Matt LaFleur had a good feeling Aaron Rodgers was going to return to the Packers in 2022, but the quarterback’s timetable for a decision went longer than expected. The relief finally came March 8 when Rodgers informed the coach of his return.
“I actually received a text message that confirmed that Aaron was coming back,” LaFleur said. “I was in an offensive meeting. It was a pretty exciting meeting. I actually darted out right away just to make sure I read the right way before I let anybody know. I would say that I had pretty good feelings about it throughout the course of the offseason, since the season up to that point. But until you know, you really don’t know.”
Now, the question becomes: How much longer will the Packers have Rodgers? Will 2022 be the swan song?
Rodgers, who turns 39 in December, is showing no physical signs of being close to the end. He has, after all, won back-to-back MVP awards. But playing in the NFL is a 365-day-a-year mental grind that can wear on players as much as the cumulative effects of repeated hits. Seventeen years in the NFL is a lifetime.
LaFleur won’t even venture a guess as to how long Rodgers will play beyond an 18th season in 2022.
“I think he’ll go as long as he wants to go,” LaFleur said. “It’s not only the talent and the mind, but the way he takes care of himself is as good as I’ve seen. Super disciplined in terms of everything he does from what he puts into his body to how he prepares physically, mentally. So yeah, those aren’t conversations that we have regularly. We’re just going to take advantage of the time that he is with us and continue to try to work and grind to hopefully some day be able to get a Super Bowl.”
Rodgers has only one of those, so winning a second ring is the only thing missing on his resume. The Packers have been one of the best teams in the NFL the past three seasons, with 13 victories each of those seasons, but they haven’t made it back to the Super Bowl since the 2010 season.
