open. The individuals who want to know, know.”

The Giants adopted Rodgers’ personal recommendation in past due March, retreating from the race through signing onetime Steelers signal-caller Russell Wilson to a one-year deal to sign up for Jameis Winston within the quarterback room. Rodgers mentioned he loved his dialog with trainer Brian Daboll and referred to as him a “stunning soccer thoughts.”

Although Rodgers mentioned he has had “just right communique” with the Vikings and trainer Kevin O’Connell, he mentioned it wasn’t correct that he was once looking ahead to Minnesota to supply him a place after the group’s analysis of 2024 first-round pick out J.J. McCarthy within the offseason program, one thing former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recommended as a chance in a podcast episode with McAfee.

“To make a dedication to a group is a huge factor, whether or not you are a first-year participant or a 20-year vet. And I had numerous nice conversations with numerous groups. Now not a kind of was once the Jets as a result of that wasn’t a super dialog. … I had some just right conversations, however I have been up-front with they all.” Aaron Rodgers, on his long run

Rodgers additionally detailed his March 21 consult with to Pittsburgh, which he mentioned was once meant to be a clandestine operation. To keep away from consideration, Rodgers mentioned he in particular did not fly into the Pittsburgh World Airport, and he rented a Chevy Malibu to power himself to and from the Steelers’ observe facility.

“I have talked to Mike Tomlin,” Rodgers mentioned. “He is greater than I even idea from afar, so far as the kind of individual he’s. I’ve numerous admire for what he is completed within the league. [Offensive coordinator] Arthur Smith, discuss a man that does not want to paintings, he does not want the paintings, however he is a grinder. We now have had a friendship for a pair years now. I love what he is all about. And the quarterback trainer, Tom Arth, he was once within the quarterback room with me in 2006 in Inexperienced Bay. … In my view, I sought after to look what it was once like there on the facility, meet Omar [Khan] in individual, simply get a glimpse, a snippet of what existence could be like in Pittsburgh.”

Rodgers spent lots of the interview reiterating that his center of attention since January has revolved round off-the-field problems involving his private existence and interior circle, taking his consideration clear of soccer. On account of that, he isn’t in a hurry to decide.

“I am in a special section of my existence,” Rodgers mentioned. “I am 41 years outdated. I am in a significant courting. I’ve off-the-field stuff occurring that calls for my consideration. I’ve private commitments I made no longer figuring out what my long run was once going to appear to be after final yr which are necessary to me. And I’ve a pair folks in my interior, interior circle which are actually struggling with some tricky stuff.

“So, I’ve numerous issues which are taking my consideration, and feature starting in actually January, clear of soccer. That is been the place I have been focusing maximum of my consideration. To make a dedication to a group is a huge factor, whether or not you are a first-year participant or a 20-year vet. And I had numerous nice conversations with numerous groups. Now not a kind of was once the Jets as a result of that wasn’t a super dialog. … I had some just right conversations, however I have been up-front with they all.”

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Rodgers, commenting for the primary time on his unencumber from the Jets, took pictures on the group — new trainer Aaron Glenn, specifically. Rodgers mentioned he felt disrespected in what he described as a temporary, contentious assembly on Feb. 6, when he flew by means of personal jet from California to New Jersey to fulfill with Glenn and new normal supervisor Darren Mougey to speak about his long run.

“I felt like there wasn’t an considerable quantity of admire in that assembly, however I assume I do not need been stunned in keeping with one of the most issues I noticed over the 2 years,” Rodgers mentioned.

Rodgers mentioned he was once fired not up to one minute into the assembly, including that Glenn went “a bit of rogue” and expressed fear that his authority could be undermined through Rodgers.

“I figured that once I flew throughout nation by myself dime that there was once going to be a dialog,” Rodgers mentioned. “And the complicated factor to me — and the bizarre factor — was once once I went in the market, I meet with the trainer, we commence speaking, he runs out of the room. I am like, ‘That is more or less bizarre.’

“Then he comes again with the GM and I am like, ‘All proper.’ So, we take a seat down within the place of work, and I believe we are going to have this lengthy dialog. I have flown around the nation and, 20 seconds in, he is going … ‘So, do you need to play soccer?’ And I used to be like, ‘Yeah, I am .’ And he mentioned, ‘We are stepping into a special route at quarterback.’

“I used to be more or less stunned. Now I am not stunned as a result of I did not suppose that was once a chance. Concentrate, after all, in the event that they need to transfer on, that is utterly tremendous, however stunned as a result of I simply flew throughout nation. You might want to have advised me this at the telephone if we were not even going to have a dialog.”

Glenn requested how the quarterback sought after the tips launched to the media — “the messaging,” Rodgers mentioned. “And I mentioned, verbatim, ‘I do not give a s— in regards to the messaging.'”

Rodgers then took some other jab at Glenn. Requested to give an explanation for the verdict to unencumber him, Rodgers quoted Glenn as pronouncing, “I do not need to be up in entrance of the room pronouncing one thing and feature guys having a look again at you” — which means, Rodgers could be a distraction.

Rodgers took umbrage.

“I mentioned, ‘What does that even imply? Are you assuming that I’d be behind the room right through a group assembly, undermining what you are pronouncing?’ I mentioned, ‘You do not know me.’ And he mentioned, ‘You do not know me.’ After which I mentioned, ‘Precisely, which is why I flew around the nation to have a face-to-face assembly with you to speak about my revel in with the Jets and to listen to your imaginative and prescient for the group.'”

Rodgers mentioned he walked out after quarter-hour. He mentioned he by no means pleaded for his task, as one media record recommended.

“No, hell no. I don’t need any a part of that,” he mentioned. “It was once already a debacle in some circumstances. Concentrate, that complete state of affairs was once loopy.”

In the meantime, Rodgers mentioned he’s ready to switch to a more recent model of the Schutt emblem helmet if he comes to a decision to play in 2025. Closing week, the NFL and NFL Avid gamers Affiliation banned his earlier helmet, the Schutt Air XP Professional Q11 LTD, as a part of its annual helmet reviews. He has modified helmets more than one occasions for the reason that league and union started banning helmets in 2018.

“I do not know the internal workings of Schutt,” Rodgers mentioned, “but when I have been to play, I’ll put on Schutt if they are nonetheless going. If they have got nonetheless were given a just right helmet that passes some kind of check, that is what I’ll put on.”

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert contributed to this record.