"I'd like to see quieter time" - Aaron Rodgers addresses rumors surrounding his retirement
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to the Pat McAfee Show today and sort of addressed the biggest elephant in the NFL room -- his playing future.
Yesterday, Rodgers posted a long and cryptic Instagram post expressing his gratitude to the Packers organization and his fellow teammates, and many saw this as an unofficial retirement post.
With that, speculation was rife that Rodgers could retire from the NFL. The 38-year-old was a guest on the show. In addressing his retirement, he said that he would like some quieter times going forward and that his work and life balance has played an integral part in his success over the last couple of seasons. He also said that separating the two has helped him thrive in both aspects over the last two seasons.
“I’d like to see quieter times, for sure, moving forward," Rodgers said. "You know, a lot of people have asked me, you know, and it was a dialogue talking point last year, you know, why would you? You’ve been your happiest the last couple years. Why would you even think about, you know, retiring? It’s the happiest you've been. You look so happy on the field, and at work, and different things.
"I know for me the last 2 seasons it's been great for me to have that stability at home.. when things are good in your personal life it allows you to relax & be so much more grateful for the little things in life" ~@AaronRodgers12
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“And, I would say I think you're missing a big part of it. I think, you know, as professional athletes and people in general, I think we all need to do some sort of compartmentalization in our lives, you know. All the time, we need to kind of set some things aside and be able to focus on something else from time to time. And I think, as players, you know, we're always doing that to some extent, in seasons, you know, whether there's, you know, professional is difficult and a personal was difficult from time to time.
Aaron Rodgers acknowledges his work/life balance has improved
For many athletes, juggling their professional and personal lives can be difficult to get a grasp on. Rodgers reiterated on the Pat McAfee Show that, when his work life (football) is going well, then his personal life follows suit and vice versa.
"There's some compartmentalization of the energy of those environments that has to kind of stay where it's at in order to do your job," Rodgers said. "And there's been years I've played really good with, you know, work environment maybe not being the best, or personal life, you know, going through some struggles. And vice versa, times where work’s you know, home life’s been great and works been difficult or home is been rough and work’s been great where you can still play well because there's compartmentalizing.
"There will be no decision on my future today" ~@AaronRodgers12
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"But what happens I think when the home life is so great and the work-life is good as well. It allows you to have work be a bonus. So work is no longer a refuge, or home is no longer a refuge where you have to get away from a certain environment to thrive. When you are thriving at home and loving work, your work just becomes icing on the cake.”
The 38-year-old is clearly in a good space and said that, while his appearance on the show wasn't to announce his decision on his future, it won't be long before he makes it.
The entire NFL community is waiting on tenderhooks to find out just exactly what Rodgers will be doing next season.