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The next logical question on everyone’s mind after Aaron Rodgers agreed to return for another NFL season last week is: Would he continue deciding year-to-year on how long he’d play, or would this be his final year?
Well, we have an answer from Rodgers himself.
“Yes,” Rodgers told reporters on Wednesday when asked if he’s retiring after this year.
“This is it, yeah.”
AARON RODGERS SET TO BEGIN 22ND NFL SEASON WITH PITTSBURGH STEELERS
So, Rodgers intends to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers in what is his 22nd season and call it a career after that.
Now comes the part where some people will think this is a good thing, a fitting end because Rodgers is 42-years-old and will be 43 in December, and obviously old enough to know his own mind and how much he has left in the proverbial tank.
Some people will think this is terrible, because what if he’s really good this season? What if he surprises himself? What are we going to do without Aaron Rodgers quarterbacksplaining to his teammates exactly how to run the plays they may or may not have practiced the previous week?
And some people, well, won’t believe a word Rodgers is saying.
Because he’s been known to change his mind before.
He’s been known to play with words before.
He’s been known to be kind of hard to predict both on and off the field.
All of that is in play.
But assuming Rodgers does indeed have a plan to play one more season and then disappear into private life — as he has promised he’d do in the past — it has to be said that no matter what happens this coming season, his legacy is pretty much already written.
Aaron Rodgers is a Super Bowl champion and four-time NFL MVP. Only Peyton Manning, with five MVP awards, has won more.
And yes, Rodgers still has a chance to tie him if he balls out this season.
Aaron Rodgers currently ranks:
- Fourth all-time in passing touchdowns with 527.
- Fifth all-time in passing yards with 66,274.
- And he is 11th all-time with just over 5,696 career completions.
Only Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Manning have thrown more TD passes than Rodgers. Rodgers may eclipse Manning’s TD mark of 539 this season and finish third on the all-time list. Brady (649) and Brees (571) are likely out of reach in the TD pass category.
Only Brady, Brees, Manning and Brett Favre have more career passing yards than Rodgers, who has 66,275. He would have to have an unlikely monster season to catch Manning who finished with 71,838 passing yards.
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The point is Rodgers has eye-popping statistics that put him among the elite quarterbacks ever to play the game. He is a certain future Hall of Famer.
Will he be considered among the all-time greats? That’s another question.
That’s not an answer that always relies on statistics but rather includes opinion and number of Super Bowls won and how the fickle media felt about a player.
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The thinking here is Rodgers won’t care much about that.
He knows who he is, how he played, and apparently, when he’s walking away.
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