During an appearance on Bill Simmons’ excruciatingly awful HBO show Any Given Wednesday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made it clear that he wants to spend him entire career with his current team.
“You look at two of my favorite players from my sports-watching lifetime: Derek Jeter and Kobe Bryant, and now Tim Duncan has just retired,” Rodgers said.
“Those are three amazing examples of guy who played the entire time, their legacy I think gets made in those later years, where they have already proven to win championships and be at the top of their game … They stay with the same team, they stick it out. … I think there’s a lot to be said about finishing your legacy with one team. It would be nice if I am able to do that.”
While it would be shocking to say the least to see Rodgers in any other uniform, other greats have donned another jersey late in their careers such as Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and even NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan.
But Rodgers seems determined to follow the paths of Jeter, Bryant and Duncan by staying in one place his entire career. What makes this difficult is that quite often teams make the decision to part ways with a player long before a player does forcing a player who believes his career is far from over to suit up for another team.
Factors such as salary, injuries and an effort to rebuild all come into play. As of this moment, the idea of Rodgers retiring as a Packer when his career is over is viable. Rodgers is in his prime and playing at an elite level. But that could change as Rodgers enters his late 30s and/or starts hitting a decline in his performance.
Of Rodgers is deemed as holding the franchise back from a rebuild, youth movement, or holding back a promising young quarterback waiting in the wings (sort of similar to the Rodgers/Favre scenario) then it’s likely that Green Bay would make a “business decision”.
For now though, it’s all smiles across the nation of Cheesheads as they just got some re-assurance that their beloved signal caller is staying put in Green Bay and is determined to stay there for the long haul.