Aaron Rodgers has not started his “darkness retreat” yet, and even when it’s over, that doesn’t mean the Green Bay Packers quarterback will know if he’s going to play in the NFL next season.
Rodgers initially revealed his unorthodox offseason plan last week on “The Pat McAfee Show,” saying he would spend four days and four nights in darkness isolation at some point after the Super Bowl.
Some took that to mean that the darkness retreat had already started.
“This thing has been planned for about four months and it was always the same date — it was always the end of this week,” Rodgers told McAfee on Tuesday.
Rodgers said he has taken other kinds of retreats — including to meditate and practice yoga — in the past to find “a greater peace in my life.”
“I’m probably going to have a better sense of where I’m at in my life,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t say, ‘I’m going to my darkness retreat just to figure out if I’m going to play next year or retire.'”
Rodgers, 39, has not committed to playing in 2023 and has also been vague about whether he will play for the Packers or another team if he does return.
The four-time NFL MVP is under contract with the Packers for $59,465 million guaranteed if he plays in 2023, and at least one team — the New York Jets — has inquired about trading for Rodgers, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. It was unknown as of Tuesday whether the Packers responded to the Jets’ inquiry.
Last year, Rodgers informed the Packers of his decision to return on March 8, and the sides took less than a week to agree to a three-year, $150 million contract extension.
Packers president Mark Murphy said last week that there was no deadline for Rodgers to make a decision but hoped for a similar timeline before the start of free agency.
Rodgers has played his entire 18-year NFL career for the Packers. At the end of his appearance on Tuesday’s show, he was asked about going back to the Packers and Green Bay being “home.”
“Eighteen years — that’s always going to be home,” Rodgers responded.