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What they’re saying nationally about Aaron Rodgers’ potential retirement
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- What they’re saying nationally about Aaron Rodgers’ potential retirement
Aaron Rodgers was not ready to discuss his future in the NFL Monday evening after the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped their wild-card game to the Houston Texans .
“I’m not going to make any emotional decisions,” Rodgers said after the game . “(I’m) disappointed. You know, it’s obviously such a fun year. A lot of adversity, but a lot of fun. Been a great year, you know, overall in my life in the last year, and this is a really good part of that, coming here and being part of this team.
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“So, it’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over.”
Others, though, had definitive opinions on whether or not Rodgers should return and what his legacy will look like.
Here’s what’s being said nationally :
“I think we are watching Aaron Rodgers’ last game. And what we saw of Philip Rivers this year when he came out and decided to come out of retirement and play for the Colts . Who knows what next year might bring? He might be willing to come in at some point if a team needs a quarterback. I doubt that will happen. I don’t imagine he’s gonna say he wants to come back and sign with the Steelers again or with another team.”
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“I think it’s really tied in with Mike Tomlin. I think he’s on the fence. If Mike Tomlin stays, I would say — and they had that conversation — Aaron enjoyed it. He had a relationship good enough with Tomlin that he would want to come back and do this.
“Now are you asking was his performance and what he looked like indicative of, ‘Hey, he can get better next year,’ I’m not really sure if the Steelers would want him back, but that’s kind of where that would sit. Aaron felt as at peace during this season as you’ve seen him right like smiling with Mike T. walking off the field ... felt like he was part of that locker room, it felt all of those things.”
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“He’s a band-aid, and they need a transplant. They need a real solution at the quarterback position. Aaron Rodgers in the year 2025 and 2026 is not that. Period. I’m sorry, he was 23rd in QBR, he was 2.95 seconds to throw. No one else wanted him ... he went to the Vikings and they were like, ‘No thanks, we’d rather go with this,’ and the Jets cut him and they obviously didn’t have anything to replace him with.
“He is one of the greatest players I have ever had the privilege to watch in any sport, but he is no longer that guy, and re-signing him or — if you’re another team —signing him is not a sufficiently aspirational move. You are not saying this is going to elevate us and make us Super Bowl contenders. You’re going to say what the Steelers said this year, which is we need somebody or else when the center snaps the ball, it’s just going to keep rolling. That’s what they got Aaron Rodgers for.
Michael Silver on The Athletic
“If Monday was his final act, and the dismissive shove he got from (Calen) Bullock the lasting image, it won’t be a wholly memorable or satisfying one. Yet it won’t define Rodgers, either.
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“In the end, the magic that came before it will be far more indelible.”
DK Metcalf (via Brendan Howe on X)
“I’m gonna let everybody settle down and give them, like, a mont or two off. But hopefully he comes back next year.”
Ryan Clark
“I walked off AT&T field in February of 2011 after losing the Super Bowl to Packers knowing 3 things. Aaron Rodgers was the best quarterback I’d ever played against, Mike T was the best coach I’d played for, & they’d both get back to the Super Bowl. One of those things turned out to be false.
“If this is where it ends for them it’s fitting it ends together. Both of their legacies are cemented. Congrats to them both.”
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“He is 42 years old. He just wrapped up his 21st NFL season. By all accounts from everything I’ve been told, it has been a good experience for the people in the Steelers’ building. He is very well-liked. They clearly had some level of success, though ultimately not what they wanted to in the playoffs. And if Aaron Rodgers wants to continue playing, the Steelers would be open to having him back in Pittsburgh.
“Now we also know with Rodgers it can take him time to make up his mind about exactly what he wants to do. If he is going to come back to Pittsburgh, I would anticipate they’d like an answer a lot sooner than they got last year when Rodgers signed on in June just in time to show up for the mandatory mini camp.”
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