Aaron Rodgers set to consider NFL future during ‘darkness retreat’

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Aaron Rodgers is still unsure whether he will continue his NFL career in 2023, telling “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday that he plans to take what he called a “darkness retreat” after the Super Bowl.

Rodgers said the retreat will consist of himself alone in a room with “complete darkness” and no outside contact, aside from food being delivered through a slot in a wall.

“It’s a darkness retreat. I’ve had a number of friends who have done it and have had some profound experiences,” Rodgers said. “It’s been on my radar for a few years now, and I felt like it would be awesome to do regardless of where I was leaning after this season.”

Rodgers continued to play coy about his preferences between staying with the Green Bay Packers or requesting a trade to another team. He did acknowledge a vocal contingent of Las Vegas Raiders fans attempting to recruit him during the Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament, which Rodgers won.

Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams, Rodgers’ friend and longtime teammate in Green Bay, also made it clear that he is trying to recruit Rodgers to Vegas.

[Davante Adams is lobbying Aaron Rodgers to play for Raiders]

Rodgers reminded fans there is a major hurdle that needs to be cleared if he wants to change teams.

“I’m not a free agent,” Rodgers said Tuesday. “I’m under contract with the Packers. That gets lost in the conversation a lot.”

Rodgers is owed nearly $60 million by the Packers in guaranteed money next season under a contract extension he signed last offseason. That contract would likely have to be restructured if he is traded.

Rodgers did make it clear he was “not going to San Fran” — meaning the San Francisco 49ers — during the Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament, a comment that he “did not expect to take off.”

[Aaron Rodgers on 49ers rumors: ‘I’m not going to San Fran’]

However, Rodgers did shoot down any speculation that the recent retirement of fellow NFL superstars Tom Brady and J.J. Watt — who are universally expected to be first-ballot Hall of Famers as soon as they are eligible in 2028 — would influence him to play another year and thus likely be enshrined in a less star-studded Hall of Fame class.

“The idea that I wouldn’t want to share a stage with Tom and J.J. [Watt] I think is ridiculous,” Rodgers said. “That’s already going to be an incredible Hall of Fame class. Their decisions don’t impact my own decision.”

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