Could Aaron Rodgers follow Tom Brady into retirement?

What Aaron Rodgers decides to do this offseason could drastically shift the landscape of the NFL. Him staying with the Green Bay Packers would mean that the team is once again a Super Bowl favorite. On the other hand, him getting traded to a team like the Denver Broncos shakes up the AFC playoff picture considerably. However, there is also another option: retirement.

Rodgers has already seen Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger retire in recent weeks and could decide to follow their lead. He is 38 years old, which usually marks the end of an NFL career, however, that was before Brady blew that notion out of the water by playing until he was 44 years old.

So will Rodgers decide to hang up his cleats for good and follow in Brady's footsteps?

Is it retirement truly on the cards for Aaron Rodgers?

Green Bay Packers v Detroit Lions

Retirement is certainly a top possibility, but why is that the case for the Packers legend in the first place? Well, the obvious reason is that Green Bay used a 2020 first-round pick to draft Jordan Love, who is now widely seen as their next franchise quarterback.

That is what created this whole saga to begin with, and yet Rodgers responded by winning the MVP last year and is the favorite to win it again this year. It would be quite the head-scratcher for the Packers to move on for him now, considering the fact that he's playing some of his best football.

But perhaps the bridges within the Packers organization have been burned with no chance of any reconciliation. This is always a possibility, especially with a player like Rodgers, who is hard to read at times and an organization that doesn't usually air out its dirty laundry. Rodgers may have been put off by the whole situation in Green Bay, which could mean he doesn't want to play for any NFL team moving forward.

But the likely scenario is that he will in fact remain in the league, either in Green Bay or elsewhere. He is set to earn over $27 million in 2022 and could land a massive two-year extension no matter where he plays.

That type of money would be tough to pass up for any player, especially one playing at an MVP level. Rodgers is also in a position to basically choose exactly where he wants to play next season. If it isn't in Green Bay, then one imagines many teams around the league won't hesitate to get a deal done for him.

Things may have been different if the Packers had just won the Super Bowl. Instead, they got knocked out in the Divisional Round of the playoffs this season, which is certainly not the way Rodgers would have wanted his career to end. The same was seemingly true for Brady, but then again he is 44 years old.

The fact that Rodgers is playing like an MVP means there is still big money to be made for the quarterback, meaning Rodgers could always play one more season and add to his generational wealth. Or he could opt to join a title-contending team and chase another Super Bowl in order to cement his status as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.

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