Aaron Rodgers says Packers are holding up trade to Jets
Aaron Rodgers has made it clear for the world to know: He wants to play for the New York Jets.
Retirement doesn't appear to be an option anymore, with Rodgers saying on The Pat McAfee Show, with nearly 500,000 people watching live online Tuesday, that the Green Bay Packers are the only thing standing between a trade to the Jets being completed.
"At this point, as I sit here, I think since Friday, I made it clear my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets. I haven't been holding anything up at this point. It's been compensation that the Packers are trying to get for me, and kind of digging their heels in," said Rodgers.
Rodgers said that after the regular season ending the Packers told him to "take as long as you want" and that they want him to retire as a Packer. But something changed while he was on his darkness retreat late last month.
"When I came out of the darkness, something changed," Rodgers said. "I got back to my phone after five days off of it ... and when I got back to that little shack they have, where there's one bar of WiFi ... I realized that there had been a little bit of a shift."
He said he's not upset at all. No malice toward the Packers.
"It was clear to me at that point, that although the Packers are going to say the right thing publicly that they were ready to move on," he said. "I don't know what changed that or moved that. There's no victims here. I'm not sitting here as a victim. I love Green Bay. I love the fanbase, they're incredible. I live for playing for them."
Rodgers said it's time for the Packers to "do right" by him, calling himself one of the best players, if not the best, in Green Bay football history.
"They want to move on. And now so do I," Rodgers said.
The #Packers and #Jets continue to negotiate on an Aaron Rodgers trade but have not yet agreed to trade terms, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 15, 2023
Green Bay isn’t looking for multiple first-round picks like other QBs (Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford) have commanded in recent years. Talks ongoing. pic.twitter.com/W1SZlx0UZA
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.